Industry Innovation Track

There is great interest in cryogenic CMOS design for interfacing CMOS analogue and digital circuits to drive, condition, sense and process quantum bits (qubits) in the same cryogenic chamber. This can enable proper scaling of the quantum computers, which currently, with all cabling going out of the cryostats resemble inverted Christmas trees. 

Simultaneously the operation of microprocessors, GPUs, accelerators and AI chips at 77oK (nitrogen) or even 4oK (hydrogen) temperatures can reduce dramatically the energy consumption of the data and AI centers that is becoming of great concern.
 

Technological advancements in satellite payloads and ground terminals, driven by modern silicon technologies, are revolutionizing satellite communications. The increasing demand for ubiquitous connectivity, higher bandwidth, and lower latency has spurred innovation in silicon systems. These systems are being deployed in new non-geostationary orbit (NGSO) constellation satellites, earth terminals, and even direct-to-handset solutions, all supported by viable new business models.

This presentation will delve into the challenges overcome by silicon circuits and systems in closing broadband link budgets to space. We will explore industry pioneering solutions for both dedicated user terminals and direct connections to existing unmodified mobile handsets.

A first-generation multi-turn sensor has been developed at Analog Devices based on a GMR nanowire. This sensor contains a magnetic multi-turn counter as well as a precise single-turn angular position sensor.  The GMR stack used for the multi-turn sensing element is made of a state-of-the-art GMR spinvalve stack. This new technology allows to count mechanical turns and works without electrical energy. The count Information is stored in form of magnetic domain walls in the sensor. These domain walls are changing resistor states of the GMR film when moving places. A rotating magnetic field, usually generated with a magnet on a shaft, can cause the domain walls to propagate. The paper will focus on how this novel technology works and give a top-level insight where it can be used.

A novel magnetic sensor has been developed at Analog Devices. This sensor stores the rotation history of a magnetic system without any requirement for electrical power. The rotation history is stored as a sequence of resistor states. Recording the rotation of the magnetic field requires 4 resistors per rotation, and so for any useful number of turns a large number of resistors must be measured. To minimize sensor-die to circuit-die interconnect a row-column addressing architecture is used, whereby each resistor in the sensor is connected to a unique pair of row and column lines. To determine the magnetic state of the sensor, each resistor must be compared to a reference resistor, to an accuracy of ~0.2%. The selected architecture combines a sensor current-biasing scheme with parasitic path voltage buffering, to provide a direct resistance measurement capability for each resistor in the sensor. This paper will describe the challenges in isolating each resistor from the rest of the sensor matrix and digitizing its resistance.

The emergence of 6G technology is set to transform wireless communication by delivering unparalleled data speeds, extremely low latency, and improved connectivity. Both academic institutions and industry leaders are intensifying their research efforts in this field. In developing and testing innovative 6G concepts, including massive MIMO, terahertz communication, and AI-driven network optimization a versatile platform that integrates high-performance heterogeneous processing with advanced radio frequency capabilities is necessary. AMD RFSoC boards provide unique prototyping platforms based on Zynq™ UltraScale+™ RFSoC series with all other necessary hardware. The RFSoC integrates wideband direct RF sampling converters along with ARM processor subsystem and software programmable fabric. The converters, designed in FinFET technology, moves the A/D and D/A conversion process closer to the antenna and shifts other functions like mixers and filters into the digital domain thereby allowing for more flexible and programmable radio solutions. In this presentation, we will explore the architecture of the RFSoC series and discuss key 6G research activities and demonstrations conducted using these boards.