ISSCC 2025
Session 16
AI / ML
RNGD: A 5nm Tensor-Contraction Processor for Power-Efficient Inference on Large Language Models
Byeongwook Bae1, Yojung Cha1, Wooyoung Choe1, Jonguk Choi1, Younggeun Choi1, Ki Jin Han2, Seokha Hwang1, Kiseok Jang1, Jaewoo Jeon1, Hyunmin Jeong1, Yeonsu Jung1, Hyewon Kim1, Sewon Kim1, Suhyung Kim1, Won Kim1, Yongseun
ISSCC 2025
Session 16
Digital Processors
Tomahawk5: 51.2Tb/s 5nm Monolithic Switch Chip for AI/ML Networking
(BCM78900 series, aka TH5) chip and the challenges of implementing a 51.2Tb/s advanced Ethernet switch in a monolithic die. We will describe several technologies that enabled TH5 realization and its advanced capabilities
ISSCC 2025
Session 15
AI / ML
A 4.6µW 3.3-NEF Biopotential Amplifier with 133VPP Common-Mode Interference Tolerance and 102dB Total Common-Mode Rejection Ratio for Two-Electrode Recording System
crucial in delivering vital information for medical diagnostics and research applications. Recently, the demand for biopotential recording using two electrodes has grown thanks to its better user experience and lower cos
ISSCC 2025
Session 15
AI / ML
A 3.47 NEF 175.2dB FOMS Direct Digitization Front-End Featuring Delta Amplification for Enhanced Dynamic Range and Energy Efficiency in Bio-Signal Acquisition
University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA In addition, the first-stage amplifier bandwidth is set slightly below the Nyquist rate (100kHz), preventing aliasing of thermal noise and input interference. Therefore, the input
ISSCC 2025
Session 15
AI / ML
Event-Based Spatially Zooming Neural Interface IC with 10nW/Input Reconfigurable-Inverter Fabric and Input-Adaptive Quantization
Yu Huang1, Junyu Ma1, Chae Lim1, Lingyun Xu1, Shucheng Gong1, Weian Deng1, Qiaosong Deng1, Jin Che1, Sudip Nag1, Joshua Olorocisimo1, Rhianna Singh1, Yanze Wang1, Jose Sales Filho1, Mandana Mohaved2, Homeira Moradi2, Geo
ISSCC 2025
Session 15
AI / ML
A Neuroprosthetic SoC with Sensory Feedback Featuring Frequency-Splitting-Based Wireless Power Transfer with 200Mb/s 0.67pJ/b Backscatter Data Uplink and Unsupervised Multi-Class Spike Sorting
Swarnava Ghosh1, Eric Liu1, Naize Yang1, Junyu Ma1, Hanfeng Cai1, Laura Kondrataviciute1,2, Qiaosong Deng1, Suneil K. Kalia1,2, Andrew G. Richardson3, Ping-Hsuan Hsieh4, Roman Genov1, Xilin Liu1 University of Toronto, To
ISSCC 2025
Session 15
AI / ML
A 65nm Uncertainty-Quantifiable Ventricular Arrhythmia Detection Engine with 1.75µJ per Inference
for preventing Sudden Cardiac Death (SCD) by identifying life-threatening heart rhythms, such as ventricular tachycardia (VT) and ventricular fibrillation (VF) [1], and enabling timely intervention via implantable cardio
ISSCC 2025
Session 15
AI / ML
A 1024-Channel 0.00029mm2/ch 74nW/ch Online Spatial Spike-Sorting Chip with Event-Driven Spike Detection and Self-Organizing Map Clustering
Next-generation brain-computer interfaces will enable motor and speech decoding in humans [1-3] and improve our understanding of brain function [4]. To achieve this requires high-density multi-electrode arrays (HD-MEA) [
ISSCC 2025
Session 15
AI / ML
A 3.9mW 200words/min Neural Signal Processor in Speech Decoding for Brain-Machine Interface
Brain-machine interfaces (BMIs) are a promising technology that can be applied to AR/VR interfaces, neural prostheses, and machine control. Figure 15.1.1 shows BMI systems based on the source of decoded neural activities
ISSCC 2025
Session 14
AI / ML
A 28nm 64kb Bit-Rotated Hybrid-CIM Macro with an Embedded Sign-Bit-Processing Array and a Multi-Bit-Fusion Dual-Granularity Cooperative Quantizer
Yuhui Shi, Lizheng Ren, Yibo Mai, Feiran Liu, Jinwu Chen, Zhaoyang Zhang, An Guo, Tianzhu Xiong, Bo Wang, Xinning Liu, Weiwei Shan, Bo Liu, Hao Cai, Jun Yang, Xin Si Southeast University, Nanjing, China Hybrid-domain CIM
ISSCC 2025
Session 14
AI / ML
A 28nm 192.3TFLOPS/W Accurate/Approximate Dual-Mode-Transpose Digital 6T-SRAM CIM Macro for Floating-Point Edge Training and Inference connection using the 3rd-metal layer and connect the corresponding diagonal in the 4th layer; the row connection is in the 5th layer. This method circumvents the need for numerous MAC circuits and read ports as is the case for previous T-CIM works [7,8], resulting in a reduction in area and power consumption.
Shidong Lv3, Hao Wu1,2, Cailian Ma1,2, Ming Li1,2, Jinshan Yue1, Xinghua Wang3, Guozhong Xing1, Pui-In Mak4, Xiaoran Li3, Feng Zhang1 Figure 14.5.4 depicts the DCIM architecture supporting FP8, BF16, INT4, and INT8 forma
ISSCC 2025
Session 14
AI / ML
A 51.6TFLOPs/W Full-Datapath CIM Macro Approaching Sparsity Bound and <2-30 Loss for Compound AI
with exceptional performance, but their prohibitive size and cost limits deployment on edge devices. The compound-AI combines several specialized small models to achieve matched or even superior accuracy on target downst
ISSCC 2025
Session 14
AI / ML
A 28nm 17.83-to-62.84TFLOPS/W Broadcast-Alignment Floating-Point CIM Macro with Non-Two’s-Complement MAC for CNNs and Transformers
Yuhui Shi1, Yuchen Tang1, Jinwu Chen1, Zhican Zhang1, Zhichao Liu1, Bo Liu1, Weiwei Shan1, Xin Wang3, Hao Cai1, Wenwu Zhu3, Jun Yang1,2, Xin Si1 Southeast University, Nanjing, China National Center of Technology Innovati
ISSCC 2025
Session 14
AI / ML
A 16nm 216kb, 188.4TOPS/W and 133.5TFLOPS/W Microscaling Multi-Mode Gain-Cell CIM Macro Edge-AI Devices loss of accuracy. In HV mode, the M2-IPU aligns INM based on both ∆PDE and ∆PDSS, with extra shifting in INM from ∆PDSS, which increases INM sparsity, further enhancing EEF. In phase 2 (Ph2), the OUT-PRO processes the activation function of the M2-CIM outputs and
as the SS pre-processing circuit in Ph0, as the EXP processing circuit in Ph1, and as the FP2MX converter in Ph3. Win-San Khwa*1, Ping-Chun Wu*2, Jian-Wei Su2,3, Chiao-Yen Cheng2, Jun-Ming Hsu2, Yu-Chen Chen2, Le-Jung Hs
ISSCC 2025
Session 14
AI / ML
A 22nm 104.5TOPS/W µ-NMC-∆-IMC Heterogeneous STT-MRAM CIM Macro for Noise-Tolerant Bayesian Neural Networks
Yu-Cheng Hung1, Yi-Ming Li1, Yu-Hui Wang1, Chung-Chuan Lo1, Ren-Shuo Liu1, Kea-Tiong Tang1, Chih-Cheng Hsieh1, Yu-Der Chih4, Tsung-Yung Jonathan Chang4, Meng-Fan Chang1,2 National Tsing Hua University, Hsinchu, Taiwan TS
ISSCC 2025
Session 13
Other
A Via-Programmable DNN-Processor Fabrication Toward 1/40th Mask Cost
Growing interest in healthcare has led to the development of many wearable battery-powered artificial-intelligence internet-of-things (AI-IoT) devices for continuous monitoring a wide variety of vital signs [1, 2] (Fig.
ISSCC 2025
Session 13
Other
An 18.5μW/qubit Cryo-CMOS Charge-Readout IC Demonstrating QAM Multiplexing for Spin Qubits
Tristan Meunier2, Jean-Baptiste Casanova3, Xavier Jehl4, Yvain Thonnart3, Franck Badets1 CEA-Léti, Grenoble, France Quobly, Grenoble, France 3 CEA-List, Grenoble, France 4 CEA-Pheliqs, Grenoble, France 1 2 Spin qubits ar
ISSCC 2025
Session 13
Other
Xiling: Cryo-CMOS 18-bit Dual-DAC Manipulator with 4.6μV Precision and 4.1nV/Hz0.5 Noise Co-Integrated with the Single Electron Transistor at 60mK
Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen, China 3 Chengdu Data Automation System Technologies, Chengdu, China 1 2 Millions of physical quantum-bits (Qubits) are envisioned for a fault-tolerant quantum comp
ISSCC 2025
Session 13
Other
A Cryo-BiCMOS Controller for 9Be+-Trapped-Ion-Based Quantum Computers
Kaoru Yamashita1,3, Hiroki Ishikuro3, Christian Ospelkaus2, Vadim Issakov1 Technische Universität Braunschweig, Braunschweig, Germany Leibniz University Hannover, Hannover, Germany 3 Keio University, Yokohama, Japan 1 2
ISSCC 2025
Session 13
AI / ML
An 8.62μW 75dB-DRSoC End-to-End Spoken-LanguageUnderstanding SoC with Channel-Level AGC and Temporal-Sparsity-Aware Streaming-Mode RNN
Aalto University, Espoo, Finland 1 Voice-controlled IoT nodes and wearable devices require integrated real-time ultra-lowpower audio classification circuits to perform tasks such as Keyword Spotting (KWS) and Spoken Lang
ISSCC 2025
Session 13
AI / ML
A 0.22mm2 161nW Noise-Robust Voice-Activity Detection Using Information-Aware Data Compression and Neuromorphic Spatial-Temporal Feature Extraction
University, Hangzhou, China 3 Nano Core Chip Electronic Technology, Hangzhou, China 1 *Equally Credited Authors (ECAs) Nowadays, voice activation detection (VAD), typically consisting of the feature extractor (FE) and th
ISSCC 2025
Session 12
Other
Skin-Inspired Electronics: An Emerging Sensing and Computing Platform
Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark 1 2 Skin is the interface between our body and the environment. Its unique properties and sensing capabilities allow us to perceive the world around us. Information about shape, texture
ISSCC 2025
Session 12
Other
Reversing Scattering to Perform Deep-Tissue Optical Imaging and the Current Need for a Suitable Optoelectronic Solution Changhuei Yang
is on the order of 100 microns. This extreme turbidity prevents scientists and clinicians from performing deeply penetrating high resolution optical imaging through humans and animal models alike. The challenge associate
ISSCC 2025
Session 12
Other
p-Circuits: Neither Digital nor Analog
circuits aim to solve important problems with ultra-high efficiency, making use of analog and digital circuits, with well-known trade-offs. This work is about a new paradigm which is neither analog nor digital, we call i
ISSCC 2025
Session 12
Other
Circuits that Solve Optimization Problems by Exploiting Physics Inequalities
Optimization is vital to Engineering, Artificial Intelligence, and to many areas of Science. Mathematically, we usually employ steepest-descent, or other digital algorithms. For example, Deep Learning is an optimization
ISSCC 2025
Session 11
Wireless
A 200MHz-BW Blocker-Tolerant Receiver with Fifth-Order Filtering Achieving 19dBm Adjacent-Channel IIP3
The fifth-generation (5G) New-Radio (NR) standard has been developed for high data-rate communication, with the RF channel bandwidth (BW) extending to several hundred megahertz. In this context, the presence of blockers
ISSCC 2025
Session 11
Wireless
A Gm-C RF Quadrature-Current-Generation Technique with 40dB IRR in 0.65V 2mW Multi-Mode CMOS GNSS Receiver
Nanjing Low Power IC Technology Institute, Nanjing, China 1 2 For wearable devices such as GNSS bracelets and BLE headsets, the pursuit of lowering power consumption is an everlasting research topic [1-5]. Innovated topo
ISSCC 2025
Session 11
Wireless
A Compact Full-Duplex Receiver with Wideband Multi-Domain Hilbert-Transform-Equalization Cancellation Based on Multi-Stage APFs Achieving 65dB SIC Across 120MHz BW
efficiency, selfinterference-cancellation (SIC) techniques have received great attention to break through the main bottleneck caused by SI signals. The main issue of SIC techniques is how to broaden product of delay and
ISSCC 2025
Session 11
Wireless
A Blocker-Tolerant Receiver with VCO-Based Non-Uniform Multi-Level Time-Approximation Filter with -36dB EVM in 28nm CMOS
of Waterloo, Waterloo, Canada 1 2 The growing demand for wirelessly connected devices and networks has resulted in increasingly crowded spectrum, and hence blocker-tolerant receivers have drawn more attention. The undesi
ISSCC 2025
Session 11
Wireless
A 256-Element Ka-Band CMOS Phased-Array Receiver Using Switch-Type Quadrature-Hybrid-First Architecture for Small Satellite Constellations element quadrature hybrid when the switches are turned off in quadrature-hybrid mode. On the other hand, in through mode, the midpoint of the two inductors can be connected to the grounds by turning the switches on. As a result, signals input to the IN H and IN V ports will flow to the OUT L/H and OUT R/V ports respectively after a 45-degree phase shift.
Yudai Yamazaki1, Xiaolin Wang1, Xi Fu1, Dongwon You1, Makoto Higaki2, Jumpei Sudo2, Hiroshi Takizawa2, Masashi Shirakura2, Takashi Tomura1, Hiroyuki Sakai1, Kazuaki Kunihiro1, Kenichi Okada1, Atsushi Shirane1 By placing
ISSCC 2025
Session 10
mm-Wave
A 28nm Multimode Multiband RF Transceiver with Harmonic-Rejection TX and Spur-Avoidance RX Supporting LTE Cat1bis
Zherui Zhang1, Jingchen Tao1, Shenghao Sun3, Lei Wang3, Xu Wan3, Yuhang Jiang1, Haochen Zhu1, Jiayoon Ru1,2, Jinghua Zhang1, Jianhong Xiao1 XINYI Information Technology, Shanghai, China Peking University, Beijing, China
ISSCC 2025
Session 10
mm-Wave
A 2-TRX IR-UWB Transceiver with Shared Antennas Supporting Channels 5 to 12 in Compliance with IEEE 802.15.4/4z Standards
Junhyeong Kim, Sumin Kang, Chanho Kim, Wonkang Kim, Jongpil Cho, Seungyoung Bae, Yanghoon Lee, Sungbeom Kim, Hyeonuk Son, Junyoung Jang, Taeyeon Kim, Sanguk Cho, Misuk Cho, Chiyoung Ahn, Hyukjun Sung, Wan Kim, Seunghyun
ISSCC 2025
Session 10
mm-Wave
A D-Band 2D-Scalable 4×4 Active Reflective Relay with Orthogonally Polarized On-Chip TX/RX Antennas and In-Front-End Common-Centroid Fast Azimuth/Elevation Angle-of-Arrival Detection
With the increasing demand for data rates, the mm-Wave and sub-THz spectrums have been actively explored for 6G wireless communication and sensing [1,2]. Although utilizing phased arrays with pencil-sharp beams overcomes
ISSCC 2025
Session 10
mm-Wave
A 132-to-148GHz CMOS 4TX-4RX FMCW Radar Transceiver Array with Cavity-Backed Antenna-in-Package Achieving 28dBm EIRP
Hao Shi, Fei Li, Zhenhua Xu, Ruipeng Liu, Shuangxu Li, Yongqiang Wang, Keping Wang, Haipeng Fu, Fanyi Meng, Kaixue Ma Tianjin University, Tianjin, China Due to the large available bandwidth, the D-band (110 to 170GHz) sp
ISSCC 2025
Session 10
mm-Wave
A 77GHz Hybrid TDMA-MIMO Phased-Array Radar with 186m Detection Range and 3cm Range Resolution
Sheng Sun, Zihao Ren, Cong Zhang, Ziyao Wang, Guangsheng Chen, Chunqi Shi, Leilei Huang, Long Xu, Runxi Zhang East China Normal University, Shanghai, China *Equally Credited Authors (ECAs) Millimeter-wave radar has been
ISSCC 2025
Session 1
Plenary
The Crucial Role of Semiconductors in the Software-Defined Vehicle Peter Schiefer
The world urgently needs new and smart forms of mobility. Pushed by the desire for eversmarter and ever-more connected cars, by the need to comply with ever-stricter emission standards, and by the calls for sustainable a
ISSCC 2025
Session 1
Plenary
AI Revolution Driven by Memory Technology Innovation Jaihyuk Song
1.0 Introduction The memory industry is facing unprecedented challenges as it enters the AI era. The “memory wall” phenomenon, which impedes the speed of system improvements and the evolution of AI algorithms, is intensi
ISSCC 2025
Session 1
Plenary
From Chips to Thoughts: Building Physical Intelligence into Robotic Systems Daniela Rus
1. Introduction The rapid growth of AI technologies has brought unprecedented advancements across numerous domains, from healthcare to autonomous systems, yet this progress has been accompanied by substantial energy dema
ISSCC 2025
Session 1
Plenary
AI Era Innovation Matrix Navid Shahriari
problems with speed and accuracy, and unlocking new realms of innovation and understanding. The lightning-fast progression of AI, unprecedented in history, necessitates rapid advancements at a system level, from low-powe
ISSCC 2024
Session 9
Data Converters
A 2.72fJ/conv 13b 2MS/s SAR ADC Using Dynamic Capacitive Comparator with Wide Input Common Mode
As SAR resolution increases, comparator power increases exponentially [1-2]. This problem should be mitigated, especially in battery-powered applications. Recent low power and noise comparators utilized dynamic pre-ampli
ISSCC 2024
Session 9
Data Converters
A 9.3nV/rtHz 20b 40MS/s 94.2dB DR Signal-Chain Friendly Precision SAR Converter
Mark Vickery1, Luke Smithers1, William Buckley3, Monsoon Dutt1, Pasquale Delizia4, Derek Hummerston1, Pawel Czapor3 return high, marking the acquisition of the complementary set of 8 sampling DACs. The remaining timing m
ISSCC 2024
Session 9
Data Converters
A 94.3dB SNDR 184dB FoMs 4th-Order Noise-Shaping SAR ADC with Dynamic-Amplifier-Assisted Cascaded Integrator
Upbeat Technology, Taipei, Taiwan 1 2 The noise-shaping (NS) SAR ADC, which features the advantages of sigma-delta ADCs and SAR ADCs, is high accuracy and low power, so it stands out as a great choice for audio applicati
ISSCC 2024
Session 9
Data Converters
A 6th-Order Quadrature CTDSM using Double-OTA and Quadrature NSSAR with 171.3dB FoMs in 14nm We introduce an extra CC path (shaded blocks in Fig. 9.6.3) to the integrator within NSSAR to achieve even higher SNR. This transforms the NTF of the NSSAR to the desired band, resulting in further suppressed quantization noise in the target bandwidth. Figure 9.6.3 shows the effectiveness of our QNSSAR with the simulated quantization noise using three different quantizers in a quadrature CT-DSM with ideal models. The resulting SQNR utilizing QNSSAR is 93.52dB while the conventional SAR, and NSSAR give 76.35dB, and 88.36dB, respectively.
low-intermediatefrequency (low-IF) architecture is widely chosen for energy efficient wireless communication systems, such as Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) and IoT. The low-IF architecture typically requires filters for anti-
ISSCC 2024
Session 9
Data Converters
A 118.5dBA DR 3.3mW Audio ADC with a Class-B Resistor
increased the need for lowpower, high dynamic range (DR) audio ADCs. In these applications, the DR specification determines the maximum distance at which a low-cost microphone can obtain a good quality recording. THD+N (S
ISSCC 2024
Session 9
Data Converters
A 182.3dB FoMs 50MS/s Pipelined-SAR ADC using Cascode Capacitively Degenerated Dynamic Amplifier and MSB Pre-Conversion Technique
Information Technology of Peking University, Hangzhou, China 1 2 The residue amplifier (RA) in a pipelined-SAR ADC eases the noise requirement of the back-end stage, making the architecture energy-efficient. However, to ac
ISSCC 2024
Session 9
Data Converters
A 71dB SNDR 200MHz BW Interleaved Pipe-SAR ADC with a Shared Residue Integrating Amplifier Achieving 173dB FoMs
Wideband (BW >100MHz) and high-dynamic-range (DR >70dB) ADCs are in high demand for next-generation wireless standards. Conventional ADC solutions face challenges in both performance and efficiency: CTDSMs demonstrate fav
ISSCC 2024
Session 9
Data Converters
A 2.08mW 64.4dB SNDR 400MS/s 12b Pipelined-SAR ADC using Mismatch and PVT Variation Tolerant Dynamically Biased Ring Amplifier in 8nm
energy-efficient alternatives to OTAs for switchedcapacitor residue amplifiers. A ring amplifier is essentially a cascaded multi-stage inverter-based amplifier that is stabilized by a dominant pole at the last stage output w
ISSCC 2024
Session 9
Data Converters
A 2mW 70.7dB SNDR 200MS/s Pipelined-SAR ADC with Continuous-Time SAR-Assisted Detect-and-Skip and Open-then-Close Correlated Level Shifting
Information Technology of Peking University, Hangzhou, China 1 2 The pipelined-SAR ADC has become popular in wide-bandwidth and high-resolution applications due to its power-efficient architecture [1]. In the pursuit of h
ISSCC 2024
Session 8
Power Management
A 96.5% Peak Efficiency Duty-Independent DC-DC Step-Up Converter with Low Input-Level Voltage Stress and Mode-Adaptive Inductor Current Reduction
to efficiently convert a low input voltage (VIN) to a higher output voltage (VOUT) in USB- or battery-powered mobile systems, including battery chargers (10 to 13V), OLED drivers (5 to 13V), etc. The conventional boost co
ISSCC 2024
Session 8
Power Management
A 97.18% Peak-Efficiency Asymmetrically Implemented Dual-phase (AID) Converter with a full Voltage-Conversion Ratio (VCR) between 0-and-1
smaller and need to achieve a higher performance, a DC-DC converter using a small-size inductor (L) has become necessary. Accordingly, as shown in Fig. 8.8.1, previous researches have suggested various methods to achieve