Yu (Kevin) Cao

Assistant Professor, Department of EE

Affiliated Professor, Department of CSE

Arizona State University

Ph.D. in EE, University of California, Berkeley, 2002

B.S. in Physics, Peking University, 1996

Curriculum Vitae

Nanoscale Integration and Modeling Group (NIMO)

Contact

336 GWC, ASU, Tempe, AZ 85287-5706

Tel.: 480-965-1472; FAX: 480-965-2811

E-mail: ycao at asu dot edu

Research

Openings: I currently have a couple of openings for Ph.D. graduate students (only) who have the background in both IC design and nanoscale silicon technology. If you are interested, welcome to come by during my office hours. For more in-depth information, please visit the webpage of the NIMO Group.

My research focuses on modeling and design techniques for reliable, low-power, and high-performance systems, motivated by both evolutionary and revolutionary advances in nanoscale technology. I am particularly interested in the following topics:

  • Compact modeling for nanoscale CMOS and post-silicon technologies

  • Physical-level design and tools for variability and reliability

  • Reliable integration of emerging technologies

  • High-speed and low-power design techniques

To explore early stage design solutions, Predictive Technology Model (PTM) is developed for sub-45nm technology generations, covering traditional bulk CMOS, alternative materials and structures (e.g., FinFET), and post-silicon devices (e.g., CNT-FET). In addition, this predictive modeling framework accurately captures emerging physical effects, such as variability and reliability. To investigate more, welcome to visit PTM and send me your valuable feedbacks.

Teaching

EEE 333 (F08), “HDL and Programmable Logic”, T/Th, 1:30-2:45pm, Office hours: T/Th, 3:00-4:00pm

EEE 333 (S08), “HDL and Programmable Logic”, Office hours: T/Th, 11:00-12:00pm

EEE 525 (F07), “VLSI design,” Office hours: M/W, 2:00-3:00pm

EEE 525 (S07), “VLSI design,” Office hours: M/W, 1:30-2:30pm

EEE 598 (F06), “Modeling and Design for Nano-CMOS Technology,” Office hours: M/W, 1:30-2:30pm

EEE 525 (S06), “VLSI design,” Office hours: M/W, 1:30-2:30pm.

EEE 425 (F05), “Digital systems and circuits,” Office hours: M/W, 1:40-3:00pm.

EEE 525 (S05), “VLSI design,” Office hours: T, 3-5pm; Th, 2-3pm.

Professional Activities

Vice-Chair, Circuit Reliability Committee, IRPS, 2009.

Co-Organizer, IEEE/ACM Workshop on Compact Variability Modeling (CVM), 2008.

Chair, Device Modeling and Simulation Subcommittee, ICCAD, 2008.

Design Contest Chair, ISLPED 2008.

Member of the Compact Modeling Technical Committee, IEEE Electron Devices Society, 2007 - present

Program Committee Member:  DAC 2007/2008, GLSVLSI 2006-2008, ICCAD 2005-2007, ICCD 2005-2007, ISLPED 2005-2007, ISQED 2008, SLIP 2007/2008.

Session Chair: DAC 2005/2007, ICCAD 2005/2006, ICCD 2005, ISLPED 2005/2007, ISQED 2006.

Honors

Chunhui Award for Outstanding Oversea Chinese Scholars, Ministry of Education of China, 2008.

Best Paper Award: “Compact modeling of carbon nanotube transistor for early stage process-design exploration,” ISLPED 2007.

IBM Faculty Award, 2007.

NSF Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Award, 2006.

IBM Faculty Award, 2006.

Best Paper Award: “SRAM leakage suppression by minimizing standby supply voltage,” ISQED 2004.

Beatrice Winner Award: “Accurate in-situ measurement of peak noise and signal delay induced by interconnect coupling,” ISSCC 2000.

Regents Fellowship, University of California, Santa Cruz, 1996.

Publications

Some of my recent publications are selected as follows. A full list is available here.

  • B. Wong, A. Mittal, Y. Cao, and G. Starr, Nano-CMOS Circuit and Physical Design, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2004.

  • B. H. Calhoun, Y. Cao, X. Li, K. Mai, L. T. Pileggi, R. A. Rutenbar, and K. L. Shepard, "Digital circuit design challenges and opportunities in the era of nanoscale CMOS," Proceedings of IEEE, vol. 96, no. 2, pp. 343-365, February 2008.

  • W. Wang, V. Reddy, A. T. Krishnan, R. Vattikonda, S. Krishnan, Y. Cao, “Compact modeling and simulation of circuit reliability for 65nm CMOS technology”, IEEE Transactions on Device and Materials Reliability, vol. 7, no. 4, pp. 509-517, December 2007.

  • W. Zhao, F. Liu, K. Agarwal, D. Acharyya, S. Nassif, K. Nowka, Y. Cao, “Rigorous extraction of process variations for 65nm CMOS design,” European Solid-State Circuits Conference, pp. 89-92, 2007.

  • A. Balijepalli, S. Sinha, Y. Cao, “Compact modeling of carbon nanotube transistor for early stage process-design exploration,” International Symposium on Low Power Electronics and Design (best paper award), pp. 2-7, 2007.

  • W. Wang, S. Yang, S. Bhardwaj, R. Vattikonda, F. Liu, S. Vrudhula, Y. Cao, “The impact of NBTI on the performance of combinational and sequential circuits,” Design Automation Conference, pp. 364-369, 2007.

  • R. Singhal, A. Balijepalli, A. Subramaniam, F. Liu, S. Nassif, Y. Cao, “Modeling and analysis of non-rectangular gate for post-lithography circuit simulation,” Design Automation Conference, pp. 823-828, 2007.

  • M. Chen, W. Zhao, F. Liu, Y. Cao, “Fast statistical circuit analysis with finite-point based transistor model,” Design, Automation and Test in Europe, pp. 1391-1396, 2007.

  • H. Qin, R. Vattikonda, T. Trinh, Y. Cao, J. Rabaey, “SRAM cell optimization for ultra-low power standby,” ASP Journal of Low Power Electronics, vol. 2, no. 3, pp. 401-411, December 2006.

  • W. Zhao, Y. Cao, “New generation of predictive technology model for sub-45nm early design exploration,” IEEE Transactions on Electron Devices, vol. 53, no. 11, pp. 2816-2823, November 2006.

  • S. Bhardwaj, W. Wang, R. Vattikonda, Y. Cao, S. Vrudhula, “Predictive modeling of the NBTI effect for reliable design,” Custom Integrated Circuits Conference, pp. 189-192, 2006.

  • R. Vattikonda, W. Wang, Y. Cao, “Modeling and minimization of PMOS NBTI effect for robust nanometer design,” Design Automation Conference, pp. 1047-1052, 2006.

  • H. Qin, Y. Cao, D. Markovic, A. Vladimirescu, and J. Rabaey, “SRAM leakage suppression by minimizing standby supply voltage,” International Symposium on Quality Electronic Design (best paper award), pp. 55-60, 2004.

  • Y. Cao, R. A. Groves, N. D. Zamdmer, J. Plouchart, R. A. Wachnik, X. Huang, T. King, and C. Hu, “Frequency-independent equivalent circuit model for on-chip spiral inductors,” IEEE Journal of Solid-State Circuits, vol. 38, no. 3, pp. 419-426, March 2003.

 

Last updated on August 15, 2007. Contents subject to change. All rights reserved.