IC Design Resorces/Avenues

Journals/Conferences

Some of the journals & conferences to watch out for include:

• IEEE Journal of Solid-State Circuits (JSSC)

• IEEE Solid-State Circuits Letters (SSCL)

• IEEE Transactions on Circuits and Systems I: Regular Papers (TCAS I)

• IEEE Transactions on Circuits and Systems II: Express Briefs (TCAS II)

• IEEE Transactions on Microwave Theory and Techniques (TMTT)

The following are some of the best conferences to find proceedings on different domains of IC design. Apart from ISCAS and at-times CICC, all others require results from a taped-out IC. If you are planning to submit a manuscript in any of those conferences, then you MUST target a tape-out at least SIX months before the submission deadline.

• Radio Frequency Integrated Circuits Symposium (RFIC symposium)

  • Paper submission deadline: mid-January (usually)

  • Conference date: last week of June (usually)

• Symposium on VLSI Circuits (VLSI Symposium)

  • Paper submission deadline: first week of February (usually)

  • Conference date: October end (usually)

• European Conference on Solid-State Circuits (ESSCIRC) 

  • Paper submission deadline: Mid-April (usually)

  • Conference date: Last week of September (usually)

• IEEE Asian Conference on Solid-State Circuits (ASSCC)

  • Paper submission deadline: first week of June (usually)

  • Conference date: first week of November (usually)

• IEEE International Conference on Solid-State Circuits (ISSCC)

  • Paper submission deadline:  end of Aug (usually)

  • Conference date: Mid-February (usually)

• IEEE International Symposium on Circuits and Systems (ISCAS)

  • Paper submission deadline: October end (usually)

  • Conference date: May end to first week of June (usually)

• Custom Integrated Circuits Conference (CICC)

  • Paper submission deadline: mid-November (usually)

  • Conference date: April end (usually)

and more...

Reading the latest issues of these publications is an excellent exercise to keep up with the research in the circuits world! 

Reading a paper and understanding/grasping the important information is itself a skill. Remember that one journal article is usually the result of several years of a researcher's work! So it is not possible to understand every nitty-gritty detail of the work by reading the paper. So, the focus must be on understanding the problem the paper aims to solve, the idea/technique proposed to solve it, and how this improves the performance and state-of-the-art. Take a look at this reference on "How to read a paper?". 

Additionally, doing a reverse-engineering to figure out how one might have actually come up with the technique/idea helps gain a deeper understanding. And this process might also reward you with your own new ideas!

Lighter Reads

• IEEE Solid-State Circuits Magazine (Tutorial columns are fun and easy to follow!)

• IEEE Circuits and Systems Magazine

Both of the above magazines are quarterly publications! 

Yearly Student Competitions

• CASS Student Design Competition

• IEEE SSCS International Student Circuit Contest