ECE Students Pave Way for Future Semiconductor Research

As the University of Maryland continues to grow its position in the national semiconductor ecosystem through research and workforce development, a group of ECE undergraduate and graduate students has successfully designed and implemented application-specific integrated circuits. Their projects encompassed the full range of semiconductor design, from the initial design to the final tapeout, resulting in a product ready to be manufactured at a commercial foundry.

Under the guidance of ECE Professor Sahil Shah, co-instructor Dr. Vineeta Nair and teaching assistant Gavin Bogdan, students created application-specific circuits (ASICs) using 180 nm CMOS technology developed by the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC). This allowed them to gain hands-on experience in the complete semiconductor design process, including design, simulation, verification, physical layout and fabrication.

Further support for the program was provided by UCLA’s Center for Education of Microelectronic Designers (CEMiD), Muse Semiconductor, and Cadence Design Systems. Fabrication access, industry-standard electronic design automation (EDA) tools and critical resources for chip development provided students with a solid overview of the same design methodologies and workflows used by professional semiconductor engineers.

As the United States continues to invest in rebuilding its semiconductor ecosystem and strengthening domestic microelectronics capabilities, workforce development in integrated circuit design has become a national priority. Modern semiconductor technologies form the foundation of critical infrastructure, artificial intelligence, communications, healthcare, transportation, aerospace, and national defense systems.

Providing opportunities for students to develop expertise in ASIC design not only equips them with highly sought-after technical skills but also helps address the growing demand for engineers capable of advancing the next generation of microelectronic technologies. Through this experience, students learned industry-standard electronic design automation (EDA) tools, developed expertise in analog, digital, mixed-signal, RF, and neuromorphic circuit design, and worked collaboratively in multidisciplinary teams to solve complex engineering challenges.

Participating undergraduate students were Anthony Fava, George Jamaldinian, Matthew Jiang, Brandon Koskey, Arthur Milian, Anders Nelson, Jay Patel, Andrew Schaefer, and Brian Wall. Graduate student participants were Irem Didin, Kaushik Lakshmiramanan, and Yihui Wang.

Student projects ranged from RF energy harvesting and mixed-signal data converters to neural interfaces, neuromorphic computing systems, and emerging memory technologies. The breadth and innovation of these student-led designs achieved the dual objective of demonstrating the technical excellence, creativity, and dedication of University of Maryland ECE students as well as contributing to the development of the future semiconductor workforce.

Published June 24, 2026