Larry of Brown University

Despite rapid progress in digital design flows, AI-driven analog, RF and microwave integrated circuit design remains a difficult challenge due to strong layout dependence, nonlinear behavior, multi-scale physical interactions, conflicting objectives, and the importance of tacit engineering intuition. This presentation reviews recent developments in AI-assisted analog and RF design, discusses the limitations, and explores the emerging concept of “vibe design.” Our field also advances spectacularly through major conceptual design breakthroughs, and the talk will explore how AI-enabled  systems may be able to  achieve this level of sophistication and impact. 

Biography:

Prof. and Founding Dean, College of Engineering, Brown University.

Lawrence Larson received the B.S. degree in electrical engineering from Cornell University and the Ph.D. degree in electrical engineering from UCLA. From 1980 to 1996, he was with Hughes Research Laboratories, Malibu, CA, USA, where he directed the development of high-frequency microelectronics in GaAs, InP and Si/SiGe, and MEMS technologies. He was the inaugural holder of the Communications Industry Chair with the University of California, in 1996. He was the Director with the UCSD Center for Wireless Communications from 2001 to 2006 and was the Chair with the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering from 2007 to 2011. He joined Brown University, Providence, RI, USA, in 2011, where he was the Founding Dean of the School of Engineering until 2022. He served as Interim Provost at Brown during the 2023 academic year. He has published over 300 papers, received over 40 US patents, and co-authored four books. Dr. Larson was the recipient of the Hughes Sector Patent Award in 1994 for his work on RF MEMS, co-recipient of the 1996 Lawrence A. Hyland Patent Award of Hughes Electronics, for his work on low-noise millimeter-wave HEMTs, co-recipient of the 1999 IBM Microelectronics Excellence Award for his work in Si/SiGe HBT technology.