The researchunit circuit design is working on integrated circuit design. There are two mainresearch areas, on the one hand analogue integrated circuits and on the otherhand optoelectronic integrated circuits. In the areaof analogue integrated circuit design the integration of analogue circuits,e.g. operational amplifiers, mixers or filters, in state-of-the art nanometerCMOS technologies is the main focus. With the ongoing shrinking of thetechnology the supply voltages drop as well as the characteristics of thedevices gets worse and worse. These limiting conditions necessitate newconcepts and innovative ideas in circuit design. The secondfocus is on optoelectronic integrated circuits. The integration of photosensitivedevices in CMOS and BiCMOS silicon technologies is the first step, the next oneis the integration of complete optical receivers and signal processing.

Bothresearch areas require beside careful design also the characterization of therealized microchips, which can be done in the own laboratory. The research unitCircuit Design is working on integrated circuit engineering.