===============================================================================
 SIGDA -- The Resource for EDA Professionals     http://www.sigda.org

 This newsletter is a free service for current SIGDA members
 and is added automatically with a new SIGDA membership.
 Circulation: 2,700
===============================================================================

   1 December 2007       ACM/SIGDA E-NEWSLETTER       Vol. 37, No. 23

   Online archive: http://www.sigda.org/newsletter

===============================================================================

Contents of this E-NEWSLETTER:

(1) SIGDA News
      Contributing author: Lin Yuan 
      Contributing author: Qing Wu 

(2) What are high-K and low-K dielectrics?
      Author: Jerzy Ruzyllo, Penn State University

(3) Paper Submission Deadlines
      From: Hai Zhou 

(4) Upcoming Symposia, Conferences and Workshops
      From: Hai Zhou 

(5) Upcoming Funding Opportunities
      From: Qinru Qiu 

(6) Call for Participation: ASP-DAC 2008
      From: Hai Zhou 

===============================================================================

Dear ACM/SIGDA members,

  In this issue, we have reprinted the " What are high-K and low-K
dielectrics?" column in the previous issue. In addition, "SIGDA News" column
contains a number of fresh headlines. We have also updated the contents of
other regular columns.

  As always, we welcome your comments and suggestions. If you would like to
participate or contribute to the content of the E-Newsletter, please feel free
to contact any of us.

Qing Wu, E-Newsletter Editor;
Matthew Guthaus, E-Newsletter Associate Editor;
Marc Riedel, E-Newsletter Associate Editor;
Qinru Qiu, E-Newsletter Associate Editor;
Lin Yuan, E-Newsletter Associate Editor;
Hai Zhou, E-Newsletter Associate Editor;

===============================================================================

SIGDA News
-----------------------
"Shake Your Phone to Check Messages, Battery Power"
http://www.eetimes.com/news/design/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=204300937
Researchers at the University of Glasgow have demonstrated an interface that 
allows mobile phone users to check if the power is low or whether there are 
unopened messages by simply shaking the device. Dubbed the "Shoogle" the system 
uses a phone's speaker and vibrator to make a device feel and sound as if it 
contains liquid when it is running out of power. To represent number of 
messages in a phone's inbox, Shoogle . which takes its name from a 
Scottish-English word meaning to shake . models the movement of the equivalent 
number of balls, as if anchored by a spring inside a box. The technology is 
being developed by John Williamson of the Department of Computing Science at 
the University, with colleagues Rod Murray-Smith and Stephen Hughes. 

"Practical Power Network Synthesis For Power-Gating Designs"
http://www.eetimes.com/news/design/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=199903073&pgno=1
Although methodologies for power network synthesis typically assume that design 
tools can freely size sleep transistors for power gating, this assumption does 
not hold up for real-world SoC designs where the sleep transistors are commonly 
designed as custom switch cells of fixed sizes. The method described in this 
article avoids this unrealistic assumption and introduces the concept of a 
"fake via" to enable power network synthesis using existing EDA tools. This 
method simultaneously optimizes the number and positions of sleep transistors 
and the power network's grids and wires for minimum area, maximum routeability 
with a given IR-drop target. With this automated method for synthesizing the 
power network, you can more easily take advantage of power gating to reduce 
leakage power consumption dramatically in SoCs. 

"Carbon Transistors Touted As Outperforming Amorphous Silicon"
http://www.eetimes.com/news/design/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=204300284
Processing semiconductors at room temperature could enable large-scale 
applications like electronic billboards and ultra-low-cost applications 
like disposable RFID tags. But most room-temperature transistors have dismal 
electron mobility measured in the hundredths of centimeters2 per volt second 
(cm2/Vs). Now, Georgia Institute of Technology researchers are claiming to 
have perfected a method of making room- temperature transistors that are 
100-times faster--as fast a amorphous silicon--by fabricating their channels 
from thin films of carbon-60 (C60), also knows as buckyballs or fullerenes. 

"Researcher Claims to Have Found Missing Dark Matter"
http://www.eetimes.com/news/latest/showArticle.jhtml
As much as 96 percent of the known Universe seems to be missing. Called 
dark matter or dark energy, the missing elements do not appear to emit or 
reflect enough electromagnetic radiation to be directly observed. Thus, 
they must be inferred from their gravitational effects on visible matter. 
Some researchers have proposed quantum effects as an explanation of the 
location of missing dark energy, but other astrophysicists claim there 
should be much more dark matter concentrated in the center of distant 
galaxies. Researchers at McMaster University (Hamilton, Ontario) now 
claim to have located the missing dark matter in a halo around galaxies. 
Using a supercomputer to create the most accurate model yet of galaxy 
formation, the researchers claim the missing matter was there all along, 
just not where researchers expected it to be. 

"Verizon Adopts LTE for 4G Wireless Platform"
http://www.eetimes.com/news/latest/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=204301110
Verizon on Thursday disclosed plans to roll out its fourth-generation 
mobile broadband network using a technology called Long Term Evolution, 
while also adopting a common access platform with Vodafone to provide 
services worldwide based on the technology. LTE is a high-speed cellular 
technology developed by the Third Generation Partnership Project standards 
organization, known as 3GPP. LTE is an upgrade to High Speed Downlink 
Packet Access, a GSM implementation of a 3G cellular technology that is 
capable of providing speeds of up to 10 Mbps and global roaming. 

"NIST On Road to Perpetual Motion With 'Superfluidity' Demo"
http://www.eetimes.com/news/latest/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=204301011
Perpetual motion is forbidden by the laws of classical physics, but in 
the quantum realm frictionless motion is possible. For instance, a closed 
loop of superconducting wire can exhibit perpetual motion, albeit only for 
electrons traveling around the frictionless loop of wire. If only such 
frictionless motion could be demonstrated for a fluid, then "superfluidity" 
could realize the frictionless motion of atoms around a torus, thereby 
enabling ultra-sensitive rotational sensors to be built. Now the 
frictionless motion of superfluidity has been demonstrated at the National 
Institute of Standards and Technology and the Joint Quantum Institute at 
the University of Maryland. True perpetual motion is still years away, 
but the agency recently demonstrated a proof-of-concept--what it called 
"persistent" motion--using an ultra-cold form of matter called a 
Bose"Einstein condensate. NIST predicts that eventually it will harness 
the quantum effects of superfluidity for the frictionless motion of matter, 
much like the frictionless motion of electrons in superconductors. Such 
superfluids could enable NIST to build ultra-sensitive navigation sensors 
not possible using classical materials. 

"Applied Drives CMP Process Control Down to 45 nm and Smaller"
http://www.edn.com/article/CA6506398.html?industryid=47037
To allow real-time control of dielectric chemical mechanical planarization 
(CMP) processes to the 45 nm device node and beyond, Santa Clara, 
Calif.-based semiconductor manufacturing equipment leader Applied Materials 
Inc. today announced its FullVision system. The FullVision system combines 
Applied.s window-in-pad technology with multiple-wavelength spectroscopy 
to allow advanced in situ endpoint capability for a variety of dielectric 
materials, such as oxide, shallow trench isolation (STI), and poly CMP.

"Full Bridge Flourescent Backlight Controllers Suit LCD TVs"
http://www.eetasia.com/ART_8800491604_480700_NP_f8deebce.HTM
NXP has announced its high-voltage, full bridge fluorescent backlight 
controller IC, the UBA2074, and its low-voltage twin, the UBA2072. The two 
chips form a new family of full bridge fluorescent backlight controller ICs 
designed specifically to address the trend toward growing display sizes, 
and the increased use of high-supply voltage backlight inverter solutions 
in LCD TV applications. 
 
"Energy Harvesting Matures"
http://www.eetimes.com/news/latest/showArticle.jhtml
At least two energy harvesting companies are reporting sharp increases in 
sales to customers who are finding all types of ordinary uses for power 
harvesting devices in advance of widespread deployment of wireless sensor 
networks. Energy harvesting for wireless sensor networks enable remote nodes 
to run unattended for years. They work by storing enough charge from an 
environmental transducer to periodically power-up, take a reading and 
transmit the reading. The market remains small, but is predicted to grow at 
a rate of 65 percent--exceeding 200 million units by 2010, according to 
Darnell Group Inc. 

"Chips Address Lighting Challenge"
http://www.eetasia.com/ART_8800486881_765245_NT_8acfa216.HTM
Compare today's portable consumer electronics devices with their predecessors 
from just a few years ago, and you'll see why lighting has become a major 
power management challenge. Handsets with a single passive LCD panel are 
quickly becoming relics. Today's devices feature high-performance, high-
resolution 2.5- to 3-inch diagonal color displays to support applications 
that run the gamut from Internet access and mobile TV to video playback. 
In recent years, power management IC (PMIC) manufacturers have developed 
a variety of chips to offer engineers higher levels of control and to 
simplify design. Consider the LM27965 from National Semiconductor Corp. 
The WLED driver can drive up to nine LEDs in parallel with a total output 
of 180mA. To maximize designers' control, the current sinks can be split 
into two or three independently controlled groups with four or five LEDs 
configured to backlight a main display; two or three for a subdisplay; and 
a single, independently controlled driver to manage a status or indicator 
LED. Each group is controlled via a standard I2C interface. 

"Power Transmission Without the Power Electronics "
http://www.spectrum.ieee.org/nov07/5714
During their low-resolution beginnings, digital music and photography 
delivered a jarring rendition of sounds and images, full of noticeable 
discontinuities. Today, you get the same sort of thing from semiconductor-
power electronics devices used to manage power flows on high-voltage 
transmission grids, and those jarring oscillations can damage the high-
precision turbines spinning in power plants. This costly problem inspired 
engineers at General Electric Co.'s Atlanta-based GE Energy division to go 
back to the future and create a new semiconductor-free-power control device: 
the variable-frequency transformer, or VFT. 

"Micron Debuts Solid State Drives"
http://electronicdesign.com/Articles/Index.cfm?ArticleID=17711&bypass=1
Riding a surge in NAND-based memory devices, Micron Technology entered the 
growing solid state drive (SSD) market with its RealSSD family of products 
that includes the RealSSD Solid State Drive, RealSSD Embedded USB, and the 
RealSSD Module. The company's SSDs are designed for computing, server, and 
networking applications, and vary in density from 1 gigabyte (GB) to 64 GBs. 

"Mobile Phone Market Grows Smarter"
http://www.edn.com/article/CA6504559.html?industryid=47037
Mobile phone sales were up in Q3, no matter which research house you choose to
reference.  Following sequential unit growth reports from IDC and Strategy
Analytics  late last month, The NPD Group  this week released quarterly data
that showed mobile phone sales to consumers in the U.S. reached 38 million
units in Q3, an increase of nearly 16 percent compared to unit sales figures
from the previous quarter. The firm noted, however, that Q2 is traditionally a
slow sales quarter for mobile phone retailers. 

"SEMI: North American October Book-to-bill Up Slightly"
http://www.edn.com/article/CA6501896.html?industryid=47037
According to the SEMI industry association late Thursday, North American-based
manufacturers of semiconductor equipment posted $1.23 billion in orders in
October on a three-month average basis and a book-to-bill ratio of 0.83,
compared to September's ratio of 0.81, later revised to 0.79, marking a mild
improvement in equipment orders.

"Leds Shine As Replacement For Lightbulb"
http://www.eetimes.com/news/semi/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=203101640
"What are claimed to be the first white light-emitting diodes (WLEDs) to
achieve a high color-rendering index were recently demonstrated by an
international collaborative team of researchers. This could answer the last
remaining stumbling block to universal adoption of white LEDs to replace
incandescent bulbs and fluorescent tubes. 

"Printed ICs Aim To Make Mark On Mainstream"
http://www.eetimes.com/news/semi/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=203101755
After several false starts, developers of thin-film transistor circuits last
week claimed breakthroughs that they believe will finally push the technology
to market. If successful, the efforts could enable a long-promised low-cost
class of electronic paper, displays, labels, RFID tags, sensors, smart cards
and perhaps even programmable wallpaper.

"Math Error Could Compromise Cryptographic Systems"
http://www.eetimes.com/news/semi/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=204200211
A highly respected cryptographer warned on Friday that the increasing
sophistication of computer chip design raises the risk that undetected bugs
could be used to crack public key encryption systems.  The warning was issued
by Adi Shamir, a professor at Israel's Weizmann Institute of Science. The "S"
in RSA, one such public key encryption algorithm, belongs to Shamir. 

"Solid-State Terahertz Emitter Devised"
http://www.eetimes.com/news/semi/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=204203898
A unique, inexpensive solid-state source of terahertz radiation has been
demonstrated by Argonne National Laboratories, working with researchers in
Japan and Turkey. Terahertz (THz) frequencies can penetrate clothing, leather,
fabric, cardboard, paper and some building materials, but not metal or water.
Since they are non-ionizing (unlike x-rays, which can knock your electrons out
of orbit, terahertz emitters enable "x-ray vision" applications without the
health hazards, for everything from security scans to medical and dental
imaging. 

"Interview: Intel Research Trio Discuss 45-nm High-k"
http://www.eetimes.com/news/latest/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=204201443
Intel Corp. started 2007 with a bang with a breakthrough in transistor design,
one of the biggest advancements in 40 years. In fact, 45nm high-k then became
one of the buzzwords early on as Intel drew first blood in its highly intense
battle for processor supremacy.

"The Transistor: 60 Years Old and Still Switching"
http://www.eetimes.com/news/latest/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=204300928
Sixty years ago this month, scientists at Bell Labs demonstrated the most
important invention of the 20th century: the first real transistor.  It's hard
to say when the electronics age started, but William Sturgeon's 1825
development of the electromagnet laid the seeds that led to Joseph Henry's
crude telegraph in 1830, which was the first electrical system used to
communicate over long distances (a mile). Just 14 years later, Samuel Morse
sent a message by telegraph over a 40-mile link he had strung between
Washington DC and Baltimore.


==============================================================================

What are high-K and low-K dielectrics?
---------------------------------------
Author: Jerzy Ruzyllo, Penn State University

Semiconductor Notes, Note No 1, posted April 15, 2003
(http://www.semiconductornotes.com/notes/ViewFile.asp?Which=30)

The dielectric constant, k, is a parameter defining ability of material to
store charge. Consequently, it also defines capacitance, C, of any capacitor
comprising of a layer of dielectric sandwiched between two metal plates. In
the figure below size of the upper plate defines area of the capacitor contact
(A).

All other parameters equal, k would determine capacitance of the above
structure, or in other words, it would define the extent of capacitive
coupling between two conducting plates . with .high.-k dielectric such
coupling would be strong, and with .low.-k dielectric being obviously weak. In
Si technology the reference is a value of k of silicon dioxide, SiO2, which is
3.9. Dielectrics featuring k>3.9 are referred to as .high.-k dielectric while
dielectric featuring k<3.9 are defined as .low.-k dielectrics.

In cutting edge silicon nanoelectronics both high- and low-k dielectrics are
needed to implement fully functional very high-density integrated circuit,
although, for drastically different reasons. High-k dielectrics are needed in
MOS gate stacks to maintain sufficiently high capacitance of the metal
(gate)-dielectric-Si structure in MOS/CMOS transistors (Fig. 2). Due to the
continued scaling of the channel length (L), and hence reduced gate area A,
the need to maintain sufficient capacitance of the MOS gate stack was met by
gradual decrease of the thickness of SiO2 gate oxide (see Eq.1).  Obviously
such scaling cannot continue indefinitely as at certain point gate oxide will
become so thin (thinner than about 1 nm) that, due to excessive tunneling
current, it would stop playing role of an insulator. Hence, dielectric
featuring k higher than 3.9, i.e. one assuring same capacitive coupling but at
the larger physical thickness of the film, must be used instead of SiO2 as a
gate dielectric in advanced MOS/CMOS integrated circuits.

On the opposite end of the spectrum finds itself a multi-layer metallization
scheme in which inter-layerdielectric(ILD) is used to electrically insulate
metal lines. In this case it is of critical importance that the capacitive
coupling between adjacent interconnect lines (Fig. 3) is as limited as
possible. Hence, a low-k dielectric must be used to assure as little
capacitive coupling (low .cross-talk.) between interconnect lines as possible.

Whether the problem is with high-k dielectrics for MOS gates or low-k
dielectrics for ILDs, lack of viable technical solutions in either of these
areas will bring any future progress in mainstream silicon technology to a
halt.


==============================================================================

Paper Submission Deadlines:
----------------------------

GLSVLSI'08 - Great Lakes Symposium on VLSI (Sponsored by SIGDA)
Orlando, FL
May 4-6, 2008
Deadline: Dec 7, 2007 (extended)
http://www.glsvlsi.org/

ICAC'08 - Int'l Conference on Autonomic Computing
Chicago, IL
Jun 2-6, 2008
Deadline: Dec 1, 2007
http://www.acis.ufl.edu/~icac2008/

ISVLSI'08 - Annual Symposium on VLSI
Montpellier, France
Apr 7-9, 2008
Deadline: Dec 5, 2007
http://www.lirmm.fr/isvlsi2008/

SLIP'08 - Int'l Workshop on System Level Interconnect Prediction
Newcastle, UK
Apr 5-6, 2008
Deadline: Dec 7, 2007
http://www.sliponline.org/

EWME'08 - European Workshop on Microelectronics Education
Budapest, Hungary
May 28-30, 2008
Deadline: Dec 10, 2007
http://www.eet.bme.hu/new/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=129&Itemid=160

RCE'08 - Reconfigurable Computing Education
Montpellier, France
Apr 10, 2008
Deadline: Dec 15, 2007
http://helios.informatik.uni-kl.de/RCeducation08/

RFID'08 - Conference on RFID
Las Vegas, NV
Apr 16-17, 2008
Deadline: Dec 19, 2007
http://www.ieee-rfid.org/

ACSD'08 - Int'l Conference on Application of Concurrency to System Design
(sponsored by SIGDA)
Xi.an, China
June 23-27, 2008
Deadline: Jan 4, 2008
http://ictt.xidian.edu.cn/acsd2008/Pages/ACSD_main.jsp

MEMOCODE'08 - Int'l Conference on Formal Methods and Models for Codesign
(sponsored by SIGDA)
Anaheim, CA
Jun 5-7, 2008
Deadline: Feb 1, 2008
http://svl1.cs.pdx.edu/memocode08/

==============================================================================

Upcoming Symposia, Conferences and Workshops:
---------------------------------------------

MICRO'07 - Int'l Symposium on Microarchitecture
Chicago, IL
Dec 1-5, 2007
http://www.microarch.org/micro40/

IP-SOC'07 - IP Based SoC Design
Grenoble, France
Dec 5-6, 2007
http://www.us.design-reuse.com/ipsoc2006/

ICPADS'07 - Int'l Conference on Parallel and Distributed Systems
Hsinchu, Taiwan
Dec 5-7, 2007
http://www.ccrc.nthu.edu.tw/icpads2007/

ICFPT'07 - Int'l Conference on Field-Programmable Technology
Kitakyushu, Japan
Dec 12-14, 2007
http://www.kameyama.ecei.tohoku.ac.jp/icfpt07/

EUC'07 - Int'l Conference on Embedded and Ubiquitous Computing
Taipei, Taiwan
Dec 17-20, 2007
http://www.cs.ccu.edu.tw/~shiwulo/euc07/

HiPC'07 - Int'l Conference on High Performance Computing
Goa, India
Dec 18-21, 2007
http://www.hipc.org/

ICM'07 - Int'l Conference on Microelectronics
Cairo, Egypt
Dec 29-31, 2007
http://www.ieee-icm.com/

VLSI'08 - Int'l Conference on VLSI Design (sponsored by SIGDA)
ES'08 - Int'l Conference on Embedded Systems
Hyderabad, India
Jan 4-8, 2008
http://vlsiconference.com/vlsi2008/

ASP-DAC'08 - Asia and South Pacific Design Automation Conference
(sponsored by SIGDA)
Seoul, Korea
Jan 21-24, 2008
http://www.aspdac.com/aspdac2008/

HiPEAC'08: Int'l Conference on High Performance Embedded Architectures &
Compilers
Goteborg, Sweden
Jan 27-29, 2008
http://www.hipeac.net/hipeac2008/

ISSCC'08 - Int'l Solid-State Circuits Conference
San Francisco, CA
Feb 3-7, 2008
http://isscc.org/isscc/

LATW'08 - Latin-American Test Workshop
Puebla, Mexico
Feb 17-20, 2008
http://www-elec.inaoep.mx/latw2008/

FPGA'08 Int'l Symposium on Field-Programmable Gate Arrays (sponsored by SIGDA)
Monterey, California
February 24-26, 2008
http://www.isfpga.org

TAU'08 - Int'l Workshop on Timing Issues in the Specification
and Synthesis of Digital Systems (Sponsored by SIGDA)
Monterey, CA
Feb 25-26, 2008
http://www.tauworkshop.com/

DATE'08 - Design Automation and Test in Europe (sponsored by SIGDA)
Munich, Germany
Mar 10-14, 2008
http://www.date-conference.com/

ISQED'08 - Int'l Symposium on Quality Electronic Design
San Jose, CA
Mar 17-19, 2008
http://www.isqed.org/

SPL'08 - Southern Conference on Programmable Logic
Bariloche-Patagonia, Argentina
Mar 26-28, 2008
http://www.splconf.org/

ASYNC'08: Int'l Symposium on Asynchronous Circuits and Systems
Newcastle, UK
Apr 7-11, 2008
http://async.org.uk/async2008/

NOCS'08 - Int'l Symposium on Networks-on-Chips
Newcastle, UK
Apr 7-11, 2008
http://async.org.uk/nocs2008/

ISPD'08 - Int'l Symposium on Physical Design (sponsored by SIGDA)
Portland, OR
Apr 13-16, 2008
http://www.ispd.cc/

RAW'08 - Reconfigurable Architectures Workshop
Miami, FL
Apr 14-15, 2008
http://www.ece.lsu.edu/vaidy/raw/

ISCAS'08 - Int'l Symposium on Circuits and Systems
Seattle, WA
May 18-21, 2008
http://iscas2008.org/

DAC'08 - Design Automation Conference (sponsored by SIGDA)
Anaheim, CA
Jun 9-13, 2008
Deadline: Nov 19, 2007
http://www.dac.com/

==============================================================================

Upcoming Funding Opportunities
------------------------------------

SRC

Call for Research in System-Level/High-Level Tools and Logic/Physical Design
Tools
Deadline: January 3, 2008
http://grc.src.org/fr/S200710_Call.asp


James S. McDonnell Foundation

Studying Complex Systems - 21st Century Science Collaborative Activity
Deadline: continuous
http://www.jsmf.org/programs/cs/


ETS

Postdoctoral Fellowship Award Program
Deadline: February 1, 2008
http://www.ets.org/portal/site/ets/menuitem.1488512ecfd5b8849a77b13bc3921509/?vgnextoid=a7d6d635e06ed010VgnVCM10000022f95190RCRD&vgnextchannel=0d03d635e06ed010VgnVCM10000022f95190RCRD

 
DOE

Broadening Participation and Collaborat
Deadline: September 30, 2008
http://www.science.doe.gov/grants/FAPN08-01.html


ANS

Student Grant
Deadline: Continuous. The committee reviews and votes on the requests at its
June and November meetings.
http://rrsd.ans.org/grants.html


IBM

IBM Herman Goldstine Fellowship
Deadline: January 5, 2008
http://domino.research.ibm.com/comm/research_projects.nsf/pages/goldstine.index.html


Postgraduate Opportunities

Postgraduate Research Participation at the Air Force Research Laboratory,
Materials Directorate, Tyndall Air Force Base
Deadline: Continuous
http://www.orau.gov/orise/edu/USAF/gi-pdRLMD.htm

Oak Ridge National Laboratory Advanced Short-Term Research Opportunity
Deadline: Continuous
http://www.orau.gov/orise/edu/ornl/gi-rgpdASTRO.htm


Faculty Opportunities

Faculty Research Participation at the U.S. Army Research Laboratory
Deadline: Continuous
http://see.orau.org/ProgramDescription.aspx?Program=10084


ASEE

Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) Postdoctoral Fellowship Program 
Deadline: Continuous. Applications are accepted on an ongoing basis.
http://www.asee.org/resources/fellowships/nrl/index.cfm


NIH

Information Technologies and the Internet in Health Services and Intervention
Delivery (R03)
Deadline:  February 16, 2008
                 June 16, 2008
                 October 16, 2008
http://grants2.nih.gov/grants/guide/pa-files/PA-06-225.html

NLM Knowledge Management & Applied Informatics Grants
Deadline: May 25, 2007
                September 25, 2007
                January 25, 2008
http://grants1.nih.gov/grants/guide/pa-files/PAR-07-236.html


NASA

Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) - N61339-06-R-0107 (Joint ADL Co-Laboratory)
Deadline: Continuous
http://nawctsd.navair.navy.mil/EBusiness/BusOps/Acquisitions/Index.cfm?client=STRICOM

Applied Information Systems Research - NNH07ZDA001N-AISR
Deadline: To be announced (TBA)
http://nspires.nasaprs.com/external/solicitations/summary.do?method=init&solId=%7B89FBF877-DD5F-AC6E-DAB3-AE19504EA70D%7D&path=open


DOD

Modeling and Simulation for Information Systems Research
Deadline:   FY 09 should be submitted by June 1, 2008
                 FY 10 should be submitted by June 1, 2009
http://fedbizopps.cos.com/cgi-bin/getRec?id=20061030a9

TRADOC FOC-03-06: Situational Understanding
Deadline: Continuous until August 26, 2009
https://abop.monmouth.army.mil/baas.nsf/1f6c118700adf19d85256d3d0051f9a2/31926e7d7d4b2e9285256f6d0056ce06?OpenDocument

Military Networking Technology for Global Information Exchange (GIE)
Deadline: Continuous until September, 2008
http://fedbizopps.cos.com/cgi-bin/getRec?id=20040909a11

Microsystems Technology Office-Wide BAA
Deadline: January 14, 2008
http://www.fbo.gov/spg/ODA/DARPA/CMO/BAA07%2D18/SynopsisP.html

ASEE-NRL Postdoctoral Fellowship Program
Deadline: Continuous
http://hroffice.nrl.navy.mil/jobs/postdoc.htm

Cognitive Technology Threat Warning System (CT2WS)
Deadline: April 11, 2008
http://fedbizopps.cos.com/cgi-bin/getRec?id=20070412a1

Warrior Systems Technologies - Body-Worn Systems, Hand Held Devices, and
Smart-Lightweight Electronic Components/Modules for Soldier Protection,
Knowledge Management and Cognitive Improvement
Deadline: Continuous. (April 1, 2007 ~ March 31, 2009)
https://www3.natick.army.mil/ssbaa.htm

Homeland Security (2.2.1) - N61339-02-R-0071
Deadline: Continuous. This BAA expires on January 30, 2008
http://www1.fbo.gov/spg/DON/NAVAIR/N61339/N61339-02-R-0071/Attachments.html

Microsystems Technology Office-Wide 
Deadline: January 14, 2009
http://www.fbo.gov/spg/ODA/DARPA/CMO/BAA07-18/Attachments.html

SPINS in Semiconductors
Deadline: December 31, 2008
http://fundingopps.cos.com/alerts/57993

Artificial Intelligence Technologies
Deadline: December 31, 2008
http://heron.nrl.navy.mil/contracts/baa.htm

Quantum Information Science and Technology
Deadline: December 31, 2008
http://heron.nrl.navy.mil/contracts/0708baa/baa.htm

Young Investigator Program (YIP)
January 12, 2008
http://www.onr.navy.mil/sci_tech/3t/corporate/yip.asp

High Density Optical Memory
Deadline: Continuous
http://www.afosr.af.mil/pdfs/afosr_baa_2007_1.pdf

Quantum Electronic Solids
Deadline: Continuous
http://www.afosr.af.mil/pdfs/afosr_baa_2007_1.pdf

Distributed Intelligence
Deadline: Continuous
http://www.afosr.af.mil/pdfs/afosr_baa_2007_1.pdf

Enabling Technologies for Modeling and Simulation (BAA-03-12-IFKA)
Deadline: September 30, 2008
http://www.fbo.gov/spg/USAF/AFMC/AFRLRRS/BAA-03-12-IFKA/Modification%2005.html

Joint National Training Capability Broad Agency Announcement
Deadline: May 14, 2009
http://www.ntsc.navy.mil/Ebusiness/BusOps/Acquisitions/Index.cfm?RND=220990

BAA for Simulation and Training Technology R&D
Deadline: Continuous until December 31, 2010
http://www.ntsc.navy.mil/EBusiness/BusOps/Acquisitions/Index.cfm?RND=868451

Army Research Office (ARO) Broad Agency Announcement for Basic and Applied
Scientific Research (W911NF-07-R-0003)
Deadline: Continuous through September 30, 2011
http://www.arl.army.mil/www/default.cfm?Action=6&Page=8

 
NSF

Scientific Computing Research Environments for the Mathematical Sciences
(SCREMS) - NSF 07-502
Deadline: January 24, 2008
http://www.nsf.gov/pubs/2007/nsf07502/nsf07502.htm

Cyber-Enabled Discovery and Innovation   (CDI)
Deadline:   October 30, 2007 - November 30, 2007
        August 30, 2008 - September 30, 2008
            August 30 - September 30, Annually Thereafter

High Performance Computing Acquisition: Towards a Petascale Computing
Environment for Science and Engineering - NSF 05-625
Deadline: November 30, 2007
   November 28, 2008
http://www.nsf.gov/pubs/2005/nsf05625/nsf05625.htm

Computer Systems Research (CSR) - NSF 07-504
Deadline: January 17, 2007
http://www.nsf.gov/pubs/2007/nsf07504/nsf07504.htm


Broadening Participation Research Initiation Grants in Engineering (BRIGE) -
NSF 07-589
Deadline: February 8, 2008
http://www.nsf.gov/pubs/2007/nsf07589/nsf07589.htm

Expeditions in Computing
Deadline: Letter of Intent Due Date(s) (required): 
    November 05, 2007
    July 10, 2008
        July 10, Annually Thereafter
   Preliminary Proposal Due Date(s) (required): 
December 30, 2007
September 10, 2008
September 10, Annually Thereafter
http://www.nsf.gov/pubs/2007/nsf07592/nsf07592.htm

Software for Real-World Systems (SRS) - NSF 07-599
Deadline: January 17, 2008
http://www.nsf.gov/pubs/2007/nsf07599/nsf07599.htm


Strategic Technologies for Cyberinfrastructure (STCI)
Deadline :    February 14, 2008
http://www.nsf.gov/funding/pgm_summ.jsp?pims_id=500066&org=NSF&sel_org=NSF&from=fund

Engineering Design (ED)
Deadline :   February 15, 2008
http://www.nsf.gov/funding/pgm_summ.jsp?pims_id=13340


==============================================================================

Call for Participation: 
-----------------------
2008 Asia and South Pacific Design Automation Conference
January 21-24, 2008 COEX, Seoul, Korea
http://www.aspdac.com 
*** EARLY REGISTRATION DUE: Dec. 14, 2007 ***

Features of ASP-DAC 2008:

* Keynote Addresses

Keynote I: Tuesday, January 22, 9:00-10:00, .A Brand New Wireless Day. 
Jan M. Rabaey (Univ. of California, Berkeley, USA)

Keynote II: Wednesday, January 23, 9:00-10:00, .The Evolution of SoC
Platform According to the New Mobile Paradigm.
Ki-Soo Hwang (Core Logic, Korea)

Keynote III: Thursday, January 24, 9:00-10:00, .The Future of Semiconductor
Industry - A Foundry's Perspective.
F. C. Tseng (TSMC, Taiwan)

* Technical Program Committee carefully reviewed and only 100 regular papers
(123 papers including short papers) accepted out of 350 papers submitted. It
is an outstanding program that covers a variety of key topics from system
level design to physical design. Four Special sessions cover up-to-date topics
of DFM, embedded software, EDA challenges, and multi-processor platforms. 

* Designers. Forum was conceived as a unique program that shares design
experience and solutions of real product designs of the industries among SoC
designers and EDA academia/developers.

* Tutorials: January 21, 2008, two full-day and four half-day tutorials are
scheduled to provide introductions to hot topics like DFM tools and
methodologies, functional verification, low power, physical design, and
practical embedded system design.

* The University LSI Design Contest was conceived as a unique program of 
ASP-DAC Conference. The purpose of the Contest is to encourage education and
research in LSI design, and its realization on chips at universities, and
other educational organizations by providing opportunities to present and
discuss innovative and state-of-the-art designs at the conference.

* Student Forum at the ASP-DAC 2008 is a poster session for graduate students 
to present and discuss their research with people in the EDA community. A
professional review committee selected quality posters among the submissions.
Please join the poster session and give feedbacks to the presenters and also
have discussion with people from academia and industry.


==============================================================================
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