Professor of Computer Science
Professor of Electrical Engineering
Ph.D., University of Utah, 1982
Professor Smith's principal interests lie in the design of
integrated circuits using computer aids for structured logic. His present
research is focused on techniques for high speed GaAs integrated circuits. This
research involves the detailed design and fabrication of the actual integrated
circuits as well as Computer Aided Design (CAD) tools for the design of these
circuits. The GaAs circuits he is working with operate at speed in excess of
10 GHz and thus present problems involving very difficult analysis. For
example, high speed design requires that the components be physically placed
near each other to give optimum performance. In addition, the actual
interconnecting wires between logic gates must be characterized and used in the
analysis. The extraction and use of these high speed parameters represents
problems that require new methods of design. Prior to joining the University
of Utah faculty, Professor Smith was responsible for integrated circuit design
and testing at the Microcircuit Laboratory at the University of Utah Research
Institute. Prior to that time he was the technical director for Electrical
Engineering at the General Instrument Advanced Microelectronics Lab. He holds
a number of patents in circuits primarily concerning MOS and bipolar integrated
circuits.
