Design of Electronic Circuits and Systems (DECS)

Semiconductor devices have been the driving force behind major technological achievements for more than 40 years and are the key technology for developing new systems to solve today's most important human problems, particularly in the fields of energy distribution and supply, electromobility, security, healthcare and communications. The integration of an increasing number of functions on a chip with the aim of reducing power consumption and cost while increasing speed has been a strong and continuing trend for many years. In order to be at the forefront of technological development not only now, but also in the future, and to increase market share in highly competitive global markets, it is essential to maintain and develop competencies and skills in the design of integrated circuits and systems. The DECS (Design of Electronic Circuits and Systems) competence center conducts research and teaching on the design of and design methods for integrated circuits at all levels of abstraction.


Mission and Goals

  • DECS provides the necessary competencies, methodologies, and design environments for education and research in new semiconductor-based solutions. 
  • DECS develops and provides comprehensive skills, design environments, and solution approaches to build integrated circuits and systems for areas like communication, sensing, medical electronics, robotics, embedded systems and neuro-engineering.

Core Competences

  • Core Design:
    • RISC-V Cores with Security Extensions
    • Embedded Machine Learning based on RISC-V
  • Multi-Core SoCs:
    • Networks-on-chips (NoCs)
    • Memory-Architectures
  • Electronic System Level Design Methods
    • HW/SW Codesign
    • Virtual Prototyping & TinyML
    • Instruction Set Simulation
  • HW Accelerators
    • Accelerators for MPSoCs
    • Accelerators for Security Primitives
    • Post-Quantum Security Acceleration
  • Brain-inspired Computing for Efficient
    • Brain-Inspired Hyperdimensional Computing
    • Technology/Algorithm Co-Design.
    • Error-Aware Training for DNN
    • Neuromorphic Computing

  • Chip and Circuit Design
    • Security coprocessors and primitives
    • Circuits exploiting hardware-intrinsic features (True Random Number Generators, Physical Unclonable Functions)
    • RISC-V Instruction-Set-Extensions
    • Integrated Mixed Signal Systems for Sensors and Communication Interfaces
    • Analog-to-Digital Converter
    • New Hardware Approaches for AI, e.g. Machine Learning for IoT (TinyML)
    • Compute-in-Memory Circuits
  • Design Methodology
    • Chip Reverse Engineering
    • Hardware Trojan Detection
    • Circuit Obfuscation (e.g., Timing Camouflage)

  • Chip and Circuit Design:
    • Analog Front-End Amplifier
    • Integrated Sensors (Strain, Impedance, Hall)
    • Mixed-mode Edge-AI with NVM Synaptic Memory
    • Flexible Clock Generation (Phased-Locked-Loops)
    • Analoge and Digitale Low-Power-CMOS-Schaltungen
    • Novel Logic-in-Memory Cells
    • Emerging Technologies and Beyond CMOS
    • Reliability/Thermal-Aware Circuit Design
  • Design Methodology
    • Full-Custom Design Flow (Cadence) from Schematic to Layout and Back-Annotation
    • Experimental Characterization of Analog Performance on Chip/Wafer and in Application Context (Demo-Boards)
    • Yield Optimization of Circuits
    • Design Automation for Analog Circuits
    • (Virtual) Prototyping of Sensor and Actor Systeme
    • Technology CAD (TCAD) Modeling
    • Reliability Enhancement Techniques



The DECS Team

Prof. Sigl, Speaker


Picture of Georg Sigl

Chair of Security in Information Technology (Prof. Sigl)

Prof. Amrouch


Picture of Hussam Amrouch

Associate Professorship of AI Processor Design (Prof. Amrouch)

Prof. Brederlow


Picture of Ralf Brederlow

Chair of Circuit Design (Prof. Brederlow)

Prof. Gräb


no image

Chair of Electronic Design Automation (Prof. Schlichtmann)

Prof. Hagelauer


Picture of Amelie Hagelauer

Chair of Micro- and Nanosystems Technology (Prof. Hagelauer)

Prof. Herkersdorf


no image

Chair of Integrated Systems (Prof. Herkersdorf)

Dr. Müller-Gritschneder


Picture of Daniel Müller-Gritschneder

Chair of Electronic Design Automation (Prof. Schlichtmann)

Dr. Li


kein Bild

Dr. Pehl


Picture of Michael Pehl

Chair of Security in Information Technology (Prof. Sigl)

Prof. Schlichtmann


Picture of Ulf Schlichtmann

Chair of Electronic Design Automation (Prof. Schlichtmann)

Prof. Schrag


no image

Associate Professorship of Microsensors and Actuators (Prof. Schrag)

Prof. Schulz


Foto von Martin Schulz

Informatik 10 - Lehrstuhl für Rechnerarchitektur & Parallele Systeme (Prof. Schulz)

Prof. Stechele


Picture of Walter Stechele

Chair of Integrated Systems (Prof. Herkersdorf)

Prof. Trinitis


Foto von Carsten Trinitis

Informatik 10 - Lehrstuhl für Rechnerarchitektur & Parallele Systeme (Prof. Schulz)

Prof. Wille


Picture of Robert Wille

Chair of Design Automation (Prof. Wille)