Adaptive chip design boosts efficiency in electronics

Researchers at Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) have developed a new computer chip design approach that allows electronic systems to automatically adapt to real-world conditions, improving how devices manage power in everyday use.

The results show improvements in how chips are designed and how power is managed for always-on electronic systems, from sophisticated biomedical wearables to smart devices such as locks, thermostats and appliances.

The team at RIT’s RF Analog Mixed Signal Laboratory (RAMLab) introduced an adaptive analog design approach for semiconductor chips that allows power delivery circuits to dynamically respond to real-world variability, enabling more reliable sensing and energy-efficient electronic systems. The work addresses key aspects of power management, including how circuits handle changing loads, maintain stable voltage, and suppress noise disturbances that distort or degrade system transmissions.

Their work improves ultralow-power low-dropout, or LDO, regulator design — a key function in power management of computer chips. The approach was tested on a custom chip designed in-house demonstrating energy efficiency during both low power ‘sleep’ modes and active operation.

“Our work is motivated by the need for circuits that can adapt to these changing conditions in real time,” said Teju Das, associate professor in the Electrical and Microelectronic Engineering Department in the Kate Gleason College of Engineering.

An expert in analog, RF and mixed signal integrated circuits, Das described the work done by the team over the past 18 months. The research findings were published in IEEE Transactions on Circuits and Systems.

Image caption: Daniel Zeznick was part of a graduate and undergraduate student team that helped develop a novel approach regarding power functions to improve how today’s electronic devices consume and save power. Image credit: Carlos Ortiz, RIT Photography.

“At a high level, the circuit we developed continuously monitors its operating environment, such as changes in load, noise and signal conditions, and dynamically adjusts its behaviour to maintain stable and efficient operation,” said Daniel Zeznick, one of the paper’s authors and a teaching assistant with the RAMLab.

Modern electronic systems, especially in areas like wearable health monitors, biosensing systems and Internet of Things sensors, operate under highly variable conditions. However, most power circuits today are designed assuming relatively fixed operating conditions or require external control, which can lead to inefficiencies, instability or degraded performance in real-world use.

“Our work introduces a fully analog, self-adaptive approach in which the circuit continuously adjusts its behaviour based on its operating environment, without requiring external control or discrete events. Rather than optimising for a single operating point, this enables reliable performance across a wide range of conditions,” Das said.

This shift from static or externally controlled operation to continuous, low-overhead adaptation allows for more efficient operation, particularly in energy-constrained systems where even idle power consumption matters. The progression of these concepts highlights the nature of analog and mixed-signal chip research, where developing and validating new ideas in hardware requires sustained effort across multiple stages of design, fabrication and measurement.

This is a modified version of a news item published by Rochester Institute of Technology. The original version of the news item can be accessed here.

Top image caption: Daniel Zeznick, foreground, and Teju Das, associate professor of microelectronic engineering, test their integrated circuit on a PCB platform built in-house to assess power and control in integrated circuits. Image credit: Carlos Ortiz, RIT Photography.