Key Takeaways & Executive Findings
- •• Three selected papers from ICTA 2025 cover RF, neural interface, and vision sensing ICs. • A 7nm FinFET PLL achieves 118 fs RMS jitter and -247.5 dB FoM with a 4x DTC range reduction. • A battery-free neural interface integrates 72 channels in 2mm x 2mm with 18 Mbps backscatter. • A stereo matching processor achieves 178x speedup over CPU and 97x over Edge GPU with 7.9 pJ/pixel.
Abstract
This Special Topic of the Journal of Semiconductors (JoS) features expanded versions of key articles presented at the 2025 IEEE International Conference on Integrated Circuits Technologies and Applications (ICTA), held in Macao, China, from October 22 to 24, 2025. Among the 146 papers presented, three high-quality articles were selected covering RF, medical neural interface, and vision sensing ICs. The first article introduces a fractional-N dual-path SPD/PFD PLL with a complementary DTC pair, achieving 118 fs RMS jitter and -247.5 dB figure-of-merit in 7 nm FinFET. The second presents a battery-free neural interface with dual-overlapped on-chip antennas, integrating 72 channels in 2 mm x 2 mm and achieving 18 Mbps backscatter data rate. The third describes a cascadable stereo matching processor with scalable semi-global matching, achieving speedups up to 178x over CPU and 97x over Edge GPU, with 80 fps and 7.9 pJ/pixel energy efficiency in 40-nm CMOS.
1. Introduction
This Special Topic of the Journal of Semiconductors (JoS) features expanded versions of key articles presented at the 2025 IEEE International Conference on Integrated Circuits Technologies and Applications (ICTA), which was held in Macao, China, from October 22 to 24, 2025. IEEE ICTA is an IEEE flagship conference in the field of integrated circuits (IC) in China, providing a communication platform for sharing state-of-the-art techniques from experts in the field of ICs.
Among the 146 papers presented at ICTA 2025, the Technical Program Committee and the Award Committee have selected 3 high-quality articles for recommendation to the Special Topic of JoS, covering the technical fields of RF, medical neural interface, and vision sensing ICs.
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Yan Lu, Sai-Weng Sin (2026). Preface to Focus Topic on Integrated Circuits, Technologies and Applications (ICTA) 2025. SinoTechIntel Verified Research. https://doi.org/10.1088/1674-4926/26041001
Research & Educational Purpose Only:The translations, structured abstracts, analytical annotations, and data reports provided by SinoTechIntel are intended exclusively for academic research, internal corporate R&D, and educational benchmarking. They do not constitute formal engineering, chemical safety, legal, or professional advice.
Copyright & Intellectual Property Notice: Original copyright of the underlying source articles and experimental data remains with the respective authors, institutions, and original publishing journals. SinoTechIntel claims intellectual property only over its proprietary translations, analytical syntheses, and AEO structured enhancements in accordance with international fair use and academic citation principles.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the focus of the ICTA 2025 Special Topic in Journal of Semiconductors?
The Special Topic features expanded versions of three selected papers from the 2025 IEEE International Conference on Integrated Circuits Technologies and Applications (ICTA), covering RF, medical neural interface, and vision sensing ICs.
What are the key achievements of the PLL paper featured in this Special Topic?
The PLL paper from Zhejiang University presents a fractional-N dual-path SPD/PFD PLL with a complementary DTC pair, achieving 118 fs RMS jitter and -247.5 dB figure-of-merit in 7 nm FinFET, with a 4x reduction in DTC range requirement.
How does the neural interface paper achieve battery-free operation?
The neural interface paper from Zhejiang University uses dual-overlapped on-chip antennas to eliminate the need for a battery, enabling high-data-rate backscatter for transmitting data from 72 channels, achieving 18 Mbps backscatter data rate.
What performance metrics are highlighted for the vision sensing processor?
The vision sensing paper from Southern University of Science and Technology presents a cascadable stereo matching processor with scalable semi-global matching, achieving speedups of up to 178x over CPU and 97x over Edge GPU, operating at 160 MHz with 80 fps and 7.9 pJ/pixel energy efficiency.
Where was ICTA 2025 held and when?
ICTA 2025 was held in Macao, China, from October 22 to 24, 2025.
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