The Beginning of DVI and HDMI: How I Untangled the Audio/Video Cables for High-Definition Displays

The first chip I designed during my master’s degree program at Seoul National University in 1985 was a dual-modulus prescaler used for frequency synthesis in a digitally tuned automotive radio receiver. Since the incoming frequency was high, being close to an FM carrier, the chip was made mostly of CMLs using hundreds of transistors with a bipolar process. This chip was fabricated and measured, but unfortunately, it did not work. It oscillated at around 5 MHz. A bandgap reference that uses feedback was employed to compensate for the temperature variation, but the required compensation capacitance was not accurately calculated, causing instability. At that time, since a circuit simulation tool was unavailable, I could not calculate the exact loop characteristics and ended up adding an insufficient amount of capacitance. Although succeeding in the revised chip by inserting a capacitor several times larger than the value estimated by hand calculation, I became acutely aware of the need for a circuit design tool. Today, more than 40 years later, it is an incredible honor to receive the IEEE Technical Field Award, commemorating Professor Donald O. Pederson, who pioneered Simulation Program With Integrated Circuit Emphasis, which has become a standard circuit simulation tool. I entered the doctoral program at the University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley), and was taught by great professors, and it is unfortunate that I said hello to Prof. Pederson only a few times in the hallway.