Assistant Professor Quan PAN from the School of Microelectronics at Southern University of Science and Technology (SUSTech) led a group of four undergraduate students to outstanding success in a competition aiming to develop low-power chips for next-generation high-speed applications.

The four students from the Class of 2020 (Zhenghao LI, Minzhe TANG, Taiyang FAN, and Yuchen LU) have all been recognized in the competition as a result of the industry-university research partnership. This cooperation will further deepen the collaborative relationship between industry and universities on high-performance communication chips.

High-speed serial communication is used at higher rates in a broad range of fields due to its lower transmission costs, reduced complexity, and asynchronous transmission rates. The research team was able to develop a single-channel 56 Gb/s chip, a significant advance on the dominant 10 Gb/s chips that exist in the market today. Their chip test was successful at all levels, while also featuring fixed peak frequency and bandwidth.

Junhua ZHU (’20, Microelectronics) added to the design by creating an on-chip transformer, which expanded the locking range of the chip. It is now a market leader, and more companies are looking to replicate its success.

The College of Engineering has launched comprehensive design projects that work in line with its Project-Based Learning model. This educational model seeks to cultivate engineering and technical talents that will become future leaders for national strategic needs. These leaders serve the local economy, focused on future industry trends, and cutting-edge innovation. The College of Engineering nurtures its industry-university research partnerships around the three spiritual pillars of “Research, Innovation, and Entrepreneurship.”