Qiang’s paper is accepted to ISSCC 2026. It presents a wireless physical-layer security solution, capable of defending against both off-axis and main-beam eavesdropping. Congratulations Qiang!
Oct. 2025
Dr. Chi organized a Special Session “Generative AI for At-Scale and Unconventional Analog/RFIC Design and Automation” at ICCAD 2025, and gave an invited talk titled “Multi-Agent Generative Synthesis for Analog/RF Circuit: from Scalable Topology Generation to Efficient Inverse Design.” This work is a collaboration with Prof. Weidong Cao’s group at George Washington University.
Sep. 2025
Houbo’s paper titled “MOTIF-RF: Multi-template On-chip Transformer Synthesis Incorporating Frequency-domain Self-transfer Learning for RFIC Design Automation” is accepted to ASP-DAC 2026.
This paper presents a new frequency-domain self-transfer learning technique that exploits correlations between adjacent frequency bands, leading to 30-50% improvement in S-parameter prediction accuracy. We further developed an inverse design framework and validated it across various impedance-matching tasks. These results advance the goal of AI-assisted “specs-to-GDS” automation for RFICs and provide designers with actionable tools for integrating AI into their workflows. Contratulations Houbo and our team!
Aug. 2025
Hao’s paper titled “Design and Analysis of a W-band Local Oscillator Generator With Cascaded Implicit Frequency Quintupling and Tripling” is accepted to T-MTT. This is a journal extension of his CICC 2023 paper, which was the first to achieve >190 dBc/Hz FoM for LO generators around 100 GHz. This journal paper first delves into the fundamental trade-off in using a Class-F23 VCO as an implicit frequency tripler. Contrary to conventional wisdom, we prove that having strong 2nd and 3rd harmonics simultaneously is actually detrimental for the fundamental VCO’s FoM. To address this, Hao proposes a new VCO topology that enables implicit harmonic extraction without FoM degradation, along with a new third harmonic enhancement technique through 2nd harmonic control in injection-locked oscillators. A must-read if you work on mmWave frequency generation circuits or VCOs. Congratulations! Well done, Hao!
May 2025
Congratulations to Dr. Yaolong Hu and Dr. Qiang Zhou! Yaolong’s research spans from building block innovations (TCAS-I 2023, IMS 2021) to full transceiver designs (JSSC 2024, CICC 2021 Best Student Paper Award) and more recently, RF design automation (DAC 2025, IMS 2024). Qiang has led pioneering work in wireless physical-layer security and developed two security systems tailored for low-power IoT devices (T-MTT 2024, ICC 2024, ISSCC 2021) and mmWave beamformers (T-MTT 2025). Both of their research were recognized with the prestigious SSCS Predoctoral Achievement Award. As part of the first batch of students, along with Xiaohan and Yingying, they have shaped the research DNA of our group, for which I’m deeply grateful.
Yaolong has joined Marvell, working on cutting-edge 2-nm chip designs. Qiang is staying with us as a postdoc while actively exploring academic opportunities. I’m incredibly proud of what both of you have achieved and cannot wait to see what’s next!
Apr. 2025
Houbo has been selected as a DAC Young Fellow and also received the IMS/RFIC Travel Grant. Gerald received the Hershel M. Rich Invention Award for his patent on non-invasive ICP sensing. Yingying received the Ralph Budd Award for Best Ph.D. Thesis in the School of Engineering. Congratulations to all of you on these well-deserved honors!
Mar. 2025
Yingying will be joining Washington University in St. Louis as a tenure-track assistant professor this summer. Congratulations Yingying! We look forward to seeing all the amazing work that will come out of your group. Here is her website.
Yaolong and Qiang won the 2025 IEEE SSCS Predoctoral Achievement Award. Congratulations!
Dec. 2024
Congratulations to Dr. Yingying Fan on earning her PhD! Her thesis is titled “Interfacing the Brain: High-Channel-Count Neural Recording and Minimally Invasive Brain Stimulation ASICs.” Yingying is truly a once-in-a-decade talent – she has both deep expertise in analog/RF chip design and exceptional system-level implementation skills. Over the past five years, Yingying worked on several innovative in-vivo (ISSCC 2024) and in-vitro neural modulation (T-BioCAS 2021, ISSCC 2021) and brain sensing (T-BioCAS 2024, ISSCC 2024) systems. She also made significant contributions to a few side projects (JNE 2021, BioCAS 2023, Neuron 2020). Her research has been widely recognized, such as being named an MIT EECS Rising Star and receiving the SSCS Predoctoral Achievement Award, MTT-S Graduate Fellowship, CASS Pre-Doctoral Grant (the only individual I know who has received fellowships from three IEEE societies!)
Yingying will stay with the group as a post-doc and is actively looking for opportunities in academia.
Gerald and Yingying’s paper titled “An Ultrasonic Transceiver for Non-Invasive Intracranial Pressure Sensing” is accepted to T-BioCAS (ISSCC 2024 Special Issue). It presents a new ICP sensing methodology based on ultrasound, along with its low-power silicon implementation and proof-of-concept demo. Congratulations Gerald and Yingying!
Aug. 2024
Xiaohan and Hao’s paper titled “A Millimeter-Wave Four-Way Doherty Power Amplifier With Over-GHz Modulation Bandwidth” is accepted to JSSC (ISSCC 2024 Special Issue). It presents a systematic approach to extending a conventional two-way Doherty PA to N ways, along with a high-speed adaptive biasing circuit. Congratulations Xiaohan and Hao!
Aug. 2024
Yingying is awarded as an MIT Rising Star in EECS. Congratulations Yingying!
Dr. Chi gave an invited talk at pSemi/Murata, presenting RISE Lab’s recent research on passive network design innovations and how these innovations unlock unprecedented performance and new functionalities for transceiver building blocks. Slides
Congratulations to Yingying for winning the Nettie S. Autrey Fellowship (sole recipient from the School of Natural Sciences and the School of Engineering)! Also congratulations to Bill for receiving the James S. Waters Creativity Award!
Mar. 2024
Yingying is awarded the 2024 IEEE Circuits and Systems Society (CASS) Pre-Doctoral Grant. This is Yingying’s third IEEE society graduate fellowship award. Congratulations Yingying!
Bill and Qiang’s paper titled “Lightweight Machine Learning and Embedded Security Engine for Physical-Layer Identification of Wireless IoT Nodes” is accepted to 2024 IEEE International Conference on Communications (ICC). In Collaboration with Prof. Kaiyuan Yang’s group, this paper builds upon our recent physical-layer security work of using PUF-controlled spectral regrowth as an RF fingerprint. We further developed lightweight ML-based feature extraction to achieve reliable identification when varying the distance between TX and RX. This also marks the second paper in our group that is first-authored by an undergraduate student. Congratulations Bill and Qiang!
Dec. 2023
Yaolong received the ISSCC Student Travel Grant Award, and Xiaohan received the SSCS Predoctoral Achievement Award. Congratulations Yaolong and Xiaohan!
Nov. 2023
Yingying is selected as one of the 2024 SSCS Rising Stars. Congratulations Yingying!
Xiaohan’s paper titled “A Millimeter-Wave Watt-Level Doherty Power Amplifier in Silicon” is accepted to T-MTT. This is a journal extension of Xiaohan’s 2023 CICC paper. It presents a multifunctional PA network based on an extended rat-race coupler, enabling parallel Doherty load modulation and series power combining simultaneously. Congratulations Xiaohan!
Yaolong’s paper titled “A 27.5–46.2-GHz Broadband Low Noise Amplifier With IP3 Enhancement” is accepted to MWTL. Built upon Yaolong’s prior research on extending LNA bandwidth, this paper focuses on IP3 linearity enhancement, achieving state-of-the-art LNA bandwidth, linearity, and FoM simultaneously. Congratulations Yaolong!
Jack’s multifeed rectenna paper is accepted to the Texas Wireless Symposium 2023! He also represented the ECE department and presented his work at the Shapiro Showcase, which features the top undergraduate researchers across all disciplines at Rice. Congratulations Jack!
Xiaohan’s paper titled “A Millimeter-Wave Three-Way Doherty Power Amplifier for 5G NR OFDM” is accepted to JSSC (RFIC 2022 Special Issue). This paper presents the design guideline of a new three-way Doherty network to enable efficiency enhancement up to ~10dB back-off for 5G NR OFDM. Congratulations Xiaohan!
Xiaohan and Yingying received the 2023 ISSCC Student Travel Grant Award. Congratulations Xiaohan and Yingying!
June 2022
Xiaohan’s 38GHz three-way Doherty PA paper is selected as a 2022 IEEE RFIC Best Student Paper Award Finalist. Xiaohan also received the NSF Student Registration Award for IEEE RFIC. Congratulations Xiaohan!
May 2022
Gerald received the Rice IBB Travel Grant. Congratulations Gerald!
Yingying received the 2021 Cadence Women in Technology Scholarship. Congratulations Yingying!
June 2021
Yaolong’s broadband LNA paper is selected as a 2021 IEEE IMS Advanced Practice Paper Award Finalist. Congratulations Yaolong!
June 2021
Yingying received the IEEE RFIC’21 NSF Student Conference Registration Award. Congratulations Yingying!
May 2021
Qiang won the Student Research Competition Award (1st place) at the IEEE Texas Symposium on Wireless & Microwave Circuits and Systems. Congratulations Qiang!
May 2021
Yaolong and Xiaohan’s paper received the Best Student Paper Award at IEEE CICC. Congratulations Yaolong and Xiaohan!
Yingying is awarded the prestigious 2021 IEEE Microwave Theory and Techniques Society (MTT-S) Graduate Fellowship for Medical Applications. Congratulations Yingying!
Our collaborative paper with the Rice NeuroEngineering Team (Drs. Lan Luan, Jacob Robinson, Behnaam Aazhang, Kaiyuan Yang, and Chong Xie) titled “Recent Advances in Electrical Neural Interface Engineering: Minimal Invasiveness, Longevity, and Scalability” is accepted by Neuron! This review paper highlights latest advances in electrical neural interfaces, and our group contributed to the integrated electronics section.
Congratulations Yingying and our collaborative team!
July 2020
Katrina received the NSF Student Registration Award for IEEE RFIC/IMS 2020. Congratulations Katrina!
July 2020
Robert and Katrina received the Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) from the Rice Undergraduate Office of Research and Inquiry (UORI). Congratulations Robert and Katrina!
Dr. Chi is awarded the George R. Brown Teaching Grant for his undergraduate course ELEC 305 Introduction to Physical Electronics!
Jan. 2020
Xiaohan Zhang, B.S. from Tsinghua University, joins RISE Lab as a Ph.D. student. Welcome aboard!
Oct. 2019
Yingying is awarded the Loewenstern Fellowship. Congratulations Yingying!
Aug. 2019
Qiang Zhou, B.S. from Peking University, joins RISE Lab as a Ph.D. student. Welcome aboard!
Aug. 2019
Yingying Fan, M.S. from University of Michigan and B.E. from Southeast University, joins RISE Lab as a Ph.D. student. Welcome aboard!
Apr. 2019
RISE Lab is awarded the Rice University’s InterDisciplinary Excellence Award (IDEA) fund to develop electronics-biology-machine learning hybrid systems for health care applications. We will collaborate with Dr. Gang Bao in BioE and Dr. Richard Baraniuk in ECE.
Apr. 2019
Dr. Taiyun Chi visited TAMU ECE and gave an invited talk on Antenna-Electronics Co-Design. Thank you Dr. Sebastian Hoyos for the invitation.
Mar. 2019
Dr. Chi founded the IEEE Solid-State Circuits Society (SSCS) Houston Chapter and serves as the Chapter Chair. We will organize a series of Distinguished Lectures and social events. Please stay tuned!
Feb. 2019
Yaolong Hu joins RISE Lab as a Ph.D. student. Welcome aboard!
Rice Integrated Systems and Electromagnetics (RISE) Lab 