The FIRST Interdisciplinary Conference 2023 (FIRST)

China imported in the recent past more “sand” than oil, meaning silicon transformed into electronic chips, quite crucial in a moment where the quest is no longer for energy (oil), as in the past, but for computing power (silicon). The national high demand for state-of-the-art integrated circuits is driving research and development in the run after a Chinese CPU (Electronics Brain). Besides the Brain, all Electronics needs its Senses that are at the core of the Analog/Digital Interface with Audio, Vision & Sensors, essential for the Internet of Everything – IoE, because a brain does not work without a sensing system. University of Macau (UM) and its State Key Laboratory of Analog and Mixed-Signal VLSI are prominent and now renowned for its excellence and expertise in the design of innovative circuits for the analog/digital interface, contributing to address also A/D Interface Independency. In a recent book entitled “Analog and Mixed-Signal Circuits in Nanoscale CMOS” we presented the most critical building blocks of such interface that are high-performance radios, power-efficient RF and mm-Wave circuits, ultra-low-voltage clock references, low power and high-performance data converters, integrated energy harvesting interfaces, fully integrated power converters and low-dropout regulators. All these circuits need to exhibit high quality performance with low power consumption, high energy-efficiency and high speed, thus enabling a reliable and consistent development of the IoE while enlarging its frontiers. There is a huge pressure in the design area with a high demand for analog design engineers, opening a vast field of opportunities and challenges that imply a continuous knowledge update. Then, UM is contributing to stimulate and well-equip the mind of future skillful analog design engineers in state-of-the-art designs adequate for most applications.