isscc 2026 two papers selected and presented

From February 15 to 19, 2026, the 73rd IEEE International Solid-State Circuits Conference (ISSCC) was held in San Francisco, USA. Two latest research achievements from Professor Jianping Guo’s team at the School of Electronics and Information Technology (School of Microelectronics), Sun Yat-sen University, in the areas of energy harvesting and wireless power transfer chips were selected and presented at the conference. ISSCC is widely recognized by both academia and industry as the top conference in the field of integrated circuit design and is often referred to as the “Olympics of Chips.”

The first authors of the selected papers are Master’s student Rui Zhang and Ph.D. student Yutang Chen, respectively, with Professor Jianping Guo serving as the corresponding author. The research topics include:

• A piezoelectric energy harvesting interface chip featuring fully digital track-and-lock maximum power point tracking
• A channel-independent single-transmitter dual-receiver wireless power transfer chip with adaptive power distribution

Figure 1. Block diagram and chip photograph of the proposed maximum power point tracking energy harvesting system

Paper 1

Title:

“A Bias-Flip-Based Piezoelectric Energy Harvesting Interface with a Digital Track-and-Lock MPPT Achieving Sampling-Free Operation and 99.8% MPPT Efficiency”

This work was presented in the “Energy Harvesting, Piezo and Chargers” technical session and was selected as an ISSCC 2026 Highlight Paper.

This research innovatively proposes a bias-flip-based fully digital track-and-lock maximum power point tracking (T&L MPPT) scheme. The MPPT technique is independent of the amplitude and frequency of the vibration source, enabling one-time tracking and automatic locking onto the maximum power point, thereby effectively reducing system complexity and power consumption. In addition, sampling-free tracking is achieved by reusing the zero-crossing comparator.

Measurement results show that, with an area of only 0.42 mm², the chip achieves:

• 99.8% MPPT accuracy
• 17 nA low quiescent current

Figure 2. Block diagram of the proposed single-transmitter dual-receiver wireless power transfer system and photograph of the receiver chip

Paper 2

Title:

“An Output-Domain-Independent Single-Transmitter-Dual Receiver Wireless Power Transfer System with Detuned-Tank and Time-Multiplexing Control for Adaptive Power Distribution”

This work was presented in the “Wireless Power” technical session.

This research designs a highly integrated resonant wireless power transfer system and receiver chip with a single transmitter and dual receivers. It innovatively introduces detuned resonance and time-multiplexing control techniques to realize adaptive power distribution, effectively improving output voltage accuracy and load regulation.

Measurement results show that, within a coil coupling range of 0.14–0.28, the load regulation is improved from 1.27 mV/mA to 0.07 mV/mA. This work is the first to realize an integrated resonant wireless power transfer solution with two independent output domains, showing broad application prospects in wireless-powered portable electronics and medical implantable devices.

Figure 3. Presentation scene

On the evening of February 15, the conference presented the 2025–2026 IEEE SSCS Predoctoral Achievement Award, and Yutang Chen, a Ph.D. student from Professor Jianping Guo’s team, received this honor.

Established in 1983 and presented annually during ISSCC in mid-February, this award is judged by internationally renowned experts from both industry and academia. It is one of the highest academic honors awarded by IEEE to current doctoral students in the field of integrated circuit design.

Figure 4. Yutang Chen at the award ceremony

In recent years, multiple achievements from the school have been accepted by the top journal IEEE Journal of Solid-State Circuits (JSSC) and the top conference International Solid-State Circuits Conference (ISSCC), covering research work by undergraduate, master’s, and doctoral students.

Paper Information

[1] Rui Zhang, Chuhui Wang, Zhongxin Ye, Ka Nang Leung, and Jianping Guo*, “A bias-flip-based piezoelectric energy harvesting interface with a digital track-and-lock MPPT achieving sampling-free operation and 99.8% MPPT efficiency,” IEEE International Solid-State Circuits Conference (ISSCC), San Francisco, CA, USA, Feb. 2026, pp. 277–279.

[2] Yutang Chen, Yifan Lin, Dihu Chen, and Jianping Guo*, “An output-domain-independent single-transmitter-dual-receiver wireless power transfer system with detuned-tank and time-multiplexing control for adaptive power distribution,” IEEE International Solid-State Circuits Conference (ISSCC), San Francisco, CA, USA, Feb. 2026, pp. 162–164.