Fábio Passos

Email: Send Email
Address: IT – Lisboa
Instituto Superior Técnico - Torre Norte - Piso 10
Av. Rovisco Pais, 1
1049 - 001 Lisboa
Tel: +351 21 841 84 54
Fax: +351 21 841 84 72

Bio

Fábio Passos received the Ph.D. degree from Universidad de Sevilla, Seville, Spain, in 2018, while conducting his work at Instituto de Microelectrónica de Sevilla (IMSE-CNM), Seville, Spain. He has performed research stays is several academic institutions such as IMEC (2016), Instituto de Telecomunicações (2017) and University of Barcelona (2017). In 2018 he was an intern at Analog Devices (as part of a technology transfer collaboration between IMSE and ADI) developing automated design methodologies for mm-Wave systems (77GHz transceiver) in an industrial and challenging environment. He is now a post-doctoral researcher in Instituto de Telecomunicações, Lisbon, Portugal. Dr. Passos has authored or co-authored over 30 publications, including books, book chapters, international journals and conferences papers. Dr. Passos was the SMACD 2016 EDA Competition Winner and received the Best Paper Award in SMACD 2018. He was the Competition Chair of SMACD 2019. His current research interests include the design and modeling of RF passive devices using analytical and machine learning techniques and automated design methodologies for RF and mm-Wave circuits.

Scientific Achievements

Degrees

• PhD, Instituto de Microelectrónica de Sevilla, CNM-CSIC and Universidad de Sevilla, 13-04-2018

Academic Activities

2Supervision of PhD theses

As Supervisor

• Design Automation of Power Management Units in Deep Nanometer Technologies, PhD Student, Duarte Miguel de Aguiar Pinto e Morais Marques, Expected conclusion 12-2027
• Noise Canceling LNA Design using Transformers for Wideband Operation, PhD Student, Diogo Catarrinho, Expected conclusion 10-2026

1Supervision of MSc theses

As Supervisor

• DAC Layout Automatic Generation using Machine Learning Techniques, MSc Student, Daniela Torpes, Concluded 09-2024

Publications

2Books

• F. Passos, E. Roca, R. Castro-López, F. V. Fernandez Fernandez, Automated Hierarchical Synthesis of Radio-Frequency Integrated Circuits and Systems, Springer International Publishing, New York, 2020,
  | BibTex
• F. Passos, E. Roca, M. Fino, Modeling of integrated inductors for RF circuit design, Lambert Academic Publishing, New York, 2014,
  | BibTex

2Books Chapters

• F. Passos, E. Roca, R. Castro-López, F. V. Fernandez Fernandez, On the usage of machine learning techniques for the accurate modeling of integrated inductors for RF applications, Chapter in, Modeling Methodologies in Analogue Integrated Circuit Design, IET, -, 2020
• P. Pereira, F. Passos, M. Fino, Optimization-Based Design of RF-VCOs with Tapered Inductors, Chapter in, Performance Optimization Techniques in Analog, Mixed-Signal, and Radio-Frequency Circuit Design, M. Fakhfakh, E. Tlelo-Cuautle, & M. Fino, IGI Global, -, 2015

17Papers in Journals

Early Access

• L. Mendes, J. C. Silva Silva, N. Lourenço, J. Vaz, R. M. Martins, F. Passos, Fully Automatically Synthesized mm-Wave Low-Noise Amplifiers for 5G/6G Applications, IEEE Transactions on Microwave Theory and Techniques, Vol., No., pp. 1 - 0, 2025,
  | Abstract | BibTex

Published

• F. Passos, N. Lourenço, E. Roca, R. M. Martins, R. Castro-López, N. Horta, F. Fernández, PACOSYT: A Passive Component Synthesis Tool Based on Machine Learning and Tailored Modeling Strategies Towards Optimal RF and mm-Wave Circuit Designs, IEEE Journal of Microwaves, Vol. 3, No. 2, pp. 599 - 613, April, 2023,
  | Abstract | Full text (PDF 4 MBs) | BibTex
• R. Vieira, F. Passos, R. M. Martins, N. Horta, N. Lourenço, Behavioral Analysis of Noise and Bandwidth Specifications of Heartbeat Detection Circuits for Ultra Low Power Devices, IEEE Access, Vol. 11, No. 0, pp. 27330 - 27341, March, 2023,
  | Abstract | BibTex
• F. Passos, E. Roca, R. Castro-López, F. V. Fernandez Fernandez, Addressing a New Class of Multi-Objective Passive Device Optimization for Radiofrequency Circuit Design, Electronics, Vol. 11, No. 16, pp. 2624 - 2624, August, 2022 | BibTex
• A. Canelas, F. Passos, N. Lourenço, R. M. Martins, E. Roca, R. Castro-López, N. Horta, F. V. Fernandez Fernandez, Hierarchical Yield-Aware Synthesis Methodology Covering Device-, Circuit-, and System-Level for Radiofrequency ICs, IEEE Access, Vol. 9, No. 1, pp. 124152 - 124164, September, 2021,
  | Abstract | BibTex
• L. Mendes, J. Vaz, F. Passos, N. Lourenço, R. M. Martins, In-Depth Design Space Exploration of 26.5-to-29.5-GHz 65-nm CMOS Low-Noise Amplifiers for Low-Footprint-and-Power 5G Communications Using One-and- Two -Step Design Optimization, IEEE Access, Vol. 9, No. --, pp. 70353 - 70368, May, 2021,
  | Abstract | Full text (PDF 3 MBs) | BibTex
• F. Passos, E. Roca, R. M. Martins, N. Lourenço, S. Ahyoune Ahyoune, J. S. Sieiro, R. Castro-López, N. Horta, F. V. Fernandez Fernandez, Ready-to-Fabricate RF Circuit Synthesis Using a Layout- and Variability-Aware Optimization-Based Methodology, IEEE Access, Vol. 8, No. -, pp. 51601 - 51609, March, 2020 | BibTex
• R. P. Póvoa, R. Arya, A. Canelas, F. Passos, R. M. Martins, N. Lourenço, N. Horta, Sub-μW Tow-Thomas based biquad filter with improved gain for biomedical applications, Microelectronics Journal, Vol. 95, No. 0, pp. 104675 - 104675, January, 2020 | BibTex
• F. Passos, M. Cahnca, E. Roca, R. Castro-López, F. V. Fernandez Fernandez, Synthesis of mm-Wave Wideband Receivers in 28nm CMOS Technology for Automotive Radar Applications, IEEE Transactions on Computer-Aided Design of Integrated Circuits and Systems, Vol. -, No. -, pp. 1 - 1, January, 2020 | BibTex
• F. Passos, E. Roca, J. Sieiro, R. Fiorelli, R. Castro-López, J. M. Lopez-Villegas, F. V. Fernandez Fernandez, A Multilevel Bottom-up Optimization Methodology for the Automated Synthesis of RF Systems, IEEE Transactions on Computer-Aided Design of Integrated Circuits and Systems, Vol. -, No. -, pp. 1 - 1, January, 2019,
  | Abstract | BibTex
• F. Passos, E. Roca, R. Castro-López, F. V. Fernandez Fernandez, A Comparison of Automated RF Circuit Design Methodologies: Online Versus Offline Passive Component Design, IEEE Transactions on Very Large Scale Integration (VLSI) Systems, Vol. 26, No. 11, pp. 2386 - 2394, November, 2018,
  | Abstract | BibTex
• F. Passos, R. M. Martins, N. Lourenço, E. Roca, R. P. Póvoa, A. Canelas, R. C.-L. Castro-López, N. Horta, F. V. F, Fernández, Enhanced systematic design of a voltage controlled oscillator using a two-step optimization methodology, Integration, the VLSI Journal, Vol. 63, No. n/a, pp. 351 - 361, September, 2018,
  | Abstract | BibTex
• R. M. Martins, N. Lourenço, F. Passos, R. P. Póvoa, A. Canelas, E. Roca, R. Castro-López, J. S. Sieiro, F. Fernández, N. Horta, Two-Step RF IC Block Synthesis with Pre-Optimized Inductors and Full Layout Generation In-the-loop, IEEE Transactions on Computer-Aided Design of Integrated Circuits and Systems, Vol. Early Access, No. Early Access, pp. Early Access - Early Access, May, 2018,
  | Abstract | BibTex
• F. Passos, E. Roca, R. Castro-López, F. V. Fernandez Fernandez, A two-step surrogate modeling strategy for single-objective and multi-objective optimization of radiofrequency circuits, Soft Computing, Vol. 23, No. 13, pp. 4911 - 4925, March, 2018,
  | Abstract | BibTex
• F. Passos, E. Roca, R. Castro-López, F. V. Fernandez Fernandez, Radio-frequency inductor synthesis using evolutionary computation and Gaussian-process surrogate modeling, Applied Soft Computing Journal, Vol. 60, No. 1, pp. 495 - 507, November, 2017,
  | Abstract | BibTex
• F. Passos, Y. Ye, D. Spina, E. Roca, R. Castro-López, T. Dhaene Dhaene, F. V. Fernandez Fernandez, Parametric macromodeling of integrated inductors for RF circuit design, Microwave and Optical Tech. Letters, Vol. 59, No. 5, pp. 1207 - 1212, March, 2017,
  | Abstract | BibTex
• F. Passos, E. Roca, M. Fino, Fully analytical characterization of the series inductance of tapered integrated inductors, International Journal of Electronics and Telecommunications, Vol. 60, No. 1, pp. 65 - 69, March, 2014,
  | Abstract | BibTex

25Papers in Conferences

• R. M. Martins, A. Gusmão, R. Vieira, F. Passos, N. Lourenço, N. Horta, PONDEROUS: A Performance-driven Analog IC Placement Optimizer Leveraged by a ML Pipeline, IEEE International Conference on Synthesis, Modeling, Analysis and Simulation Methods and Applications to Circuit Design - SMACD, Volos, Greece, Vol., pp. -, July, 2024,
  | Abstract | BibTex
• F. Passos, R. M. Martins, N. Lourenço, Low-Power 9.6-11GHz and 10.8-12GHz VCOs Designed for a 2.5/5GHz TRx using High-Q Inductors Synthesized with ML Techniques, IEEE International Conference on Synthesis, Modeling, Analysis and Simulation Methods and Applications to Circuit Design - SMACD, Volos, Greece, Vol., pp. -, July, 2024 | BibTex
• F. Passos, N. Lourenço, L. Mendes, R. M. Martins, J. Vaz, N. Horta, A 23.5–32.5GHz, 17dBm PSAT and 37.5% PAE Power Amplifier Synthesized Using an Automated Design Methodology, IEEE International Conference on Synthesis, Modeling, Analysis and Simulation Methods and Applications to Circuit Design - SMACD, Funchal, Portugal, July, 2023 | BibTex
• F. Passos, N. Lourenço, L. Mendes, R. M. Martins, J. Vaz, N. Horta, A 23.5-32.5GHz, 17dBm PSAT and 37.5% PAE Power Amplifier Synthesized Using an Automated Design Methodology, IEEE International Conference on Synthesis, Modeling, Analysis and Simulation Methods and Applications to Circuit Design - SMACD, Funchal, Portugal, Vol., pp. -, July, 2023 | BibTex
• F. Passos, R. M. Martins, N. Lourenço, L. Mendes, J. Vaz, N. Horta, Efficient Hierarchical mm-Wave System Synthesis with Embedded Accurate Transformer and Balun Machine Learning Models, Asia and South Pacific Design Automation Conference ASP-DAC, Tokyo, Japan, January, 2023,
  | Abstract | BibTex
• F. Passos, R. M. Martins, N. Lourenço, L. Mendes, J. Vaz, N. Horta, Efficient Hierarchical mm-Wave System Synthesis with Embedded Accurate Transformer and Balun Machine Learning Models, Asia and South Pacific Design Automation Conference ASP-DAC, Tokyo, Japan, Vol., pp. 64 - 69, January, 2023 | BibTex
• F. Passos, N. Lourenço, R. M. Martins, E. Roca, R. Castro-López, N. Horta, F. V. Fernandez Fernandez, Machine Learning Approaches for Transformer Modeling, IEEE International Conference on Synthesis, Modeling, Analysis and Simulation Methods and Applications to Circuit Design - SMACD, Villasimius, Italy, June, 2022 | BibTex
• R. Vieira, F. Passos, R. P. Póvoa, R. M. Martins, N. Horta, J.G. Guilherme, N. Lourenço, Architectural Design for Heartbeat Detection Circuits using Verilog-A Behavioral Modeling, IEEE International Conference on Synthesis, Modeling, Analysis and Simulation Methods and Applications to Circuit Design - SMACD SMACD, Sardinia, Italy, Vol., pp. -, June, 2022,
  | Abstract | BibTex
• N. Lourenço, F. Passos, R. Vieira, R. M. Martins, N. Horta, J.G. Guilherme, R. P. Póvoa, Radiation-Hardened Bandgap Voltage and Current Reference for Space Applications with 2.38 ppm/ºC Temperature Coefficient, IEEE International Conference on Synthesis, Modeling, Analysis and Simulation Methods and Applications to Circuit Design - SMACD, Villasimius, Italy, Vol., pp. -, June, 2022,
  | Abstract | Full text (PDF 458 KBs) | BibTex
• R. Vieira, F. Passos, A. Canelas, R. P. Póvoa, N. Lourenço, N. Horta, J.G. Guilherme, A Radiation-Hardened Frequency-Locked Loop On-Chip Oscillator with 33.6ppm/ºC Stability for Space Applications, IEEE International Symp. on Circuits and Systems - ISCAS, Austin Texas, United States, May, 2022,
  | Abstract | BibTex
• L. Mendes, J. Vaz, F. Passos, N. Lourenço, R. M. Martins, Automatic Design of High-Gain 26.5-to-29.5-GHz Transformer-Less Low-Noise Amplifier 1.86-to-8.87-mW Variants in 65-nm CMOS, IEEE International Symposium on Circuits and Systems ISCAS, Austin, United States, May, 2022,
  | Abstract | BibTex
• R. M. Martins, A. Gusmão, A. Canelas, F. Passos, N. Lourenço, N. Horta, An Essay on the Next Generation of Performance-driven Analog/RF IC EDA Tools: The Role of Simulation-based Layout Optimization, IEEE International Conference on Synthesis, Modeling, Analysis and Simulation Methods and Applications to Circuit Design - SMACD, Erfurt, Germany, July, 2021,
  | Abstract | BibTex
• A. Gusmão, N. Lourenço, R. M. Martins, N. Horta, F. Passos, R. P. Póvoa, Semi-Supervised Artificial Neural Networks towards Analog IC Placement Recommender, IEEE International Symposium on Circuits and Systems ISCAS, Sevilla, Spain, October, 2020,
  | Abstract | BibTex
• N. Lourenço, E. Afacan, R. M. Martins, F. Passos, A. Canelas, R. P. Póvoa, N. Horta, G. Dundar, Using Polynomial Regression and Artificial Neural Networks for Reusable Analog IC Sizing, International Conf. on Synthesis, Modeling, Analysis and Simulation Methods and Applications to Circuit Design - SMACD, Lausanne, Switzerland, July, 2019,
  | Abstract | Full text (PDF 908 KBs) | BibTex
• F. Passos, E. Roca, R. Castro-López, N. Horta, F. V. Fernandez Fernandez, Synthesis of mm-Wave circuits using-EM-simulated passive structure libraries, IEEE International Conference on Synthesis, Modeling, Analysis and Simulation Methods and Applications to Circuit Design - SMACD, Lausanne, Switzerland, July, 2019,
  | Abstract | BibTex
• P. Saraza-Canflanca, F. Passos, P. Martin-Lloret, R. Castro-López, E. Roca, F. V. Fernandez Fernandez, Generation of Lifetime-Aware Pareto-Optimal Fronts Using a Stochastic Reliability Simulator, Design, Automation, and Test in Europe - DATE, Florence, Italy, March, 2019 | BibTex
• F. Passos, E. Roca, R. Castro-López, F. Fernández, R. P. Póvoa, R. M. Martins, N. Lourenço, A. Canelas, N. Horta, Handling the Effects of Variability and Layout Parasitics in the Automatic Synthesis of LNAs, International Conf. on Synthesis, Modeling, Analysis and Simulation Methods and Applications to Circuit Design - SMACD, Prague, Czech Republic, July, 2018 | BibTex
• P. Saraza-Canflanca, D. Malagon, F. Passos, A. Toro-Frias, J. Nuñez, J. Diaz-Fortuny, R. Castro-López, E. Roca, J. Martin-Martinez, R. Rodriguez, M. Nafria, F. V. Fernandez Fernandez, Design Considerations of an SRAM Array for the Statistical Validation of Time-Dependent Variability Models, IEEE International Conference on Synthesis, Modeling, Analysis and Simulation Methods and Applications to Circuit Design - SMACD, Prague, Czech Republic, July, 2018,
  | Abstract | BibTex
• R. M. Martins, N. Lourenço, R. P. Póvoa, A. Canelas, N. Horta, F. Passos, R. Castro-López, E. Roca, F. Fernández, Layout-Aware Challenges and a Solution for the Automatic Synthesis of Radio-Frequency IC Blocks, International Conf. on Synthesis, Modeling, Analysis and Simulation Methods and Applications to Circuit Design - SMACD, Taormina, Italy, June, 2017,
  | Abstract | BibTex
• N. Lourenço, R. M. Martins, R. P. Póvoa, A. Canelas, N. Horta, F. Passos, R. Castro-López, E. Roca, F. Fernández, New Mapping Strategies for Pre-Optimized Inductor Sets in Bottom-Up RF IC Sizing Optimization, International Conf. on Synthesis, Modeling, Analysis and Simulation Methods and Applications to Circuit Design - SMACD, Taormina, Italy, June, 2017,
  | Abstract | BibTex
• F. Passos, R. C.-L. Castro-López, E. Roca, F. V. F, Fernández, R. M. Martins, N. Lourenço, R. P. Póvoa, A. Canelas, N. Horta, Systematic Design of a Voltage Controlled Oscillator using a Layout-Aware Approach, International Conf. on Synthesis, Modeling, Analysis and Simulation Methods and Applications to Circuit Design - SMACD, Taormina, Italy, June, 2017,
  | Abstract | BibTex
• F. Passos, E. Roca, R. Castro-López, F. V. Fernandez Fernandez, An algorithm for a class of real-life multi-objective optimization problems with a sweeping objective, IEEE Congress on Evolutionary Computation - CEC, San Sebastian, Spain, June, 2017,
  | Abstract | BibTex
• F. Passos, E. Roca, J. S. Sieiro, R. Castro-López, F. V. Fernandez Fernandez, J. M. Lopez-Villegas, A strategy to efficiently include electromagnetic simulations in optimization-based RF circuit design methodologies, IEEE MTT-S International Conference on Numerical Electromagnetic and Multiphysics Modeling and Optimization for RF, Microwave, and Terahertz Applications NEMO, Seville, Spain, May, 2017,
  | Abstract | BibTex
• F. Passos, R. Gonzalez-Echevarria, E. Roca, R. Castro-López, F. V. Fernandez Fernandez, Accurate synthesis of integrated RF passive components using surrogate models, Design, Automation, and Test in Europe - DATE, Dresden, Germany, March, 2016 | BibTex
• F. Passos, M. Kotti, R. Gonzalez-Echevarria, M. Fino, M. Fakhfakh, E. Roca, R. Castro-López, F. V. Fernandez Fernandez, Physical vs. surrogate models of passive RF devices, IEEE International Symposium on Circuits and Systems ISCAS, Lisboa, Portugal, May, 2015,
  | Abstract | BibTex

Projects

Closed Projects3

Acronym	Name	Funding Agency	Start date	Ending date
LAY(RF)^2	Ready-to-Fabricate RF and mmWave Integrated Circuit Layouts	IT	01-02-2020	31-01-2022
PROMISE	PROgrammable MIxed Signal Electronics	EU/H2020	01-01-2020	31-12-2024
SYSTEMIC-RF	Automated synthesis methodology for reliable RF integrated circuits	EU/H2020	01-09-2021	31-08-2023

Other Scientific Achievements

2Awards

• F. Passos, R. M. Martins, N. Lourenço, E. Roca, R. Castro-López, A. Canelas, R. P. Póvoa, N. Horta, F. V. Fernandez Fernandez, Best Paper Award, Best paper award in SMACD 2018, 01-07-2018
• F. Passos, E. Roca, M. Fino, Outstanding Paper Award, Outstanding Paper Award in MIXDES 2013, 01-04-2013

2Prototypes

• F. Passos, KIPT (chip to characterize circuit aging in 65nm)
• F. Passos, R. M. Martins, N. Lourenço, DDCC VCO (2.4GHz, 0.35um)

Other Contributions

3Conference Committees

• IEEE International Conference on Synthesis, Modeling, Analysis and Simulation Methods and Applications to Circuit Design - SMACD, Scientific Committee, 2019
• IEEE International Conference on Synthesis, Modeling, Analysis and Simulation Methods and Applications to Circuit Design - SMACD, Sessions Chairman, 2019
• IEEE International Symp. on Circuits and Systems - ISCAS, Organizing Committee, 2015

Related UN SDG

Activities from this researcher fall under the following United Nations Strategic Development Goals (SDGs):