Farid N. Najm

Professor of Electrical & Computer Engineering

Research in computer-aided design for integrated circuits, with a focus on power dissipation, circuit timing, and chip reliability — currently chip power grid verification and reliability checking.

Explore research Publications

IEEE Fellow

Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers

since 2003

CAE Fellow

Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Engineering

since 2010

3× ICCAD Best Paper

IEEE/ACM William J. McCalla Best Paper Award

2016 · 2019 · 2020

DAC Prolific Author

30+ papers at the Design Automation Conference

Biography

Farid N. Najm received the B.E. degree (with distinction) in Electrical Engineering from the American University of Beirut (AUB) in 1983, and the M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) in 1986 and 1989, respectively.

He worked with Texas Instruments in Dallas, Texas, 1989–1992, then joined the ECE Department at UIUC as an Assistant Professor, becoming Associate Professor in 1997. In 1999, he joined the ECE Department at the University of Toronto, where he became Professor in 2001, served as Vice-Chair 2004–2007, and as Department Chair 2009–2019.

Dr. Najm is a Fellow of the IEEE and a Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Engineering. He is the author of Circuit Simulation (John Wiley & Sons and IEEE Press, 2010).

Farid N. Najm

Computer-Aided Design for Integrated Circuits

New CAD tools and design methodologies are needed to keep up with advances in IC technology. My work is focused on the design problems related to power dissipation, circuit timing, and chip reliability — including average power (thermal concerns, battery life), chip leakage currents, and transient power (grid noise, metal reliability). Currently, my work is focused on chip power grid verification and reliability checking under electromigration.

Selected Papers

Introduced transition density (toggle rate) as a probabilistic measure of logic switching activity, founding a new approach to gate-level power estimation.

F. N. Najm, “Transition density: a new measure of activity in digital circuits,” IEEE Trans. Computer-Aided Design, Feb. 1993. pdf
First method to actively reduce leakage power in FPGAs through optimal sleep-transistor insertion and state assignment.

J. H. Anderson and F. N. Najm, “Active leakage power optimization for FPGAs,” IEEE Trans. Computer-Aided Design, Mar. 2006. pdf
Fast technique for verifying power grid voltage integrity without simulation vectors, under a full RLC model.

N. H. Abdul Ghani and F. N. Najm, “Fast vectorless power grid verification under an RLC model,” IEEE Trans. Computer-Aided Design, May 2011. pdf
A method to generate current budgets for circuit blocks that guarantee power grid safety.

Z. Moudallal and F. N. Najm, “Generating current budgets to guarantee power grid safety,” IEEE Trans. Computer-Aided Design, Nov. 2016. pdf
Seminal work on power grid electromigration checking grounded in physics-based models of stress evolution, replacing empirical lifetime rules.

S. Chatterjee, V. Sukharev, and F. N. Najm, “Power grid electromigration checking using physics-based models,” IEEE Trans. Computer-Aided Design, Jul. 2018. pdf
Extended current-constraint framework for RLC power grids, providing provably safe current limits for chip designers.

Z. Moudallal and F. N. Najm, “Generating current constraints to guarantee RLC power grid safety,” ACM Trans. Design Automation of Electronic Systems, Jun. 2017. pdf
Reformulated electromigration physics as equivalent electrical circuits — a transformative advancement enabling EM simulation with standard circuit simulators.

F. N. Najm, “Equivalent circuits for electromigration,” Microelectronics Reliability, Aug. 2021. pdf
First fast algorithm for physics-based electromigration checking in on-chip power grids. ★ Best Paper, ICCAD 2016

S. Chatterjee, V. Sukharev, and F. N. Najm, “Fast physics-based electromigration checking for on-die power grids,” IEEE/ACM ICCAD, Nov. 2016. pdf
First efficient approach to fixing power grid wires that fail electromigration reliability checks. ★ Best Paper, ICCAD 2019

Z. Moudallal, V. Sukharev, and F. N. Najm, “Power grid fixing for electromigration-induced voltage failures,” IEEE/ACM ICCAD, Nov. 2019. pdf
Electromigration checking using a stochastic effective-current model that better captures real workload variability. ★ Best Paper, ICCAD 2020

A. Issa, V. Sukharev, and F. N. Najm, “Electromigration checking using a stochastic effective current model,” IEEE/ACM ICCAD, Nov. 2020. pdf

Patents

F. N. Najm, A. Moshovos and N. Azizi, “Low Leakage Asymmetric SRAM Cell Devices,” US Patent No. 7,307,905, supported by the Semiconductor Research Corporation (SRC), December 11, 2007.
J. H. Anderson and F. N. Najm, “Leakage Power Optimization for Integrated Circuits,” US Patent No. 6,993,737 B1, supported by Xilinx Corp., January 31, 2006.

Support & Sponsors

Over the years my research has been supported by grants and contracts from a variety of sources. With gratitude:

Farid N. Najm

Graduate Supervision

Graduate students supervised at the University of Toronto and the University of Illinois.

Name	Degree	Year
Mahdi Harb	MASc	in progress
Yara Halawi	MASc	2024
Cedric Feghali	MASc	2023
Bijan Shahriari	MASc	2022
Carl Chaanin	MASc	2021
Zahi Moudallal	PhD	2019
Adam Issa	MASc	2019
Mohammad Fawaz	PhD	2017
Sandeep Chatterjee	PhD	2017
Abdul-Amir Yassine	MASc	2016
Abhishek	MASc	2012
Sari Onaissi	PhD	2011
Nahi Abdul Ghani	PhD	2011
Pamela Al Haddad	MASc	2011
Mehmet Avci	MASc	2010
Meric Aydonat	MASc	2010
Ankit Goyal	MASc	2010
Khaled R. Heloue	PhD	2010
Imad Ferzli	PhD	2009
Navid Azizi	PhD	2007
Bin Wu	PhD	2006
Denis Kouroussis	PhD	2006
Kay Chan	MASc	2005
Georges Nabaa	MASc	2005
David Ng	MASc	2005
Jason Anderson	PhD	2005
Maha Nizam	MASc	2005
Kavel Buyuksahin	PhD	2003
Srinivas Bodapati	PhD	2003
Rubil Ahmadi	MASc	2003
Joseph Kozhaya	PhD	2001
Roman Kordasiewicz	MASc	2002
Mehrdad Shahriari	MASc	2001
Subodh Gupta	PhD	2000
Rouwaida Kanj	MS	2000
Xiaochun Tan	MS	2000
Gilbert Yoh	MS	1999
Mahadevamurthy Nemani	PhD	1998
Luis Amaya	PhD	1998
Jonathan Halter	MS	1997
Rajendran Panda	PhD	1996
Vikram Saxena	MS	1996
Michael Xakellis	MS	1994
Yimin Zhang	MS	1994
Harish Kriplani	PhD	1993

Farid N. Najm

Courses

Circuit analysis at the undergraduate level and the numerical foundations of circuit simulation for graduate students.

ECE 212

Circuit Analysis

Undergraduate · 2nd year

Foundations of linear circuit analysis: nodal and mesh methods, transient response, sinusoidal steady state, and two-port networks.

ECE 1777

Computer Methods for Circuit Simulation

Graduate

Numerical methods behind modern circuit simulators: sparse linear systems, nonlinear iteration, numerical integration, and device modeling.

Textbook

Circuit Simulation — published in 2010 by John Wiley & Sons and IEEE Press. A graduate-level treatment of the algorithms and data structures at the heart of SPICE-class simulators.

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Farid N. Najm

Awards & Distinctions

Recognitions from IEEE, the Canadian Academy of Engineering, ACM, and academic and industry partners across a career in CAD for integrated circuits.

2020

IEEE/ACM William J. McCalla ICCAD Best Paper Award

ICCAD
2020

Safwat Zaky Research Leader Award

Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering, University of Toronto
2019

IEEE/ACM William J. McCalla ICCAD Best Paper Award

ICCAD
2016

IEEE/ACM William J. McCalla ICCAD Best Paper Award

ICCAD
2013

DAC Prolific Author Award

For 30+ papers at the Design Automation Conference
2010

Fellow, Canadian Academy of Engineering (CAE)

Canadian Academy of Engineering
2007

FEA Distinguished Alumnus Award

American University of Beirut, Faculty of Engineering and Architecture
2003, 2005

SRC Inventor Recognition Award

Semiconductor Research Corporation
2003

Fellow, IEEE

Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
1999

ECE Faculty Outstanding Teaching Award

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
1996

NSF CAREER Award

National Science Foundation (USA)
1993

NSF Research Initiation Award

National Science Foundation (USA)
1992

Best Paper Award

IEEE Transactions on Computer-Aided Design

Farid N. Najm

Professional Service

Editorial appointments at IEEE Transactions on CAD and VLSI Systems, and program leadership across the CAD conference community.

Academic Administration

2009 – 2019

Chair, Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering

University of Toronto

Chaired the ECE Executive Committee, Advisory Committee, PTR Committee and Promotions Committee; member of committees at the Faculty and University levels.

2004 – 2007

Vice-Chair, Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering

University of Toronto

Chaired the ECE Promotions Committee and Awards Committee; member of the ECE Advisory Committee, PTR Committee and Executive Committee.

2017 – 2018

Chair, Canadian Heads of Electrical & Computer Engineering (CHECE)

Editorial

2001 – 2009

Associate Editor

IEEE Transactions on Computer-Aided Design

1997 – 2002

Associate Editor

IEEE Transactions on VLSI Systems

1995 – 1997

Column Editor — Simulation & Modeling

IEEE Circuits and Devices Magazine

1995

Guest Editor

VLSI Design Journal

1995

Guest Editor

International Journal on High Speed Electronics and Systems

Conference Leadership

1999 – 2013

Executive Committee

International Symposium on Low-Power Electronics and Design (ISLPED)

1999

General Chairman

ISLPED

1998

Technical Program Co-Chairman

ISLPED

1997

Technical Program Chairman

International Great Lakes Symposium on VLSI (GLSVLSI)

2019

Advisory Board Member

International Conference on Reliability and Stress-Related Phenomena (IRSP)

Technical Program Committees

1995–97 · 2001–03 · 2021–25 International Conference on Computer-Aided Design (ICCAD)
1998–99 · 2006–08 Design Automation Conference (DAC)
2007 – 2008 TAU — Timing Issues in Digital Systems
1994 Custom Integrated Circuits Conference (CICC)
1995 – 2000 International Symposium on Low-Power Electronics and Design (ISLPED)
2000 – 2004 International Symposium on Quality Electronic Design (ISQED)
1993 International Symposium on VLSI Technology, Systems & Applications (VLSITSA)
1994 International Workshop on Low Power Design

Farid N. Najm

Contact

Prof. Farid N. Najm
Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering, University of Toronto.

Email

f.najm@utoronto.ca

Mailing Address

ECE Dept., University of Toronto
10 King's College Rd.
Toronto, Ontario
Canada M5S 3G4

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