The book presents the best contributions, extracted from the theses written by the students who have attended the second edition of the Master in Microelectronics and Systems that has been organized by the Universita degli Studi di Catania and that has been held at the STMicroelectronics Company (Catania Site) from May 2000 to January 2001. In particular, the mentioned Master has been organized among the various ac tivities of the "Istituto Superiore di Catania per la Formazione di Eccellenza". The Institute is one of the Italian network of universities selected by MURST (Ministry University Research Scientific Technology). The first aim of tl;te Master in Microelectronics and Systems is to increase the skills of the students with the Laurea Degree in Physics or Electrical Engineering in the more advanced areas as VLSI system design, high-speed low-voltage low-power circuitS and RF systems. The second aim has been to involve in the educational program companies like STMicroelectronics, ACCENT and ITEL, interested in emergent microelectronics topics, to cooperate with the University in developing high-level research projects. Besides the tutorial activity during the teaching hours, provided by national and international researchers, a significant part of the School has been dedicated to the presentation of specific CAD tools and experiments in order to prepare the students to solve specific problems during the stage period and in the thesis work.
