In a new contract with the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Iowa State, RocketChips, Inc. of Minnesota will provide $1 million to fund research for a development project.

The contract calls for work on high-speed, high-performance analog and mixed signal integrated circuits.

According to the contract, ISU faculty and students will conduct research on new architecture, designs, fabrication and testing of integrated circuits for high-tech electronic systems used in computer networks, datacom systems and the Internet.

RocketChips chose Iowa State because of the unique faculty and student resources in electrical engineering.

William Black, an associate professor in electrical and computer engineering, will lead the project. Black said, “We have a strong linear and mixed signal group that is one of the largest programs in the country.”

Black is also excited about the interdisciplinary cooperation that will be born out of the project, he said.

“This type of advanced chip design is interdisciplinary, requiring knowledge and competence in many electrical engineering disciplines. Our curriculum and research are very focused on educating students in the process and methods of this type of integrated circuit design,” he said.

The circuits ISU will be producing are similar to the two basic types of electronics used in electronic devices today — analog and digital.

For example, an analog device is the actual voice that travels into a handset in a telephone. It functions in waves and is read along an entire spectrum, while digital signals are only ones and zeros.

In other words, a compact disc, which is digital, translates everything into ones and zeros, which makes it possible for a laser to read it. This makes a compact disc more clear than a record, which is analog. However, the record will record the nuances and inflections better because it has the capacity to record the full spectrum of sound.

RocketChips, a start-up company in Edina, Minn., recently completed its initial “seed” round of financing.