Peter Levine, PhD, PEng
Biography
Dr. Peter Levine is an Associate Professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Waterloo. His research group develops complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) integrated circuits (ICs) that bridge the chemical world of biology with the digital world. By integrating standard CMOS analog/mixed-signal ICs with novel materials, structures, and devices, Dr. Levine and his team are creating advanced CMOS imagers and biosensors for a wide range of life-science and biosensing applications.
Research Interests
CMOS analog/mixed-signal integrated circuits (ICs)
CMOS electrochemical biosensors
CMOS imagers (visible, IR, and X-ray)
Education
2009, Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering, Columbia University, U.S.A.
2004, M.Eng. in Electrical Engineering, McGill University, Canada
2002, B.Eng. in Computer Engineering, McGill University, Canada
Awards
2016 Teledyne DALSA Componentware/CAD Award, CMC Texpo
2015 Best Paper Award, IEEE International Midwest Symposium on Circuits and Systems (MWSCAS)
2014 Teledyne DALSA Componentware/CAD Award, CMC Texpo
2005 Intel Foundation Ph.D. Fellowship
Teaching*
- ECE 240 - Electronic Circuits 1
- Taught in 2020, 2021
- ECE 298 - Instrumentation and Prototyping Laboratory
- Taught in 2022
- ECE 340 - Electronic Circuits 2
- Taught in 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025
- ECE 444 - Integrated Analog Electronics
- Taught in 2024, 2025
- ECE 636 - Advanced Analog Integrated Circuits
- Taught in 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025
* Only courses taught in the past 5 years are displayed.
Selected/Recent Publications
R. Mohammadi, P. M. Levine, and K. S. Karim, "A monolithic amorphous-selenium/CMOS small-pixel-effect-enhanced X-ray-energy-discriminating quantum-counting pixel for biomedical imaging," Symposium on VLSI Technology and Circuits (VLSI Symposium), Kyoto, Japan, June 2023, pp. C15-3.1-C15-3.2.
R. Mohammadi, P. M. Levine, and K. S. Karim, "Experimental demonstration of the small pixel effect in an amorphous photoconductor using a monolithic spectral single photon counting capable CMOS-integrated amorphous-selenium sensor," IEEE International Electron Devices Meeting (IEDM), San Francisco, CA, Dec. 2022, pp. 467-470.
A. Krishnan and P. M. Levine, "CMOS ring-oscillator-based electrochemical capacitance imager with frequency-division-multiplexed readout," IEEE International Symposium on Circuits and Systems (ISCAS), Austin, Texas, May 2022, pp. 1082-1086.
A. El-Falou, A. Camlica, R. Mohammadi, P. M. Levine, and K. S. Karim, "A monolithic amorphous-selenium/CMOS single-photon-counting X-ray detector," IEEE Transactions on Electron Devices, vol. 68, no. 4, pp. 1746-1752, Apr. 2021.
Y. Z. Li, M. Hamid, C. C. Scott, R. Lohr, A. El-Falou, P. M. Levine, and K. S. Karim, “A monolithic amorphous-selenium/CMOS visible-light imager with sub-9-um pixel pitch and extended full-well capacity,” IEEE Sensors Journal, vol. 21, no. 1, pp. 339-346, Jan. 2021.
A. Camlica, M. Z. Kabir, J. Liang, P. M. Levine, D.L. Lee, and K. S. Karim, "Use of pulse-height spectroscopy to characterize the hole conduction mechanism of a polyimide blocking layer used in amorphous-selenium radiation detectors," IEEE Transactions on Electron Devices, vol. 67, no. 2, pp. 633-639, Feb. 2020.
A. Camlica*, A. El-Falou*, R. Mohammadi, P. M. Levine, and K. S. Karim, "CMOS-integrated single-photon-counting X-ray detector using an amorphous-selenium photoconductor with 11x11-um2 pixels," Proceedings of the IEEE International Electron Devices Meeting (IEDM), San Francisco, CA, Dec. 2018, pp. 32.5.1-32.5.4. (*equal contribution)
M. J. Chow, B. Sun, Y. He, M. M. Payne, J. E. Anthony, Y. Li, P. M. Levine, and W. S. Wong, "Transistor sizing for bias-stress instability compensation in inkjet-printed organic complementary inverters," IEEE Electron Device Letters, vol. 37, no. 11, pp. 1438-1441, Nov. 2016.
H. Huang, J. Xia, A. Islam, E. Ng, P. M. Levine, and S. Boumaiza, "Digitally assisted analog/RF predistorter with a small-signal-assisted parameter identification algorithm," IEEE Transactions on Microwave Theory and Techniques, vol. 63, no. 12, pp. 4297-4305, Dec. 2015.
C. Scott*, A. Parsafar*, A. El-Falou, P. M. Levine, and K. S. Karim, "High dose efficiency, ultra-high resolution amorphous selenium/CMOS hybrid digital X-ray imager," Proceedings of the IEEE International Electron Devices Meeting (IEDM), Washington, DC, Dec. 2015, pp. 30.6.1-30.6.4. (*equal contribution)
A. Ali, N. Pal, and P. M. Levine, "CMOS impedance spectroscopy sensor array with synchronous voltage-to-frequency converters," Proceedings of the IEEE International Midwest Symposium on Circuits and Systems (MWSCAS), Fort Collins, CO, Aug. 2015, pp. 1-4.
A. Parsafar, C. C. Scott, A. El-Falou, P. M. Levine, and K. S. Karim, "Direct-conversion CMOS X-ray imager with 5.6 um x 6.25 um pixels," IEEE Electron Device Letters, vol. 36, no. 5, pp. 481-483, May 2015.
H. Huang, A. Islam, J. Xia, P. Levine, and S. Boumaiza, "Linear filter assisted envelope memory polynomial for analog/radio frequency predistortion of power amplifiers," Proceedings of the IEEE International Microwave Symposium (IMS), Phoenix, AZ, May 2015, pp. 1-3.
M. M. R. Ibrahim and P. M. Levine, "CMOS transimpedance amplifier for biosensor signal acquisition," Proceedings of the IEEE International Symposium on Circuits and Systems (ISCAS), Melbourne, Australia, June 2014, pp. 25-28.
D. L. Bellin, H. Sakhtah, J. K. Rosenstein, P. M. Levine, J. Thimot, K. Emmett, L. E. P. Dietrich, and K. L. Shepard, "Integrated circuit-based electrochemical sensor for spatially resolved detection of redox-active metabolites in biofilms," Nature Communications, vol. 5, no. 3256, Feb. 10, 2014, doi: 10.1038/ncomms4256.
K. A. Jensen, V. C. Gaudet, and P. M. Levine, "Noise analysis and measurement of integrator-based sensor interface circuits for fluorescence detection in lab-on-a-chip applications," Proceedings of the International Conference on Noise and Fluctuations (ICNF), Montpellier, France, 2013, doi: 10.1109/ICNF.2013.6578905.
C. O'Sullivan, P. M. Levine, and S. Garg, "Vertically-addressed test structures (VATS) for 3D IC variability and stress measurements," Proceedings of the IEEE International Symposium on Quality Electronic Design (ISQED), Santa Clara, CA, Mar. 2013, pp. 96-103.
P. M. Levine, P. Gong, R. Levicky, and K. L. Shepard, "Multiplexed, real-time electrochemical DNA detection using an active CMOS biosensor array with integrated sensor electronics," Biosensors and Bioelectronics, vol. 24, no. 7, pp. 1995-2001, Mar. 2009.
P. M. Levine, P. Gong, R. Levicky, and K. L. Shepard, "Active CMOS sensor array for electrochemical biomolecular detection," IEEE Journal of Solid-State Circuits, vol. 43, no. 8, pp. 1859-1871, Aug. 2008.
Patents
P. M. Levine, K. L. Shepard, P. Gong, and R. Levicky, “Active CMOS sensor array for electrochemical biomolecular detection,” U.S. Patent No. 10,718,732, granted July 2020.
K. L. Johnson, J. Jordan, P. M. Levine, and M. J. Milgrew, “Chemical detection device having multiple flow channels,” U.S. Patent No. 8,983,783, granted Mar. 17, 2015 (assigned to Life Tech. Corp.).
P. Levine, M. Milgrew, and T. Rearick, “Capacitive charge pump,” U.S. Patent No. 8,823,380, granted Sept. 2, 2014 (assigned to Life Tech. Corp.).
P. Levine, “Array column integrator,” U.S. Patent No. 8,432,149, granted Apr. 30, 2013 (assigned to Life Tech. Corp.).
Graduate studies
I am currently seeking to accept graduate students. Please submit your graduate studies application and include my name as a potential advisor.