Analog and mixed-signal VLSI design; academic leadership in Macau
Awards
Medal of Professional Merit (Macao, 1999) Honorary Title of Value (Macao, 2001) Medal of Merit in Education (Macao, 2021) National Award for Electrical Engineering (Portugal, 2024)
Rui Paulo da Silva Martins (born 30 April 1957) is a Portugueseelectrical engineer known for his contributions to microelectronics research and higher education.[1] He has been Vice Rector of the University of Macau since 1997 and holds a Chair Professorship in its Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering. Martins is a Life Fellow of the IEEE and an Effective Member of the Lisbon Academy of Sciences.[2][3] His work has earned more than 18,000 citations and his h‑index exceeds 60 (August 2025).
Martins joined the IST faculty in October 1980 and served until October 1992, when he took leave to join the University of Macau. He maintained that leave until his retirement from IST as Full Professor in August 2025.[5]
Academic and institutional leadership
At the University of Macau, Martins was Dean of the Faculty of Science and Technology (1994–1997). In 1997 he became the sole Vice Rector (Academic and Research), later serving as Vice Rector (Research) (2008–2018), and since 2018 as Vice Rector (Global Affairs), with his mandate extended to 2027.[6] He was appointed Chair Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering in 2013 and has served as Director of the Institute of Microelectronics since 2019.[7]
Research and mentorship
Martins established the Analog and Mixed-Signal VLSI Laboratory in 2003, elevated in 2011 to China's first State Key Laboratory in engineering. He led it until 2022. He has published over 1,000 works and filed more than 70 patents in the US, China, and Taiwan.[8]
At Macau, Martins introduced Master's and PhD programmes in ECE in 1993–94, supervised numerous theses, and oversaw the design of the first integrated circuit in Macau, UMCHIP, in 1994.[9]
Professional roles and honours
Martins became an IEEE Member in 1988, Senior Member in 1999, Fellow in 2008 "for leadership in engineering education", and Life Fellow in 2024.[10] He founded the IEEE Macau Section (2003–2005) and the IEEE Macau Joint Chapter on Circuits and Systems/Communications, which won IEEE CAS Society's "World Chapter of the Year" award in 2009.[11]
Martins has served as Vice President and President of the Association of Portuguese Speaking Universities (AULP), where he was granted Honorary Membership in 2021.[12]
He has received honours from the Macao government, including the Medal of Professional Merit (1999), Honorary Title of Value (2001), and the Medal of Merit in Education (2021).[13] In 2024, he received the inaugural National Award for Electrical Engineering from the Ordem dos Engenheiros. He was elected to the Lisbon Academy of Sciences as Corresponding Member in 2010 and Effective Member in 2022.[14][15]
On 30 September 2025, Martins received the Chinese Government’s Friendship Award for foreign experts, at a ceremony held at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing.[16]
Selected research contributions
Under Martins' leadership, Macau's State Key Laboratory became a regular contributor to the IEEE International Solid-State Circuits Conference (ISSCC). Between 2011 and 2022, it presented 45 papers annually, with 15 accepted in 2023, making it the leading institution worldwide.[17]
His group won the Takuo Sugano Award at ISSCC in 2017 and 2024 for contributions to power transceivers and ADC architectures.[18]
Other research includes low-power wireless transceivers, compact amplifiers, CMOS Hall sensors, micro-NMR systems, and edge IoT smart metering solutions.[19][20]
Selected publications
Mak, P. I.; Law, M. K.; Martins, R. P. (2011). "A 0.5 V 1.4 μW CMOS Image Sensor with Self-Biasing Technique for Biomedical Applications." IEEE Journal of Solid-State Circuits, 46(5), 1246–1256.
Zhu, Y.; U, S.-P.; Sin, S.-W.; Martins, R. P. (2010). "A 10-bit 100-MS/s Reference-Free SAR ADC in 90 nm CMOS." IEEE Journal of Solid-State Circuits, 45(6), 1111–1121.
Lin, Z.; Sin, S.-W.; Martins, R. P. (2014). "A Sub-1 V 2.4 GHz ZigBee Transmitter with -33 dB EVM Using Digital-Intensive Architecture in 65 nm CMOS." IEEE Transactions on Circuits and Systems I, 61(9), 2639–2648.
Lei, K.-M.; Gao, J.; Mak, P. I.; Martins, R. P. (2015). "A Handheld NMR Relaxometer with 1H and 13C Dual-Nuclei Detection Based on an HV-SOI CMOS Oscillator." ISSCC, pp. 460–461.
Yan, Z.; U, S.-P.; Mak, P. I.; Martins, R. P. (2011). "A 0.003 mm2 0.41 μW 260 kS/s 10-bit SAR ADC in 65 nm CMOS." VLSI Symposium, pp. 262–263.
Mak, P. I.; Law, M. K.; Martins, R. P. (2016). "CMOS Lab-on-Chip: Design and Applications Toward Point-of-Care Diagnostics." IEEE Circuits and Systems Magazine, 16(3), 50–76.
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