HUANG Zhikai (黄志凯)

About

I am a Ph.D. student in electrical engineering and information technology at ETH Zürich, Switzerland. My advisor is Prof. Dr. Hua Wang, and I am part of Integrated Devices, Electronics, and Systems (IDEAS) Group. In my doctoral studies, I develop CMOS-integrated bioelectronic devices, circuits, and systems for three-dimensional biological interfaces. Before I joined the IDEAS Group, I had written my master’s thesis at the Energy-Efficient Circuits and Intelligent Systems (EECIS) Group under Prof. Dr. Taekwang Jang, where I worked on low-power analog-to-digital converter for capacitive MEMS interfaces.

I obtained my M.Sc. in Biomedical Engineering at ETH Zurich, B.Eng. in Microelectronics from Xi’an Jiaotong University, China, and was a visiting research intern at physics department at McGill University, Canada. I am an IEEE Graduate Student Member, Young Professionals, Society Member of CAS, SSCS, EDS, EMBS and MEMS.

Feel free to reach out for any questions or collaboration opportunites.

News

[2025.11] The paper about Multi-Size Micro-Cage is accepted to IEEE ISSCC 2026. Congrats!
[2024.10] I presented my paper on Actuatable Microcage on IEEE BioCAS 2024 in Xi'an China.
[2024.09] I am invited to become a reviewer at IEEE ISCAS conference. Congrats!
[2024.08] I got my first paper (as first-author) during PhD accepted to IEEE BioCAS 2024.
[2022.09] I started my Ph.D. at D-ITET, ETH Zurich, supervised by Prof. Hua Wang. Looking forward to the Ph.D. journey!
[2022.06] I gave the finial presentation of master thesis under supervison of Prof. Taekwang Jang, which marked the end of my master study.
[2022.04] My first paper (as third-author) in life is online! The work was published at IEEE DATE 2022 and focuses on machine-learning accelerators. Congrats!

Publications

Thesis

A Continuous-Time Input Pipelined SAR ADC with Loop-Embedded Predictive Offset Generation
- Zhikai Huang, 2022 Master of Science in Biomedical Engineering Thesis at ETH Zurich
A Battery State-of-Charge Estimation ASIC without Current Dectection
- Zhikai Huang, 2019 Bachelor of Engineering in Microelectronics Thesis at Xi’an Jiaotong University

Conference Papers

Shape-Memory Multi-Size Micro-Cage Array on CMOS with Integrated Electrochemical Sensors for Joint Bio-Sample Manipulation and Sensing
Zhikai Huang, Fuze Jiang, Hangxing Liu, Adam Wang, Yuguo Sheng, Marco Saif, Hua Wang
In 2026 IEEE International Solid-State Circuits Conference (ISSCC 2026)
MEMS-Free 4096-Pixel CMOS E-Nose Gas Sensor Array with Molecular-Selective Metal-Organic-Framework Sensing and In-Pixel Thermodynamic Modulation for Fast Sensor Regeneration
Marco Saif, Fuze Jiang, Shao-Wei Lo, Adam Y Wang, Zhikai Huang, Jiachen Wang, Hangxing Liu, Chih-Jen Shih, Thomas Burger, Hua Wang
In 2025 IEEE International Solid-State Circuits Conference (ISSCC 2025)
A CMOS-Compatible and Actuatable 3D-Microcage Array with Shape-Memory for On-Chip Dynamic Cell Interfacing
Zhikai Huang, Fuze Jiang, Hangxing Liu, Ying Kong, Yuguo Sheng, Adam Wang, Dongwon Lee, Marco Saif, Hua Wang
In 2024 IEEE Biomedical Circuits and Systems Conference (BioCAS 2024).
A CMOS Molecular Sensor for Personalized Diagnostics Featuring Enzyme-Free Reading and Encoding of Viral Variants at Single-Nucleotide Resolution
Marco Saif, Fuze Jiang, Hangxing Liu, Adam Wang, Zhikai Huang, Yuguo Sheng, Dongwon Lee, Thomas Burger, Hua Wang
In 2024 IEEE European Solid-State Electronics Research Conference (ESSERC 2024).
Highly Sensitive Multimodal CMOS Antifouling Sensor Array with Multi-Use Electrodes for Single-Cell-Level Profiling of Biophysical and Biochemical Parameters
Hangxing Liu, Fuze Jiang, Adam Wang, Zhikai Huang, Ying Kong, Marco Saif, Dongwon Lee, Thomas Burger, Jing Wang, Hua Wang
In 2024 IEEE Symposium on VLSI Technology and Circuits (VLSI 2024).
A Subcellular-Resolution Multimodal CMOS Biosensor Array with 16K Ion-Selective Pixels for Real-Time Monitoring Potassium Dynamics
Hangxing Liu, Fuze Jiang, Ying Kong, Dongwon Lee, Yuguo Sheng, Adam Wang, Zhikai Huang, Marco Saif, Thomas Burger, Jing Wang, Hua Wang
In 2024 IEEE Symposium on VLSI Technology and Circuits (VLSI 2024).
Fully Integrated CMOS Ferrofluidic Biomolecular Processing Platform with On-Chip Droplet-Based Manipulation, Multiplexing and Sensing
Dongwon Lee, Kyung-Sik Choi, Fuze Jiang, Hangxing Liu, Doohwan Jung, Ying Kong, Marco Saif, Zhikai Huang, Jing Wang, Hua Wang
In 2024 IEEE International Solid-State Circuits Conference (ISSCC 2024).
A 256-channel in-pixel electrochemical platform in CMOS for rapid isothermal genetic amplification and screening
Hangxing Liu, Fuze Jiang, Dongwon Lee, Yuguo Sheng, Adam Wang, Marco Saif, Ying Kong, Zhikai Huang, Thomas Burger, Jing Wang, Hua Wang
In 2023 IEEE 49th European Solid State Circuits Conference (ESSCIRC 2024).
SNE: an energy-proportional digital accelerator for sparse event-based convolutions
Alfio Di Mauro, Arpan Suravi Prasad, Zhikai Huang, Matteo Spallanzani, Francesco Conti, Luca Benini
In 2022 Design, Automation & Test in Europe Conference & Exhibition (DATE 2022).

Teaching

Lectures

CMOS Electronics for Biological and Molecular Sensing, Master Course, ETH Zurich.
- Teaching Assistant, 2025 Fall
Electronic Circuits, Bachelor Course, ETH Zurich.
- Teaching Assistant, 2024 Fall

Mentoring

Noelle Held. 2025 Spring, Bachelor Thesis, ETH Zurich.
- Comparative Study on the Performance of Planar Microelectrodes and 3D Shell Electrodes for Biological Interfacing
Joel Kiener, Julian Steiner and Mischa Vasylyev. 2025 Spring, Bachelor Group Proejct, ETH Zurich.
- Cell Recognition with a Custom-Designed CMOS Biosensor Array

Skills

I conduct interdisciplinary research, leveraging methods and tools from multiple domains to solve high-impact scientific problems.

Integrated Circuit Design, including analog/mixed-signal circuits, digital backend physical design/synthesis, etc.
Microfabrication, including lithography, thin-film deposition, wet/dry etching, material/device characterization, etc.
Machine Learning, model training/inference pipelines, data processing, and automation scripting
Biological Experiments, culturing neuroblastoma cells (e.g., SH-SY5Y) and establishing 3D spheroid models.

Services

Reviewer for IEEE Conferences
- IEEE International Symposium on Circuits and Systems (ISCAS)