IEEE Computer Society Annual Symposium on VLSI
ISVLSI 2026

SPECIAL SESSIONS

The 2026 Symposium explores emerging trends and novel ideas and concepts covering a broad range of topics in the area of VLSI: from VLSI circuits, systems and design methods, to system-level design issues, to bringing VLSI design to new areas and technologies such as nano- and molecular devices, security, artificial intelligence, and Internet-of-Things, etc. Future design methodologies and new EDA tools are also a key topic at the Symposium. Over three decades, the Symposium has been a unique forum promoting multidisciplinary research and new visionary approaches in the area of VLSI, bringing together leading scientists and researchers from academia and industry. The ISVLSI proceedings will be indexed in the IEEE Xplore Digital Library. Selected high-quality papers will be further invited for submission to a journal special issue. The Symposium has established a reputation for bringing together well-known international scientists as invited speakers. The emphasis on high quality will continue at this and future editions of the Symposium.

The ISVLSI 2026 is inviting proposals for special sessions that explore emerging trends and concepts covering a broad range of topics in the area of VLSI. In particular, special sessions (academic and industrial) concerning hot topics in VLSI, including those dealing with the introduction and discussion of emerging problems, or addressing recent technical trends in computer architecture, IoT systems, security, artificial intelligence and machine learning, edge intelligence, data analytics, autonomous systems, and other that are of interest to ISVLSI participant, are encouraged to apply.

• Special sessions typically run for 1.5 – 2 hours and will consist of a minimum of 5 papers per session.
• Each speaker at a special session has to submit a 1-page extended abstract for inclusion in the conference proceedings.
• In addition to the extended abstract, each speaker may submit a full paper (up to a maximum of 6 pages) for inclusion in conference proceedings. Accepted papers will be submitted for inclusion into IEEE Xplore subject to meeting IEEE Xplore’s scope and quality requirements.
• All papers/extended abstracts will be reviewed before being published in the official proceedings of the conference in a separate track.
• Special session organizers are welcome to present their own research in their organized sessions.
• The online submission system (Paper Submission Page) will be used for review of the proposals as well as individual papers.
• Detailed submission instructions will be provided upon acceptance of the proposal.

Submission Guidelines: Prepare a single PDF file (not exceeding 3 pages) for the proposal where you:

1. Title and abstract: A title and a concise abstract that conveys the session’s topic and scope.

2. Rationale: Explain why the topic is novel and timely, describe its relevance to the ISVLSI community and alignment with the innovation themes (if applicable).

3. Proposed speakers: Provide a list of all talks, speakers, and co-authors (in each associated paper), their biographical sketch, presentation titles and short abstract. Technical sessions are normally expected to have a minimum of 5 papers.

4. Short biographies: Provide a short bio-sketch of the session proposers.

Submit your special session proposal in EasyChair. (See Paper Submission Page for more details).

For questions regarding the special sessions, please contact:

• Jürgen Becker, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Germany – [email protected]
• Himanshu Thapliyal, Southern Methodist University, USA – [email protected]
• Saraju Mohanty, Univ. North Texas, USA – [email protected]
• Jiafeng (Harvest) Xie Villanova University, USA [email protected]