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MICRO AND MILLIMETER WAVE CIRCUIT DESIGN IN SILICON WITH CONSIDERATIONS FOR NOISE REDUCTION AND ON-CHIP PASSIVE ELEMENTS

Author
Alvarado, Javier
Abstract
Amid the exponentially growing demand of wireless multimedia applications,
the need for exceptionally high performance communication devices has leapt to the
forefront of electronic design. Advances in the speed of the silicon transistor and
increased complexity of the integrated circuit metallization stack, along with
sophisticated Electro-Magnetic (EM) simulation software has fortified the capability
to meet new and seemingly unrelenting requirements on a platform common to most
consumer electronics.
A comprehensive design approach for implementing micro and millimeter
wave wireless transceiver front-end circuits is proposed. The design methodology
exploits the aforementioned advances to ensure successful implementation of radio
frequency circuits operating anywhere from 2-100 GHz in both standard silicon
CMOS and silicon germanium (SiGe) BiCMOS technologies. In this dissertation the
most substantial work performed is on the design and characterization of a variety of
low noise amplifiers (LNAs). In the LNA arena, a new figure-of-merit (FOM)
equation is proposed. Other successful demonstrations of transceiver circuits are also
covered such as a direct down converter featuring an active balun at 94 GHz, and
radio frequency identification (RFID) tags with an active transmitter at 24 GHz and 60
GHz. The methodology is not limited to the above circuits. It can be applied to a
myriad of other circuits where the operating frequency is high, noise must be curtailed
and the dimensions of passive structures are comparable to the signal wavelength.
Many of the techniques employed are intended to combat the limitations of the
silicon substrate; even beyond the frequency limitations of the devices, and towards
overcoming and in some cases exploiting the parasitic effects of interconnect wiring at
increased frequencies. Simulation and Measurement results from the circuits are
presented and an integrated simulation environment is proposed to simplify the design
flow. Several successful hardware demonstrations confirm the validity of the
proposed design methodology. Summaries are given at the end of each chapter and
future research direction is highlighted at the end of the dissertation.
Date Issued
2008-01-23Subject
silicon, sige, lna, mm-Wave, V-band, W-band, noise figure, CMOS
Type
dissertation or thesis