Advanced CMOS Integrated Circuit Design and Application

The recent development of various application systems and platforms, such as 5G, B5G, 6G, and IoT, is based on the advancement of CMOS integrated circuit (IC) technology that enables them to implement high-performance chipsets. In addition to development in the traditional fields of analog and digital integrated circuits, the development of CMOS IC design and application in high-power and high-frequency operations, which was previously thought to be possible only with compound semiconductor technology, is a core technology that drives rapid industrial development. This book aims to highlight advances in all aspects of CMOS integrated circuit design and applications without discriminating between different operating frequencies, output powers, and the analog/digital domains. Specific topics in the book include: Next-generation CMOS circuit design and application; CMOS RF/microwave/millimeter-wave/terahertz-wave integrated circuits and systems; CMOS integrated circuits specially used for wireless or wired systems and applications such as converters, sensors, interfaces, frequency synthesizers/generators/rectifiers, and so on; Algorithm and signal-processing methods to improve the performance of CMOS circuits and systems

A digital polar transmitter for multi-band OFDM Ultra-WideBand

Linear power amplifiers used to implement the Ultra-Wideband standard must be backed off from optimum power efficiency to meet the standard specifications and the power efficiency suffers. The problem of low efficiency can be mitigated by polar modulation. Digital polar architectures have been employed on numerous wireless standards like GSM, EDGE, and WLAN, where the fractional bandwidths achieved are only about 1%, and the power levels achieved are often in the vicinity of 20 dBm. Can the architecture be employed on wireless standards with low-power and high fractional bandwidth requirements and yet achieve good power efficiency? To answer these question, this thesis studies the application of a digital polar transmitter architecture with parallel amplifier stages for UWB. The concept of the digital transmitter is motivated and inspired by three factors. First, unrelenting advances in the CMOS technology in deep-submicron process and the prevalence of low-cost Digital Signal processing have resulted in the realization of higher level of integration using digitally intensive approaches. Furthermore, the architecture is an evolution of polar modulation, which is known for high power efficiency in other wireless applications. Finally, the architecture is operated as a digital-to-analog converter which circumvents the use of converters in conventional transmitters. Modeling and simulation of the system architecture is performed on the Agilent Advanced Design System Ptolemy simulation platform. First, by studying the envelope signal, we found that envelope clipping results in a reduction in the peak-to-average power ratio which in turn improves the error vector magnitude performance (figure of merit for the study). In addition, we have demonstrated that a resolution of three bits suffices for the digital polar transmitter when envelope clipping is performed. Next, this thesis covers a theoretical derivation for the estimate of the error vector magnitude based on the resolution, quantization and phase noise errors. An analysis on the process variations - which result in gain and delay mismatches - for a digital transmitter architecture with four bits ensues. The above studies allow RF designers to estimate the number of bits required and the amount of distortion that can be tolerated in the system. Next, a study on the circuit implementation was conducted. A DPA that comprises 7 parallel RF amplifiers driven by a constant RF phase-modulated signal and 7 cascode transistors (individually connected in series with the bottom amplifiers) digitally controlled by a 3-bit digitized envelope signal to reconstruct the UWB signal at the output. Through the use of NFET models from the IBM 130-nm technology, our simulation reveals that our DPA is able to achieve an EVM of - 22 dB. The DPA simulations have been performed at 3.432 GHz centre frequency with a channel bandwidth of 528 MHz, which translates to a fractional bandwidth of 15.4%. Drain efficiencies of 13.2/19.5/21.0% have been obtained while delivering -1.9/2.5/5.5 dBm of output power and consuming 5/9/17 mW of power. In addition, we performed a yield analysis on the digital polar amplifier, based on unit-weighted and binary-weighted architecture, when gain variations are introduced in all the individual stages. The dynamic element matching method is also introduced for the unit-weighted digital polar transmitter. Monte Carlo simulations reveal that when the gain of the amplifiers are allowed to vary at a mean of 1 with a standard deviation of 0.2, the binary-weighted architecture obtained a yield of 79%, while the yields of the unit-weighted architectures are in the neighbourhood of 95%. Moreover, the dynamic element matching technique demonstrates an improvement in the yield by approximately 3%. Finally, a hardware implementation for this architecture based on software-defined arbitrary waveform generators is studied. In this section, we demonstrate that the error vector magnitude results obtained with a four-stage binary-weighted digital polar transmitter under ideal combining conditions fulfill the European Computer Manufacturers Association requirements. The proposed experimental setup, believed to be the first ever attempted, confirm the feasibility of a digital polar transmitter architecture for Ultra-Wideband. In addition, we propose a number of power combining techniques suitable for the hardware implementation. Spatial power combining, in particular, shows a high potential for the digital polar transmitter architecture. The above studies demonstrate the feasibility of the digital polar architecture with good power efficiency for a wideband wireless standard with low-power and high fractional bandwidth requirements

Waveform engineering in integrated harmonic oscillators: analysis and examples

openThe thesis analyzes the effect of the presence of a 2nd harmonic resonance in the differential LC oscillator’s tank, going inside the different effect that it causes on waveform shapes and phase noise improvement, with different mechanisms. The above analysis is carried out considering different known topologies of harmonic oscillators understanding in which topologies the tecnicque gives advantages in terms of final phase noise of the oscillator

High-Performance and Energy-Efficient Leaky Integrate-and-Fire Neuron and Spike Timing-Dependent Plasticity Circuits in 7nm FinFET Technology

In designing neuromorphic circuits and systems, developing compact and energy-efficient neuron and synapse circuits is essential for high-performance on-chip neural architectures. Toward that end, this work utilizes the advanced low-power and compact 7nm FinFET technology to design leaky integrate-and-fire (LIF) neuron and spike-timing-dependent plasticity (STDP) circuits. In the proposed STDP circuit, only six FinFETs and three small capacitors (two 10fF and 20fF) have been utilized to realize STDP learning. Moreover, 12 transistors and two capacitors (20fF) have been employed for designing the LIF neuron circuit. The evaluation results demonstrate that besides 60% area saving, the proposed STDP circuit achieves 68% improvement in total average power consumption and 43% lower energy dissipation compared to previous works. The proposed LIF neuron circuit demonstrates 34% area saving, 46% power, and 40% energy saving compared to its counterparts. The neuron can also tune the firing frequency within 5MHz-330MHz using an external control voltage. These results emphasize the potential of the proposed neuron and STDP learning circuits for compact and energy-efficient neuromorphic computing systems

Integrated RF oscillators and LO signal generation circuits

This thesis deals with fully integrated LC oscillators and local oscillator (LO) signal generation circuits. In communication systems a good-quality LO signal for up- and down-conversion in transmitters is needed. The LO signal needs to span the required frequency range and have good frequency stability and low phase noise. Furthermore, most modern systems require accurate quadrature (IQ) LO signals. This thesis tackles these challenges by presenting a detailed study of LC oscillators, monolithic elements for good-quality LC resonators, and circuits for IQ-signal generation and for frequency conversion, as well as many experimental circuits. Monolithic coils and variable capacitors are essential, and this thesis deals with good structures of these devices and their proper modeling. As experimental test devices, over forty monolithic inductors and thirty varactors have been implemented, measured and modeled. Actively synthesized reactive elements were studied as replacements for these passive devices. At first glance these circuits show promising characteristics, but closer noise and nonlinearity analysis reveals that these circuits suffer from high noise levels and a small dynamic range. Nine circuit implementations with various actively synthesized variable capacitors were done. Quadrature signal generation can be performed with three different methods, and these are analyzed in the thesis. Frequency conversion circuits are used for alleviating coupling problems or to expand the number of frequency bands covered. The thesis includes an analysis of single-sideband mixing, frequency dividers, and frequency multipliers, which are used to perform the four basic arithmetical operations for the frequency tone. Two design cases are presented. The first one is a single-sideband mixing method for the generation of WiMedia UWB LO-signals, and the second one is a frequency conversion unit for a digital period synthesizer. The last part of the thesis presents five research projects. In the first one a temperature-compensated GaAs MESFET VCO was developed. The second one deals with circuit and device development for an experimental-level BiCMOS process. A cable-modem RF tuner IC using a SiGe process was developed in the third project, and a CMOS flip-chip VCO module in the fourth one. Finally, two frequency synthesizers for UWB radios are presented

CMOS power amplifier and transmitter front-end design in wireless communication.

Ng, Yuen Sum.Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2009.Includes bibliographical references.Abstract also in Chinese.Chapter 1. --- INTRODUCTION --- p.11Chapter 1.1 --- Motivation --- p.11Chapter 1.2 --- Specifications --- p.12Chapter 1.3 --- Organization of the Thesis --- p.16Chapter 1.4 --- References --- p.16Chapter 2. --- BASIC THEORY OF POWER AMPLIFIER AND TRANSMITTER FRONT-END --- p.18Chapter 2.1 --- Classification of Power Amplifier --- p.18Chapter 2.1.1 --- Class A --- p.20Chapter 2.1.2 --- Class B --- p.21Chapter 2.1.3 --- Class AB --- p.22Chapter 2.1.4 --- Class C --- p.23Chapter 2.1.5 --- Class D --- p.24Chapter 2.1.6 --- Class E --- p.25Chapter 2.1.7 --- Class F --- p.28Chapter 2.2 --- Figure-of-Mhrit of Power Amplifier --- p.28Chapter 2.2.1 --- Small Signal Analysis --- p.29Chapter 2.2.1.1 --- S-parameter --- p.29Chapter 2.2.1.2 --- Gain and Stability --- p.29Chapter 2.2.2 --- Large Signal Analysis --- p.32Chapter 2.2.2.1 --- 1-dB compression point --- p.33Chapter 2.2.2.2 --- Third-order intermodulation point --- p.33Chapter 2.2.2.3 --- Power Gain --- p.35Chapter 2.2.2.4 --- Drain Efficiency and Power Added Efficiency --- p.35Chapter 2.2.2.5 --- AM-AM and AM-PM conversion --- p.36Chapter 2.2.3 --- Modulation Analysis --- p.36Chapter 2.2.3.1 --- Constellation Diagram and Error Vector Magnitude --- p.36Chapter 2.3 --- Reference --- p.37Chapter 3. --- CIRCUIT DESIGN OF POWER AMPLIFIER --- p.39Chapter 3.1 --- Introduction --- p.39Chapter 3.2 --- Topology of the Power Amplifier Design --- p.39Chapter 3.3 --- Design in Power Amplifier --- p.40Chapter 3.2.1 --- Power Stage --- p.40Chapter 3.2.2 --- Driver Stage and Input matching --- p.46Chapter 3.4 --- Simulation Result on Power Amplifier --- p.49Chapter 3.5 --- Layout consideration --- p.50Chapter 3.6 --- Measurement Result on Power Amplifier --- p.51Chapter 3.4.1 --- Small signal measurement --- p.52Chapter 3.4.2 --- Large signal measurement --- p.55Chapter 3.4.3 --- Modulation measurement --- p.56Chapter 3.7 --- Performance Summary --- p.58Chapter 3.8 --- Reference --- p.59Chapter 4. --- CIRCUIT DESIGN OF TRANSMITTER FRONT-END --- p.60Chapter 4.1 --- Introduction --- p.60Chapter 4.2 --- Topology of the Transmitter Front-End Design --- p.61Chapter 4.3 --- Design in transmitter front-end circuit --- p.64Chapter 4.2.1 --- I/Q Modulator --- p.64Chapter 4.2.2 --- Power Amplifier --- p.66Chapter 4.2.3 --- On-chip LC Balun --- p.72Chapter 4.4 --- Simulation Result of the Transmitter Front-End Design --- p.74Chapter 4.5 --- Layout consideration --- p.75Chapter 4.6 --- Measurement Result of the Transmitter Front-End Design --- p.76Chapter 4.4.1. --- Transmitter Front-End Measurement --- p.77Chapter 4.4.1.1 --- Output Reflection coefficient --- p.77Chapter 4.4.1.2 --- Large Signal Measurement --- p.78Chapter 4.4.1.3 --- Modulation Measurement --- p.81Chapter 4.4.2. --- LC Balun Measurement --- p.84Chapter 4.7 --- Performance Summary of the transmitter front-end circuit --- p.86Chapter 4.8 --- Reference --- p.89Chapter 5. --- CONCLUSION --- p.90Chapter 6. --- FUTURE WORK --- p.9

Amplificador de potência CMOS em 2.4 ghz com potência de saída programável

Orientador : Prof. Dr. Bernardo Rego Barros de Almeida LeiteCoorientador : Prof. Dr. André Augusto MarianoDissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Federal do Paraná, Setor de Tecnologia, Programa de Pós-Graduação em Engenharia Elétrica. Defesa: Curitiba, 12/12/2016Inclui referências : f. 89-90Área de concentraçãoResumo: A potência DC (PDC) em um sistema móvel sem fio é um critério deter-minante de projeto. O amplificador de potência (PA) é um dos subsistemas que mais consome PDC, uma vez que é responsável por amplificar sinais de baixa potência para sinais de alta potência de saída (POUT). Para que o uso da PDC seja eficiente, o sistema transmissor deve ser capaz de selecionar os níveis de POUT do PA conforme a necessidade da aplicação, relacionando de maneira ótima PDC e POUT. Em arquiteturas de PAs nas quais não é possível selecionar a POUT, o consumo da PDC é aproximadamente constante, independente da POUT utilizada. Dessa maneira, se a aplicação demanda uma POUT baixa, a PDC consumida será aproximadamente a mesma que aquela consumida por uma POUT alta. Ao contrário, em arquiteturas de PAs nas quais a POUT é selecioná-vel, o consumo da PDC é modulado conforme a demanda da POUT. Dessa ma-neira, se é necessária uma POUT alta, a PDC consumida será proporcionalmente maior. Se a POUT é baixa, a PDC consumida será proporcionalmente menor. O fato da PDC ser modulada em função da POUT caracteriza a utilização inteligente da energia disponível em um sistema móvel sem fio. Essa dissertação de mestrado apresenta o projeto, a implementação e a caracterização de um PA em tecnologia CMOS 130 nm em 2,4 GHz com POUT selecionável. O projeto do PA consiste em compreender o que é um PA, qual o seu papel e impacto em um sistema transmissor, onde ele se insere em um sistema transceptor de rádio frequências (RF) e em quais padrões de comunicação sem fio ele se enquadra. Também são demandas de projeto o estudo da tecnologia utilizada (características e ferramentas), CMOS RF8-DM, quais os benefícios e desafios encontrados na microeletrônica de potência em RF, quais arquiteturas atendem aos requisitos de projeto, acompanhar um tape-out, e determinar quais são as métricas utilizadas para a caracterização do circuito. A implementação, por sua vez, consiste em estudar a literatura referen-te às topologias de PAs com POUT selecionável, em compreender os blocos construtivos de um PA, em propor a captura de esquemático da solução defini-da, em realizar o leiaute e simulações do circuito. Por fim, a caracterização neste trabalho consiste em apresentar os re-sultados pós-leiaute e medições preliminares; em apresentar a comparação entre os resultados de pós-leiaute e o estado da arte; a comparação entre os resultados pós-layout e medições; a análise de variações de processo, tensão e temperatura (PVT) e Monte Carlo do circuito, e a apresentação dos resulta-dos do PA em alguns padrões de comunicação digital. Diferentemente da literatura estudada, o PA proposto utiliza um estágio de potência composto por três células de amplificação que são ativadas ou de-sativadas independentemente. Dependendo da combinação em que tais célu-las são ativadas ou desativadas, sete níveis diferentes de POUT e de PDC são obtidos. Por exemplo: quando todas as células são ativadas, o PA é capaz de entregar a maior faixa de POUT possível, entretanto, o consumo de PDC é tam-bém o maior. De forma contrária, se apenas uma célula for ativada e as demais desativadas, a faixa de POUT e o consumo de PDC são reduzidos. Dessa manei-ra, é possível adequar o PA para uma operação com consumo de PDC mínima dependente da POUT desejada. O circuito proposto possui sete modos de ope-ração unívocos em termos de ganho de pequeno sinal, ponto de compressão de 1 dB referenciado à potência de saída (OCP1dB) e potência saturada (PSAT). O PA é incondicionalmente estável em todos os modos de operação. O PA proposto é totalmente integrado, significando que componente externo algum é necessário para o seu funcionamento. Os blocos-núcleo do circuito são: rede de adaptação de impedância de entrada, estágio de ganho, componente de acoplamento interestágios, estágio de potência reconfigurável e rede de adaptação de impedância de saída. Os blocos periféricos do projeto são um buffer e um circuito gerador de polarização. O circuito é composto por pads para que seja possível aplicar e ler as tensões e sinais de RF. As redes de adaptação de impedância de entrada e de saída são responsáveis por adaptar a impedância de 50 ? à impedância de entrada do estágio de ganho e a impedância de saída do estágio de potência a 50 ?, respectivamente. Os estágios de ganho e de potência são responsáveis respectivamente por dar ganho de potência ao sinal RF de entrada e fornecer um sinal de saída com alta potência e baixas distorções. Ambos estágios são baseados em transisto-res em topologia cascode: a fonte de um transistor em configuração fonte co-mum (CS) conectada ao dreno de um transistor em configuração porta comum (CG). Em especial no estágio de potência, para se selecionar os diferentes modos de operação, as células cascode de potência devem ser ligadas ou des-ligadas. Para que as células sejam ligadas, deve-se aplicar a tensão VDD nas portas dos CGs. De forma contrária, para que as células cascode de potência sejam desligadas, deve-se aplicar a tensão gnd nas portas dos CGs. O leiaute do circuito foi realizado considerando a presença de parasitas dos metais, o fluxo e intensidade da corrente RF, o desacoplamento da interfe-rência RF na alimentação e a dispersão de potenciais de terra e de alimenta-ção por todo o circuito. Nenhum erro impactante de fabricação foi encontrado durante o design rule check e o layout Vs. schematic e a verificação de modo ortogonal não apresentaram erros. Após o leiaute, as componentes parasitas R e C foram extraídas, o arquivo de fabricação encaminhado para a MOSIS e simulações pós-leiaute foram conduzidas. A simulação pós-leiaute apresentou os seguintes resultados para o modo de menor potência: PSAT de 8,1 dBm, ganho de 13,5 dB e consumo de PDC de 171 mW para entregar 6 dBm de OCP1dB. O modo de maior potência, por sua vez, apresentou PSAT de 18,9 dBm, ganho de 21,1 dB e PDC de 415 mW para OCP1dB de 18,2 dBm. Em relação à literatura estudada, este trabalho pos-sui a maior faixa de OCP1dB e de PSAT. Em termos de medição, apenas o modo de operação de maior potência foi medido. Ele apresenta um PSAT de 12,6 dBm, OCP1dB de 9,4 dBm, ganho de 12,8 dB e PDC de 252 mW para o OCP1dB. Em termos comparativos, o modo de maior potência medido situou-se entre os modos de menor potência de simulação pós-leiaute. Na tentativa de determinar a fonte da diferença entre o circuito medido e simulado, algumas hipóteses foram testadas, tais como alteração da tensão de polarização do cir-cuito, métodos alternativos para extração de parasitas e influência dos pads no descasamento de impedâncias. Os resultados obtidos não foram suficientes para explicar a discrepância encontrada e espera-se que com as medições fal-tantes seja possível determinar a fonte de diferenças. Palavras-chave: Amplificador de potências. PA CMOS em 2,4 GHz. Po-tência de saída selecionável.Abstract: The DC power consumption (PDC) of a mobile wireless system is a de-terminant project criterion. The power amplifier (PA) is one of the most PDC con-suming subsystem, as it is responsible for amplifying low power signals into high output power (POUT) signals. In order to use PDC efficiently, the transmitter system must be capable of selecting levels of POUT according to the amplifica-tion demand, optimizing the PDC and POUT relation. This masters dissertation presents the design, implementation and characterization of a selectable POUT 2.4 GHz 130 nm CMOS PA. Employing a power stage composed of amplifica-tion cells that are independently enabled or disabled, different levels of POUT and PDC are achieved. The designed amplifier is composed of seven univocal power modes and is fully integrated, meaning that no external components are needed for operation. The characterization of the circuit is composed of small and large-signal continuous-wave metrics, as well as digital channel metrics. The post-layout simulations showed a lowest power mode with a PSAT of 8.1 dBm, gain of 13.5 dB and PDC consumption of 171 mW to deliver an OCP1dB of 6 dBm. The highest power mode performs a PSAT of 18.9 dBm, gain of 21.1 dB and PDC of 415 mW for an 18.2 dBm OCP1dB. The circuit was fabricated and preliminary measurements were conducted. The comparison between measurement and simulation results showed that the fabricated circuit performs bellow expected. Some hypotheses and tests were conducted to determine the difference, but no conclusive results were obtained as further measurements are necessary. Key-words: Power amplifier. 2.4 GHz CMOS PA. Selectable output power