Cryogenic broadband Q-band MMIC low-noise amplifier

The design of a broad-band monolithic cryogenic low-noise amplifier (MMIC LNA) in the Q band, aimed to be used in radio-astronomy receiver front-end modules is presented. A 70 nm gate-length GaAs mHEMT process from OMMIC foundry is used to manufacture the amplifier. An accurate model for the minimum noise bias point of the transistor has been obtained at room temperature. The amplifier design is based on a four stage monolithic common source transistor configuration. At 300 K, the amplifier shows an associated gain of 28 ± 1.1 dB and an average noise temperature of 145 K with a minimum noise temperature of 101 K at 45 GHz tested on wafer. When cooled down at 15 K, the average noise temperature is 18.4 K with a minimum of 13.5 K and 27.3 dB of associated gain. The DC power consumption is extremely low, 4.1 mW, at cryogenic temperatureThis work was supported by the Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad from Spain under the CONSOLIDER-INGENIO 2010 program CSD2010-00064 reference, and the research program FPI BES-2011- 046199

Amplificador distribuido 0-28GHz para aplicaciones ópticas

This contribution presents a MMIC cascade distributed amplifier (CDA) in 0.15 μm low noise pHEMT process for optical transmission system. The device covers from DC to 28 GHz, achives a small signal gain of around 17 dB, input and output return losses are better than 15.7 dB and 14.15 dB, respectively, and has a maximum noise figure of 6.5dB. The distributed amplifier (DA) consumes 178 mA from 8 V supply, and its dimensions are: 3.07x1.82 mm2

Boundary layer flow and heat transfer over a permeable shrinking sheet with partial slip

The steady, laminar flow of an incompressible viscous fluid over a shrinking permeable sheet is investigated. The governing partial differential equations are transformed into ordinary differential equations using similarity transformation, before being solved numerically by the shooting method. The features of the flow and heat transfer characteristics for different values of the slip parameter and Prandtl number are analyzed and discussed. The results indicate that both the skin friction coefficient and the heat transfer rate at the surface increase as the slip parameter increases

Ultra-Wideband MM Wave System and RF Modules

Compact wideband RF modules are crucial in mm-wave direction finding systems, radars, seekers, and communication systems. This chapter discusses new integrated wideband mm-wave RF modules. It also discusses the design and development of a compact wideband (18–40 GHz) frontend and a wideband (18–40 GHz) switch bank filter (SBF). The frontend electrical specifications determine the system signal-to-noise ratio and the system dynamic range. This chapter presents a low-cost integrated 18–40 GHz wideband compact frontend with a 47 dBm high power limiter. The frontend consists of two channels: a high gain and low gain channel. Wideband MMIC switches are employed to select the required channel. The gain of the high gain channel is around 27 dB with ±1 dB flatness. The noise figure of the module is around 9 dB. This chapter also presents a low-cost, integrated, 18–40 GHz wideband compact SFB module. The wideband SFB consists of three wideband side-coupled microstrip filters. The SFB MIMIC switches operate in the 18 to 40 GHz frequency range and are used to select the required filter. The insertion loss of each filter section is less than 11.5 dB ±1.5 dB. The novelty of this research is the development of compact, integrated wideband mm-wave RF modules for direction finding and communication systems

Design and characterization of monolithic millimeter-wave active and passive components, low-noise and power amplifiers, resistive mixers, and radio front-ends

This thesis focuses on the design and characterization of monolithic active and passive components, low-noise and power amplifiers, resistive mixers, and radio front-ends for millimeter-wave applications. The thesis consists of 11 publications and an overview of the research area, which also summarizes the main results of the work. In the design of millimeter-wave active and passive components the main focus is on realized CMOS components and techniques for pushing nanoscale CMOS circuits beyond 100 GHz. Test structures for measuring and analyzing these components are shown. Topologies for a coplanar waveguide, microstrip line, and slow-wave coplanar waveguide that are suitable for implementing transmission lines in nanoscale CMOS are presented. It is demonstrated that the proposed slow-wave coplanar waveguide improves the performance of the transistor-matching networks when compared to a conventional coplanar waveguide and the floating slow-wave shield reduces losses and simplifies modeling when extended below other passives, such as DC decoupling and RF short-circuiting capacitors. Furthermore, wideband spiral transmission line baluns in CMOS at millimeter-wave frequencies are demonstrated. The design of amplifiers and a wideband resistive mixer utilizing the developed components in 65-nm CMOS are shown. A 40-GHz amplifier achieved a +6-dBm 1-dB output compression point and a saturated output power of 9.6 dBm with a miniature chip size of 0.286 mm². The measured noise figure and gain of the 60-GHz amplifier were 5.6 dB and 11.5 dB, respectively. The V-band balanced resistive mixer achieved a 13.5-dB upconversion loss and 34-dB LO-to-RF isolation with a chip area of 0.47 mm². In downconversion, the measured conversion loss and 1-dB input compression point were 12.5 dB and +5 dBm, respectively. The design and experimental results of low-noise and power amplifiers are presented. Two wideband low-noise amplifiers were implemented in a 100-nm metamorphic high electron mobility transistor (HEMT) technology. The amplifiers achieved a 22.5-dB gain and a 3.3-dB noise figure at 94 GHz and a 18-19-dB gain and a 5.5-7.0-dB noise figure from 130 to 154 GHz. A 60-GHz power amplifier implemented in a 150-nm pseudomorphic HEMT technology exhibited a +17-dBm 1-dB output compression point with a 13.4-dB linear gain. In this thesis, the main system-level aspects of millimeter-wave transmitters and receivers are discussed and the experimental circuits of a 60-GHz transmitter front-end and a 60-GHz receiver with an on-chip analog-to-digital converter implemented in 65-nm CMOS are shown. The receiver exhibited a 7-dB noise figure, while the saturated output power of the transmitter front-end was +2 dBm. Furthermore, a wideband W-band transmitter front-end with an output power of +6.6 dBm suitable for both image-rejecting superheterodyne and direct-conversion transmission is demonstrated in 65-nm CMOS

A coupled-line balun for ultra-wideband single-balanced diode mixer

A multi-section coupled-line balun design for an ultra-wideband diode mixer is presented in this paper. The multi-section coupled-line balun was used to interface with the diode mixer in which it can deliver a good impedance matching between the diode mixer and input/output ports. The mixer design operates with a Local Oscillator (LO) power level of 10 dBm, Radio Frequency (RF) power level of -20 dBm and Intermediate Frequency (IF) of 100 MHz with the balun characteristic of 180° phase shift over UWB frequency (3.1 to 10.6 GHz), the mixer design demonstrated a good conversion loss of -8 to -16 dB over the frequency range from 3.1 to 10.6 GHz. Therefore, the proposed multi-section coupled-line balun for application of UWB mixer showed a good isolation between the mixer’s ports

Ka-band full-hybrid cryogenic low- noise amplifier

This paper describes the design and implementation of a broad-band full-hybrid cryogenic lownoise amplifier (MIC LNA) in the 26 – 36 frequency band, aimed for the front-end module in radio-astronomy receivers. A metamorphic technology process (mHEMT) of 50 nm gate length is used to manufacture the transistor. Design is based on a three stage common source transistor configuration and surface mounted devices (SMD) with high quality factors. Therefore, gain and noise performance are improved compared with monolithic technology (MMIC). At room temperature the mean measured gain is G = 22.4 dB and the noise temperature is Tn = 175 K. When cooled to Tp = 13 K, insertion gain is Gi = 23.8 dB and the noise temperature is Tn = 26 K. The DC power consumption is extremely low, PDC = 5.7 mW at cryogenic temperatures.This work was supported by the Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad from Spain under the CONSOLIDER-INGENIO 2010 program CSD2010- 00064 reference, and the research program FPI BES- 2011-046199

MMIC-based Low Phase Noise Millimetre-wave Signal Source Design

Wireless technology for future communication systems has been continuously evolving to meet society’s increasing demand on network capacity. The millimetre-wave frequency band has a large amount of bandwidth available, which is a key factor in enabling the capability of carrying higher data rates. However, a challenge with wideband systems is that the capacity of these systems is limited by the noise floor of the local oscillator (LO). The LO in today’s communication systems is traditionally generated at low frequency and subsequently multiplied using frequency multipliers, leading to a significant degradation of the LO noise floor at millimetre-wave frequencies. For this reason, the thesis considers low phase noise millimetre-wave signal source design optimised for future wideband millimetre-wave communications.In an oscillator, low frequency noise (LFN) is up-converted into phase noise around the microwave signal. Thus, aiming for low phase noise oscillator design, LFN characterisations and comparisons of several common III-V transistor technologies, e.g. GaAs-InGaP HBTs, GaAs pHEMTs, and GaN HEMTs, are carried out. It is shown that GaN HEMTs have good potential for oscillator applications where far-carrier phase noise performance is critical, e.g. wideband millimetre-wave communications. Since GaN HEMT is identified as an attractive technology for low noise floor oscillator applications, an in-depth study of some factors which affects LFN characteristics of III-N GaN HEMTs such as surface passivation methods and variations in transistor geometry are also investigated. It is found that the best surface passivation and deposition method can improve the LFN level of GaN HEMT devices significantly, resulting in a lower oscillator phase noise. Several MMIC GaN HEMT based oscillators including X-band Colpitts voltage-controlled-oscillators (VCOs) and Ka-band reflection type oscillators are demonstrated. It is verified that GaN HEMT based oscillators can reach a low noise floor. For instance, X-band GaN HEMT VCOs and a Ka-band GaN HEMT reflection type oscillator with 1 MHz phase noise performance of -135 dBc/Hz and -129 dBc/Hz, respectively, are demonstrated. These results are not only state-of-the-art for GaN HEMT oscillators, but also in-line with the best performance reported for GaAs-InGaP HBT based oscillators. Further, the MMIC oscillator designs are combined with accurate phase noise calculations based on a cyclostationary method and experimental LFN data. It has been seen that the measured and calculated phase noise agree well.The final part of this thesis covers low phase noise millimetre-wave signal source design and a comparison of different architectures and technological approaches. Specifically, a fundamental frequency 220 GHz oscillator is designed in advanced 130 nm InP DHBT process and a D-band signal source is based on the Ka-band GaN HEMT oscillator presented above and followed by a SiGe BiCMOS MMIC including a sixtupler and an amplifier. The Ka-band GaN HEMT oscillator is used to reach the critical low noise floor. The 220 GHz signal source presents an output power around 5 dBm, phase noise of -110 dBc/Hz at 10 MHz offset and a dc-to-RF efficiency in excess of 10% which is the highest number reported in open literature for a fundamental frequency signal source beyond 200 GHz. The D-band signal source, on the other hand, presents an output power of 5 dBm and phase noise of -128 dBc/Hz at 10 MHz offset from a 135 GHz carrier signal. Commenting on the performance of these two different millimetre-wave signal sources, the GaN HEMT/SiGe HBT source presents the best normalized phase noise at 10 MHz, while the integrated InP HBT oscillator demonstrates significantly better conversion efficiency and still a decent phase noise

Innovative Design and Realization of Microwave and Millimeter-Wave Integrated circuits

Ph.DDOCTOR OF PHILOSOPH