Millimeter-Wave Wideband Low-Noise Amplifiers in 22FFL Technology

The deployment of advanced technology standards for 5G and beyond in cellular networks has resulted in interest in integrated circuits (ICs) operating at frequencies above 10GHz. This has sparked research on wideband circuits in commercial low-cost silicon technologies, operating at high RF and mm-wave frequencies. Given the wide range of operating frequencies (28GHz, 30GHz and 47GHz), such circuits must satisfy performance parameters across wide operating range. This thesis focuses on the implementation of wideband low-noise amplifiers (LNA) and addresses design challenges associated with mm-wave wideband impedance matching networks in state-of-the-art CMOS technologies

Towards Radio Analog Signal Processing

RÉSUMÉ La demande insatiable pour les services de radio et communication à large bande, stimule les fabricants à chercher des nouvelles façons d’augmenter la largeur de bande spectrale des systèmes. Traitement numérique du signal (DSP) comme la technologie la plus commune des radios d’aujourd’hui est souple, reproductible, compact, et fiable en basse fréquence. Cependant,le système digital est plage dynamique limitée, le largeur de bande du système DSP est limité par la fréquence d’échantillonnage. A haute fréquence, telles que la fréquence d’onde millimétrique, le système DSP a un manque de performance et une consommation de puissance excessive. En outre, la complexité et le coût de système augmente aux fréquences plus élevées. Contrairement à DSP, les systèmes traitement radio-analogique du signal (R-ASP) sont bonnes performances à haute fréquence. Les systèmes R-ASP manipulent des signaux à large bande, temporellement sous leur forme analogique d’origine. Donc, ils n’ont pas besoin des convertisseurs A/D et D/A, et des convertisseurs haut/bas, résultant complexité inférieure à vitesse plus élevée, ce qui peut offrir des solutions sans précédent dans le domaine de l’ingénierie de radio. Phaser comme une structure de délai dispersive (DDS) contrôlable est le noyau d’un système R-ASP. Les composantes des fréquences du signal dans le temps se différencient après avoir traversé un phaser. Cette caractéristique du phaser le rend pratique pour l’application radio analogique haute vitesse, comme renifleur de spectre, multiplexage par division de fréquence (FDM), et impulsion radio. Cette thèse par articles présente les concepts et les améliorations R-ASP, sur la base du phaser, comme une alternative potentielle au traitement basé sur DSP, pour l’application de radio haute fréquence et haute vitesse. Le premier Chapitre traite de la motivation R-ASP, contributions de la thèse et de l’organisation. Les concepts et les caractéristiques du phaser,les nouvelles techniques pour améliorer la dispersion des phasers ainsi que la performance du système R-ASP, en fonction des applications sont proposées dans le Chapitre 2. Les Chapitres 3 à 6 sont les articles qui introduisent des nouvelles applications du R-ASP. Dans le Chapitre 3, une nouvelle technique de loop afin d’améliorer la résolution du phaser est proposé. En plus des fréquence mètres et les discriminateurs de fréquence, cette technique peut facilement appliquer à divers autres systèmes en temps réel, tels que les transformateurs de Fourier en temps réel, convolveurs, corrélateurs, et les radars compressifs.----------ABSTRACT Insatiable demand for broadband radio and communication services spurs the manufacturers to seek new ways to increase the spectral bandwidth of the systems. Digital Signal Processing (DSP) as the most common technology of Today’s radios is flexible, reproducible, compact, and reliable at low spectral bandwidth. However, digital system is limited precision and dynamic range, the bandwidth of the DSP system is limited by sampling rate. At high frequency, such as millimeter-wave frequency, the DSP system is poor performance and power hungry. Moreover, the complexity and cost of the system increase at higher frequency. In contrast of DSP, Radio-Analog Signal Processing (R-ASP) systems have a good performance at high frequency. R-ASP systems manipulate broadband signals, temporally in their original analog form. So, They don’t need A/D and D/A, and up/down converters, resulting lower complexity at higher speed, which may offer unprecedented solutions in the major areas of radio engineering. Phaser as an engineerable dispersive delay structure (DDS) is the core of an R-ASP system. The component frequencies of the signal differentiate in time after passing through a phaser. This characteristic of the phaser makes it convenient for high speed analog radio application, such as frequency sniffer, frequency division multiplexing (FDM), and impulse radio. This paper based dissertation introduces R-ASP concepts and enhancements, based on the phaser, as a potential alternative to DSP-based processing, for high speed and high frequency radio applications. The first Chapter discusses R-ASP motivation, thesis contributions and organization. The concepts of the phaser and phaser characteristics, new techniques to enhance the dispersion of the phasers as well as performance of the R-ASP system, depending on the applications are proposed in Chapter 2. Chapters 3 to 6 are the articles that introduce new applications of ASP. In Chapter 3, a novel loop technique to enhance the resolution of the phaser is proposed. In addition to frequency meters and frequency discriminators, this technique may readily by applied to various other real-time systems, such as real-time Fourier transformers, convolvers, correlators, and compressive radars. The radio-analog signal processing system has a lot of applications in the impulse regime. However, UWB pulse generation is complex and high cost. This issue is addressed in Chapter 4, proposing a low-cost analog pulse compression technique for UWB pulse generation. In Chapter 5, a stepped group delay phaser is introduced for real-time spectrum sniffing application. The system listens to its radio environment through an antenna, and determines, in real time, the presence or absence of active channels in this environment

ANALYSIS AND DESIGN OF SILICON-BASED MILLIMETER-WAVE AMPLIFIERS

Ph.DDOCTOR OF PHILOSOPH

Passive and active circuits in cmos technology for rf, microwave and millimeter wave applications

The permeation of CMOS technology to radio frequencies and beyond has fuelled an urgent need for a diverse array of passive and active circuits that address the challenges of rapidly emerging wireless applications. While traditional analog based design approaches satisfy some applications, the stringent requirements of newly emerging applications cannot necessarily be addressed by existing design ideas and compel designers to pursue alternatives. One such alternative, an amalgamation of microwave and analog design techniques, is pursued in this work. A number of passive and active circuits have been designed using a combination of microwave and analog design techniques. For passives, the most crucial challenge to their CMOS implementation is identified as their large dimensions that are not compatible with CMOS technology. To address this issue, several design techniques – including multi-layered design and slow wave structures – are proposed and demonstrated through experimental results after being suitably tailored for CMOS technology. A number of novel passive structures - including a compact 10 GHz hairpin resonator, a broadband, low loss 25-35 GHz Lange coupler, a 25-35 GHz thin film microstrip (TFMS) ring hybrid, an array of 0.8 nH and 0.4 nH multi-layered high self resonant frequency (SRF) inductors are proposed, designed and experimentally verified. A number of active circuits are also designed and notable experimental results are presented. These include 3-10 GHz and DC-20 GHz distributed low noise amplifiers (LNA), a dual wideband Low noise amplifier and 15 GHz distributed voltage controlled oscillators (DVCO). Distributed amplifiers are identified as particularly effective in the development of wideband receiver front end sub-systems due to their gain flatness, excellent matching and high linearity. The most important challenge to the implementation of distributed amplifiers in CMOS RFICs is identified as the issue of their miniaturization. This problem is solved by using integrated multi-layered inductors instead of transmission lines to achieve over 90% size compression compared to earlier CMOS implementations. Finally, a dual wideband receiver front end sub-system is designed employing the miniaturized distributed amplifier with resonant loads and integrated with a double balanced Gilbert cell mixer to perform dual band operation. The receiver front end measured results show 15 dB conversion gain, and a 1-dB compression point of -4.1 dBm in the centre of band 1 (from 3.1 to 5.0 GHz) and -5.2 dBm in the centre of band 2 (from 5.8 to 8 GHz) with input return loss less than 10 dB throughout the two bands of operation

An ultra-wideband transmit/receive module using 10 to 35 GHz six-channel microstrip multiplexers and its applications to phased-array antenna transceiver systems

This dissertation introduces new and simple techniques for suppression of multispurious passbands, which are inherent to the conventional microstrip parallel coupleline bandpass filters. In addition, the operation of harmonic suppression is analyzed using a simple model. Special emphasis is placed on the applications of several new filter designs for microstrip diplexers and multiplexers. Compact, full-duplex beam scanning antenna transceiver systems with extremely broad bandwidth have also been developed. Recent advances in broadband monolithic microwave integrated circuit (MMIC) amplifiers make the realization of extremely broadband phased-array transceiver systems possible. The ultra-wideband phased-array transceiver systems can be used in multi-band mobile satellite communication systems and wideband radars. This dissertation presents a multi-band, compact, full-duplex, beam scanning antenna transceiver system for satellite communications and two designs of ultra-wideband, low-cost radar systems as applications of the MMIC amplifiers. In addition, a multi-frequency antenna has been developed. A single-feed triple frequency microstrip patch antenna is presented as an answer to the recent demand for multi-function systems in the wireless communications. In summary, the research presented in this dissertation covers every component required to build an ultra-wideband, full-duplex beam scanning phased-array antenna transceiver. The work done in this dissertation should have many applications in the wireless communication systems and wideband radar technologies

CMOS Front-End Circuits in 45-nm SOI Suitable for Modular Phased-Array 60-GHz Radios

Next Fifth-generation (5G) wireless technologies enabling ultra-wideband spectrum availability and increased system capacity can achieve multi-gigabit/s (Gbps) data rates suitable for ultra-high-speed internet access around the 60-GHz band (i.e., Wi-Gig Technology). This mm-wave band is unlicensed and experiences high propagation power losses. Therefore, it is suitable for short-range communications and requires antenna arrays to satisfy the link budget requirements. Half-duplex reconfigurable phased-array transceivers require wideband, low-cost, highly integrated front-end circuits such as bilateral RF switches, low-noise/power amplifiers, passive RF splitters/combiners, and phase shifters implemented in deep sub-micron CMOS. In this dissertation, analysis, design, and verification of essential CMOS front-end components are covered and fabricated in GlobalFoundries 45-nm RF-SOI CMOS technology. Firstly, a fully-differential, single-pole, single-throw (SPST) switch capable of high isolation in broadband CMOS transceivers is described. The SPST switch realizes better than 50-dB isolation (ISO) across DC to 43 GHz while maintaining an insertion loss (IL) below 3 dB. Measured RF input power for 1-dB compression (IP1dB) of the IL is +19.6 dBm, and the measured input third-order intercept point (IIP3) is +30.4 dBm (both assuming differential inputs at 20 GHz). The prototype has an active area of 0.0058 mm^2. Secondly, a single-pole double-throw (SPDT) switch is implemented using the SPST concept by using a balun to convert the shared differential path to a single-ended antenna port. The SPDT simulations predict less than 3.5-dB IL and greater than 40-dB ISO across 55 to 65 GHz frequency band. An IP1dB of +21 dBm is expected from large-signal simulations. The prototype has an active area of 0.117 mm^2. Thirdly, a fully-differential switched-LC topology adopted with slow-wave artificial transmission line concept, and phase inversion network is described for a 360-degree phase shift range with 11.25-degree phase resolution. The average IL of the complete phase shifter is 5.3 dB with less than 1-dB rms IL error. Furthermore, the IP1dB of the phase shifter is +16 dBm. The prototype has an active area of 0.245 mm^2. Lastly, a fully-differential, 2-stage, common-source (CS) low-noise amplifier (LNA) is developed with wideband matching from 57.8 GHz to 67 GHz, a maximum simulated forward power gain of 20.8 dB, and a minimum noise figure of 3.07 dB. The LNA consumes 21 mW and predicts an OP1dB of 4.8 dBm from the 1-V supply. The LNA consumes an active area of 0.028 mm^2

Metamaterials and Metasurfaces

Ye

Vidutinių dažnių 5G belaidžių tinklų galios stiprintuvų tyrimas

This dissertation addresses the problems of ensuring efficient radio fre-quency transmission for 5G wireless networks. Taking into account, that the next generation 5G wireless network structure will be heterogeneous, the device density and their mobility will increase and massive MIMO connectivity capability will be widespread, the main investigated problem is formulated – increasing the efficiency of portable mid-band 5G wireless network CMOS power amplifier with impedance matching networks. The dissertation consists of four parts including the introduction, 3 chapters, conclusions, references and 3 annexes. The investigated problem, importance and purpose of the thesis, the ob-ject of the research methodology, as well as the scientific novelty are de-fined in the introduction. Practical significance of the obtained results, defended state-ments and the structure of the dissertation are also included. The first chapter presents an extensive literature analysis. Latest ad-vances in the structure of the modern wireless network and the importance of the power amplifier in the radio frequency transmission chain are de-scribed in detail. The latter is followed by different power amplifier archi-tectures, parameters and their improvement techniques. Reported imped-ance matching network design methods are also discussed. Chapter 1 is concluded distinguishing the possible research vectors and defining the problems raised in this dissertation. The second chapter is focused around improving the accuracy of de-signing lumped impedance matching network. The proposed methodology of estimating lumped inductor and capacitor parasitic parameters is dis-cussed in detail provi-ding complete mathematical expressions, including a summary and conclusions. The third chapter presents simulation results for the designed radio fre-quency power amplifiers. Two variations of Doherty power amplifier archi-tectures are presented in the second part, covering the full step-by-step de-sign and simulation process. The latter chapter is concluded by comparing simulation and measurement results for all designed radio frequency power amplifiers. General conclusions are followed by an extensive list of references and a list of 5 publications by the author on the topic of the dissertation. 5 papers, focusing on the subject of the discussed dissertation, have been published: three papers are included in the Clarivate Analytics Web of Sci-ence database with a citation index, one paper is included in Clarivate Ana-lytics Web of Science database Conference Proceedings, and one paper has been published in unreferred international conference preceedings. The au-thor has also made 9 presentations at 9 scientific conferences at a national and international level.Dissertatio