5,634 research outputs found
Recommended from our members
Frequency domain steady-state simulation of oscillators
The focus of this work is on developing algorithms for frequency domain steady-state analysis of oscillators. Convergence problems associated with the frequency domain harmonic balance simulation of oscillators have been examined. Globally convergent homotopy methods have been combined with the harmonic balance method for robust high-Q oscillator simulation. Various homotopy options are evaluated leading to an algorithm that is applicable to a wide variety of oscillator circuits. Two new approaches have also been developed for the simulation of ring oscillators using the harmonic balance method. These include a single-delay cell method and a multiple-probe method. The new methods that have been proposed are robust compared to traditional methods and readily converge for a wide range of single-ended and differential oscillators. They enable harmonic balance simulation of “difficult-to-converge” oscillator circuits
Design and characterisation of millimetre wave planar Gunn diodes and integrated circuits
Heterojunction planar Gunn devices were first demonstrated by Khalid et al in 2007. This new design of Gunn device, or transferred electron device, was based on the well-established material system of GaAs as the oscillation media. The design did not only breakthrough the frequency record of GaAs for conventional Gunn devices, but also has several advantages over conventional Gunn devices, such as the possibility of making multiple oscillators on a single chip and compatibility with monolithic integrated circuits. However, these devices faced the challenge of producing high enough RF power for practical applications and circuit technology for integration.
This thesis describes systematic work on the design and characterisations of planar Gunn diodes and the associated millimetre-wave circuits for RF signal power enhancement. Focus has been put on improving the design of planar Gunn diodes and developing high performance integrated millimetre-wave circuits for combining multiple Gunn diodes.
Improvement of device design has been proved to be one of the key methods to increase the signal power. By introducing additional δ-doping layers, electron concentration in the channel increases and better Gunn domain formation is achieved, therefore higher RF power and frequency are produced. Combining multiple channels in the vertical direction within devices is another effective way to increase the output signal power as well as DC-to-RF conversion efficiency. In addition, an alternative material system, i.e. In0.23Ga0.77As, has also been studied for this purpose.
Planar passive components, such as resonators, couplers, low pass filters (LPFs), and power combiners with high performance over 100 GHz have been developed. These components can be smoothly integrated with planar Gunn diodes for compact planar Gunn oscillators, and therefore contribute to RF power enhancement.
In addition, several new measurement techniques for characterising oscillators and passive devices have also been developed during this work and will be included in this thesis
Calculation of the Performance of Communication Systems from Measured Oscillator Phase Noise
Oscillator phase noise (PN) is one of the major problems that affect the
performance of communication systems. In this paper, a direct connection
between oscillator measurements, in terms of measured single-side band PN
spectrum, and the optimal communication system performance, in terms of the
resulting error vector magnitude (EVM) due to PN, is mathematically derived and
analyzed. First, a statistical model of the PN, considering the effect of white
and colored noise sources, is derived. Then, we utilize this model to derive
the modified Bayesian Cramer-Rao bound on PN estimation, and use it to find an
EVM bound for the system performance. Based on our analysis, it is found that
the influence from different noise regions strongly depends on the
communication bandwidth, i.e., the symbol rate. For high symbol rate
communication systems, cumulative PN that appears near carrier is of relatively
low importance compared to the white PN far from carrier. Our results also show
that 1/f^3 noise is more predictable compared to 1/f^2 noise and in a fair
comparison it affects the performance less.Comment: Accepted in IEEE Transactions on Circuits and Systems-I: Regular
Paper
- …