76 research outputs found
Study of the impact of lithography techniques and the current fabrication processes on the design rules of tridimensional fabrication technologies
Working for the photolithography tool manufacturer leader sometimes gives me the impression
of how complex and specific is the sector I am working on. This master thesis topic came with
the goal of getting the overall picture of the state-of-the-art: stepping out and trying to get a
helicopter view usually helps to understand where a process is in the productive chain, or what
other firms and markets are doing to continue improvingUniversidad de sevilla.Måster Universitario en Microelectrónica: Diseño y Aplicaciones de Sistemas Micro/Nanométrico
INVESTIGATION OF TECHNIQUES FOR REDUCING UNINTENTIONAL ELECTROMAGNETIC EMISSIONS FROM ELECTRONIC CIRCUITS AND SYSTEMS
This dissertation describes three independent studies related to techniques for reducing unintentional electromagnetic emissions from electronic circuits and systems. The topics covered are: low-inductance multi-layer ceramic capacitor for high frequency circuit board decoupling, the application of imbalance difference model to various circuit board and cable geometries, and balanced cable interface for reducing common-mode currents from power inverter. The first chapter discusses the importance and the meaning of the connection inductance associated with MLCCs and analyzes the effect of plate orientation in MLCCs. It demonstrates that vertically oriented plates have no more or less inductance than horizontally oriented plates when the overall dimensions of the plate stack are similar. Decoupling capacitance options at the various levels of a high-speed circuit is investigated to determine the range of frequencies that decoupling at each level is likely to be is effective. Innovative low-inductance capacitive-stem capacitor configurations are described and their connection impedance is compared to that of standard surface-mounted capacitors. The second chapter investigates the imbalance difference model that is a method for modeling how differential-mode signal currents are converted to common-mode noise currents. Various cable geometries to determine how well imbalance factor`s values of DM-to-CM conversion compare to full-wave calculations are explored. The imbalance difference model can be applied to cables with more than two conductors are demonstrated. The third chapter investigates the balanced cable interface for reducing common-mode currents from power inverter. The concept of a balancing network to reduce the common-mode currents on power inverter cables above 30 MHz is introduced. An experimental test set-up is used to demonstrate the effect of a balancing network on the common-mode current, differential-mode current and the common-mode rejection ratio on a balanced cable with an imbalanced termination. The balancing network is also evaluated using a 3-phase brushless DC motor driver to verify its effectiveness in a real application
Full-3D Printed Electronics Fabrication of Radiofrequency Circuits and Passive Components
[eng] This doctoral thesis raises the idea that 3D printing can change the paradigm of radio- frequency electronics, which has been traditionally developed mainly conceiving planar topologies. A review on additive manufacturing and the different existing technologies is reported. To focus on the concerning topic, several applications of 3D-printed electronics in the RF field are collected to elaborate the State-of-the-Art. The main objectives of this project is to develop a 3D manufacturing technology for RF electronics passive components and circuits and to generate innovative research about the possibilities of AM in this area.
Once the context is exposed, the manufacturing process for 3D-printed electronics developed within the frame of this project is described and characterized. This technology consists of three different steps. First of all, the 3D model of the prototype is designed using a CAD environment with electromagnetic simulation features, hence size parameters are adjusted to fit the specifications. Hereon, the 3D polymer substrate is printed by using either stereolithography or material jetting techniques. Stereolithography is found to be a cheaper AM technology while material jetting offers a better printing resolution and softer surface endings. Finally the object is partially metallized to obtain the conductive layer of the component or circuit using an electrolytic process, such as electroless plating or electroplating. The characterization includes the electromagnetic specifications of the dielectric substrates (i.e. the dielectric constant and the loss tangent) and the quality of the metallization (i.e. the resistivity and the layer thickness). The results of the plating resitivity are found to be competitive compared to the SoA.
In order to demonstrate the possibilities of the developed technology, several devices are designed and tested. The key factor of these prototypes is that they would be very difficult, costly or impossible to manufacture using conventional technologies. As a preliminary demonstration, a hello-world circuit to turn on a LED proves that almost any kind of shape can be plated, including vias; both through hole and SMD components can be soldered and that mechanical stress such as USB plugging is resisted by the metal layer. In addition, a study on conical inductors is carried out showing the advantages of these components for broadband applications with compact devices. They offer a larger bandwidth cylindrical solenoids and are more compact than planar coils. As an application example, they are used in the manufacturing of 3D passive filters. The prototypes present agreement with simulations and the ideal response. Slight discrepancies are caused by the manufacturing tolerances. Moreover, 3D filters are also designed as one single-printed part, a new technique for 3D discrete component integration. That permits to reduce the number of components to assembly so that it does not increase with the order of the filter. These single 3D-printed prototypes present improvement in performance and compactness as well.
In addition to the lumped circuits, a whole chapter is dedicated to distributed-element devices. A study on helical-microstrip transmission lines is carried out showing an important enhancement for line segment miniaturization. Hereon, they are implemented on the design of impedance transformers, which also benefit from bandwidth broadening. Another proposed device is the hybrid branch-line coupler, which, besides the implementation of helical lines, it has been designed conceiving a capacitively loaded folded structure. This coupler gives very interesting results in compactness improvement, without significant reduction of the bandwidth. The prototypes have been compared to the conventional topology as well as to other designs found within the SoA. Finally, helical-microstrip coupled-line couplers have also been designed, fabricated and studied. They offer a good enhancement in terms of compactness though it goes in slight detriment of the coupling factor due to the manufacturing tolerances.[cat] Aquesta tesi doctoral proposa la idea que la impressiĂł 3D pot canviar el paradigma de lâelectrĂČnica de radiofreqĂŒĂšncia. Sâhi anomenen i expliquen les tecnologies de manufactura additiva existents. Per centrar-se en el principal tema dâinterĂšs, sâexposa un compendi dâaplicacions dâelectrĂČnica impresa en 3D en el camp de la RF amb el qual sâha confeccionat lâestat de la qĂŒestiĂł.
Un cop exposat el context, el procĂ©s de manufactura per a electrĂČnica impresa en 3D que sâha desenvolupat en el marc dâaquest projecte Ă©s descrit i caracteritzat. Aquesta tecnologia consisteix en la impressiĂł en 3D dâun substrat de polĂmer utilitzant tĂšcniques basades, o bĂ© en estereolitografia, o bĂ© en material jetting. Posteriorment, el component o circuit es metal·litza parcialment mitjançant un procĂ©s electrolĂtic ja sigui electroless plating o electroplating. La caracteritzaciĂł inclou les especificacions electromagnĂštiques del substrat dielĂšctric i la qualitat de metal·litzaciĂł, que sâhan resultat ser competitives relaciĂł amb lâestat de la qĂŒestiĂł.
Amb lâobjectiu de demostrar les possibilitats de la tecnologia desenvolupada, sâhan dissenyat i testejat dispositius electrĂČnics de RF, concebent-los en lâespai tridimensional. El punt clau Ă©s que els dispositius dissenyats serien molt difĂcils, costosos o directament impossibles de fabricar usant tecnologies convencionals. A remarcar, sâha dut a terme un estudi sobre inductors cĂČnics, mostrant els avantatges dâaquests components per a aplicacions de banda ampla amb dispositius compactes. Aquests inductors shan fet servir per a la fabricaciĂł de filtres passius en 3D. A mĂ©s, a mĂ©s, sâhan dissenyat filtres 3D per ser impresos en una sola part, una tĂšcnica nova que per produir circuits 3D amb components discrets integrats.
A part dels circuits dâelements discrets, sâha dedicat un capĂtol sencer als dispositius dâelements distribuĂŻts. Sâha dut a terme un estudi sobre lĂnies de transmissiĂł microstrip helicoidals, les quals aporten una millora important de miniaturitzaciĂł dels segments de lĂnia. Partint dâaquĂ, aquestes lĂnies sâhan implementat en el disseny de transformadors dâimpedĂ ncia, que tambĂ© milloren en termes dâample de banda, acobladors hĂbrids de tipus branch-line i acobladors basats en lĂnies acoblades. Aquests dispositius han resultat tenir millores importants de compacitat respecte els dissenys convencionals fabricats en estructures planars
Ultra-High Q-Factor Silicon Resonator for High Frequency Oscillators
The thesis focuses on the investigation and characterisation of ultra-high Q-factor low loss Silicon resonators with transverse electric (TE)-like electromagnetic band-gap determined by two dimensional periodic structure made of a Silicon slab having a triangular lattice of air cylinders. A band-gap is observed where no energy is propagated through the slab, however engineering defects are created and optimised within the lattice producing resonant cavities and waveguides. The structure being excited with the fundamental TE10 mode can be coupled to external circuits via waveguides and its respective transitions in co-planar waveguide transmission line used to convey the millimetre-wave frequency signals.
The ultimate goal is to investigate and characterise the promising low loss and high frequency Silicon resonators suitable for millimetre-wave communications such as used in low phase noise oscillator application and band pass filters.
The results clearly show that electromagnetic band-gap structures or photonic crystals (PC) can be utilized for application in high frequency oscillators directly in fundamental mode with great benefits in obtaining ultra-high Q-factor and therefore low phase noise; and with better performance than alternative state-of-art technologies such as crystal oscillators in combination with frequency multiplication or frequency synthesis causing an increase in the overall phase noise by 20 log rule.
By successfully demonstrating the experiment of using electromagnetic band-gap structures with oscillators, it is a great contribution towards the solution of the problem of high phase noise affecting high frequency oscillators operating at millimetre-wave band
Microwave Photonic Applications - From Chip Level to System Level
Die Vermischung von Mikrowellen- und optischen Technologien â Mikrowellenphotonik â ist ein neu aufkommendes Feld mit hohem Potential. Durch die Nutzung der VorzĂŒge beider Welten hat die Mikrowellenphotonik viele AnwendungsfĂ€lle und ist gerade erst am Beginn ihrer Erfolgsgeschichte. Der Weg fĂŒr neue Konzepte, neue Komponenten und neue Anwendungen wird dadurch geebnet, dass ein höherer Grad an Integration sowie neue Technologien wie Silicon Photonics verfĂŒgbar sind. In diesem Werk werden zuerst die notwendigen grundlegenden Basiskomponenten â optische Quelle, elektro-optische Wandlung, Ăbertragungsmedium und opto-elektrische Wandlung â eingefĂŒhrt. Mithilfe spezifischer Anwendungsbeispiele, die von Chipebene bis hin zur Systemebene reichen, wird der elektrooptische Codesign-Prozess veranschaulicht. SchlieĂlich werden zukĂŒnftige Ausrichtungen wie die UnterstĂŒtzung von elektrischen TrĂ€gern im Millimeterwellen- und THz-Bereich sowie Realisierungsoptionen in integrierter Optik und Nanophotonik diskutiert.The hybridization between microwave and optical technologies â microwave photonics â is an emerging field with high potential. Benefitting from the best of both worlds, microwave photonics has many use cases and is just at the beginning of its success story. The availability of a higher degree of integration and new technologies such as silicon photonics paves the way for new concepts, new components and new applications. In this work, first, the necessary basic building blocks â optical source, electro-optical conversion, transmission medium and opto-electrical conversion â are introduced. With the help of specific application examples ranging from chip level to system level, the electro-optical co-design process for microwave photonic systems is illustrated. Finally, future directions such as the support of electrical carriers in the millimeter wave and THz range and realization options in integrated optics and nanophotonics are discussed
VLSI Design
This book provides some recent advances in design nanometer VLSI chips. The selected topics try to present some open problems and challenges with important topics ranging from design tools, new post-silicon devices, GPU-based parallel computing, emerging 3D integration, and antenna design. The book consists of two parts, with chapters such as: VLSI design for multi-sensor smart systems on a chip, Three-dimensional integrated circuits design for thousand-core processors, Parallel symbolic analysis of large analog circuits on GPU platforms, Algorithms for CAD tools VLSI design, A multilevel memetic algorithm for large SAT-encoded problems, etc
Recommended from our members
A Non-invasive wave monitor
This work presents a new acoustical method for remote measurement of the surface characteristics of the dynamic airâwater interface in turbulent free-surface ïŹows. The technique uses the reïŹection of a monochromatic ultrasonic wave by the dynamically rough airâwater interface to measure the water surface position. It is found that with careful selection of the acoustical components and their conïŹguration, thephase of the reïŹected signal responds to the local ïŹuctuations in the ïŹuid interface at the point of specular acoustic reïŹection. In order for the method to be applicable, three criteria must be satisïŹed: (1) the dominant wavelength of the surface under investigation must be greater than the ïŹrst Fresnel zone corresponding to the wavelength and component geometry of the acoustical system; (2) the mean magnitude of the instantaneous local surface gradient must not exceed 0.025; and (3) the root-mean-square wave height must be greater than 1% of the acoustic wavelength. Under these conditions the mean error of the system is within 5% (and usually within 1%) of the acoustic wavelength, and is generally within 10% of the wave amplitude for turbulence generated waves, and 3% of the amplitude for gravity waves. This error may be reduced by optimising the acoustic wavelength for the surface of interest. For turbulent depth limited ïŹows, the surface waves fall well within the criteria, and the absolute errors are independent of wave height, so for larger wave heights, the relative error can be considerably lower. The technique provides a robust system for monitoring the dynamics of free surface ïŹ ows, which is non-invasive, low cost, and low power. The method has been tested on laboratory ïŹows but should be applicable to remote sensing of free surface properties on a local scale in ïŹeld environments where invasive techniques are difïŹcult to implement such as might be found in coastal, river and wastewater environments
Miniaturization Techniques of Substrate Integrated Waveguide Based on Multilayered Printed Circuit Board Platform
RESUMĂ Le guide d'ondes intĂ©grĂ©es au substrat (GIS) est une structure Ă ondes guidĂ©es qui prĂ©sente des avantages avec un facteur de qualitĂ© Q Ă©levĂ© et une excellente isolation ligne Ă ligne. La technique GIS a Ă©tĂ© largement utilisĂ© dans la construction de composants passifs, tels que coupleurs, diviseurs, filtres, et dĂ©phaseurs. Certains dispositifs actifs ont Ă©galement Ă©tĂ© dĂ©veloppĂ©s avec facteur Q Ă©levĂ© et rĂ©sonateurs en technologie GIS. En comparant Ă d'autres types de lignes de transmission planaire, le facteur de qualitĂ© Q important du GIS est une embouchure pour son intĂ©gration avec d'autres circuits classiques. Les techniques de miniaturisation du SIW sont donc devenues une urgence. Le travail dans cette thĂšse commence par l'examen et la discussion des techniques de miniaturisation existantes pour GIS, y compris les (ridge substrate integrated waveguide, RSIW), intĂ©grĂ©s sur substrat Ă demi-mode (HMSIW) et les (folded substrata integrated waveguide, FSIW). L'impĂ©dance et la constante de propagation des lignes basĂ©es sur ces techniques de miniaturisation sont calculĂ©es en utilisant la mĂ©thode de rĂ©sonance transversale (transverse resonant method, CRT). Bien que ces paramĂštres puissent ĂȘtre obtenus par des mĂ©thodes de simulation EM, un calcul rapide sera utile pour lâoptimisation de la conception en utilisant l'analyse paramĂ©trique. Une prĂ©occupation particuliĂšre est axĂ©e sur la relation entre la constant dâattĂ©nuation et les paramĂštres gĂ©omĂ©triques. Les dimensions optimisĂ©es de chaque GIS miniaturisĂ©s sont proposĂ©s en se basant sur l'analyse paramĂ©trique. Les paramĂštres de transmission de ces lignes de SIW miniaturisĂ©s peuvent ĂȘtre extraire en utilisant la mĂ©thode Ă double ligne. Sauf HMSIW, toutes les autres techniques de miniaturisation mentionnĂ©es ci-dessus pour la mise en Ćuvre de la plateforme multicouche. Parmi les techniques de fabrication diverses qui sont en mesure de fournir des substrats multicouches, le circuit imprimĂ© multicouche est utilisĂ© dans la conception des circuits rapportĂ©s dans cette thĂšse.---------- ABSTRACT
Substrate integrated waveguide (SIW) is a guided-wave structure that enjoys the benefits of a high Q-factor and an excellent line-to-line isolation. SIW technique has been widely used in building passive components, such as couplers, dividers, filters, and phase shifters. Some active devices have also been developed with high Q-factor SIW resonators. Comparing to other types of planar transmission lines, the big form factor of SIW is a bottleneck for its integration with other conventional integrated circuits. Miniaturization techniques for SIW therefore become very urgent. The work in this dissertation starts with the review and discussion of existing miniaturization techniques for SIW, including ridge substrate integrated waveguide (RSIW), half-mode substrate integrated waveguide (HMSIW) and folded substrata integrated waveguide (FSIW). The impedance and propagation constant of the transmission lines based on these miniaturization techniques are calculated using transverse resonant method (TRM). Although these parameters can be extracted from full wave EM simulations, a fast computation be helpful in design optimization by using parametric analysis. One particular concern focuses on the relationship between attenuation constant and geometric parameters. Optimized dimensions of each miniaturized SIW are suggested based on the parametric analysis. The transmission line parameters of these miniaturized SIW transmission lines can be extracted using dual-line method.
Except HMSIW, all other miniaturized techniques mentioned above need multilayer platform for implementation. Among various fabrication techniques which are able to provide multilayered substrate, multilayer printed circuit board is used in the design of the circuits reported in this dissertation. It is believed that the advantages of SIW circuit are important in millimeter wave applications, although the design might limit the operating frequency. Specifically, Rogers substrate R6002 is used in all our designs for proving the concepts investigated in this work. One principal step for using the SIW technology is to develop high-performance transitions and interconnects between substrate integrated circuits (SICs) and other types of transmission lines or circuits embedded in or surface mounted on the multilayer substrates. In this work, a novel transition between a microstrip line and an SIW in a multilayer substrate design environment is presented
Wideband integrated circuits for optical communication systems
The exponential growth of internet traffic drives datacenters to constantly improvetheir capacity. Several research and industrial organizations are aiming towardsTbps Ethernet and beyond, which brings new challenges to the field of high-speedbroadband electronic circuit design. With datacenters rapidly becoming significantenergy consumers on the global scale, the energy efficiency of the optical interconnecttransceivers takes a primary role in the development of novel systems. Furthermore,wideband optical links are finding application inside very high throughput satellite(V/HTS) payloads used in the ever-expanding cloud of telecommunication satellites,enabled by the maturity of the existing fiber based optical links and the hightechnology readiness level of radiation hardened integrated circuit processes. Thereare several additional challenges unique in the design of a wideband optical system.The overall system noise must be optimized for the specific application, modulationscheme, PD and laser characteristics. Most state-of-the-art wideband circuits are builton high-end semiconductor SiGe and InP technologies. However, each technologydemands specific design decisions to be made in order to get low noise, high energyefficiency and adequate bandwidth. In order to overcome the frequency limitationsof the optoelectronic components, bandwidth enhancement and channel equalizationtechniques are used. In this work various blocks of optical communication systems aredesigned attempting to tackle some of the aforementioned challenges. Two TIA front-end topologies with 133 GHz bandwidth, a CB and a CE with shunt-shunt feedback,are designed and measured, utilizing a state-of-the-art 130 nm InP DHBT technology.A modular equalizer block built in 130 nm SiGe HBT technology is presented. Threeultra-wideband traveling wave amplifiers, a 4-cell, a single cell and a matrix single-stage, are designed in a 250 nm InP DHBT process to test the limits of distributedamplification. A differential VCSEL driver circuit is designed and integrated in a4x 28 Gbps transceiver system for intra-satellite optical communications based in arad-hard 130nm SiGe process
- âŠ