Microwave CMOS VCOs and Front-Ends - using integrated passives on-chip and on-carrier

The increasing demand for high data rates in wireless communication systems is increasing the requirements on the transceiver front-ends, as they are pushed to utilize more and wider bands at higher frequencies. The work in this thesis is focused on receiver front-ends composed of Low Noise Amplifiers (LNAs), Mixers, and Voltage Controlled Oscillators (VCOs) operating at microwave frequencies. Traditionally, microwave electronics has used exclusive and more expensive semiconductor technologies (III-V materials). However, the rapid development of consumer electronics (e.g. video game consoles) the last decade has pushed the silicon CMOS IC technology towards even smaller feature sizes. This has resulted in high speed transistors (high fT and fmax) with low noise figures. However, as the breakdown voltages have decreased, a lower supply voltage must be used, which has had a negative impact on linearity and dynamic range. Nonetheless, todays downscaled CMOS technology is a feasible alternative for many microwave and even millimeter wave applications. The low quality factor (Q) of passive components on-chip usually limits the high frequency performance. For inductors realized in a standard CMOS process the substrate coupling results in a degraded Q. The quality factor can, however, be improved by moving the passive components off-chip and integrating them on a low loss carrier. This thesis therefore features microwave front-end and VCO designs in CMOS, where some designs have been flip-chip mounted on carriers featuring high Q inductors and low loss baluns. The thesis starts with an introduction to wireless communication, receiver architectures, front-end receiver blocks, and low loss carrier technology, followed by the included papers. The six included papers show the capability of CMOS and carrier technology at microwave frequencies: Papers II, III, and VI demonstrate fully integrated CMOS circuit designs. An LC-VCO using an accumulation mode varactor is presented in Paper II, a QVCO using 4-bit switched tuning is shown in Paper III, and a quadrature receiver front-end (including QVCO) is demonstrated in paper VI. Papers I and IV demonstrate receiver front-ends using low loss baluns on carrier for the LO and RF signals. Paper IV also includes a front-end using single-ended RF input which is converted to differential form in a novel merged LNA and balun. A VCO demonstrating the benefits of a high Q inductor on carrier is presented in Paper V

TX-mittausten automatisointi LabVIEW-ohjelmalla

Tämä opinnäytetyö on tehty Nokia Siemens Networks, Oulun Ruskon tuotekehityksen RF-laboratorioon. Opinnäytetyön tarkoituksena oli suunnitella LabVIEW-ohjelmointiympäristössä käyttöliittymä, jolla saadaan automatisoitua tietyt TX-mittaukset tuotekehitysvaiheessa oleviin TRX-moduuleihin. Aikaisemmin nämä mittaukset ja tulosten kirjaamiset on suoritettu manuaalisesti käyttäen apuna yksittäisiä LabVIEW-ohjelmia, jolloin yhden levyn mittaamiseen ja tulosten kirjaamisiin on kulunut yhdessä lämpötilassa noin viikko. Käyttöliittymän tavoitteena olikin tehdä mittaukset ja tulosten kirjaamiset automaattisesti ja nopeammin aikaisempaan malliin verrattuna. Käyttöliittymän pitäisi olla myös luotettava, helppokäyttöinen ja englanninkielinen. Oulun seudun ammattikorkeakoulun, Raahen tekniikan ja talouden yksikön opintoihin kuului LabVIEW -peruskurssi, joka antoi hyvät valmiudet ohjelman käyttöön ja aikaa itse ohjelman käyttämisen opetteluun ei tarvinnut käyttää. LabVIEW’lle löytyi myös paljon perusmateriaalia, jota työssä pystyi käyttämään hyödyksi. Työn eri vaiheet koostuivat yksittäisten aliohjelmien tekemisestä, joten työ eteni hyvin järjestelmällisesti ja jokainen valmis aliohjelma tuli testattua heti sen valmistuttua. Käyttöliittymällä tehtiin lopuksi testimittaus, joka osoittautui todella nopeaksi. Mittauksiin käytetty uusi aika oli noin yksi tunti. Käyttöliittymästä tuli luotettava, helppokäyttöinen ja englanninkielinen.The purpose of this thesis work was to design a user interface with LabVIEW for Nokia Siemens Networks, Oulu Rusko plant’s R&D RF-laboratory. The user interface should make certain TX-measurements automatically for TRX-modules in the R&D phase. Earlier, the measurements and result savings were made manually, by using some LabVIEW-programs. It took approximately one week to measure one TRX-board in one temperature. Result savings are included in that one week. The intention of the user interface was to make the measurements and result savings automatically, faster than earlier. The user interface should also be reliable, easy to use and in English. There was a basic course of LabVIEW at Oulu University of Applied Sciences, Raahe School of Engineering and Business. That course provided this thesis work because there was no need to learn to use the labVIEW program any more. I also found a lot of basic materials for LabVIEW and I used that material in this thesis work. This thesis work proceeded periodically, because the code consists of many procedures and every procedure was tested immediately after accomplishment. Finally, I made a test measurement and I noticed that it was very fast compared to manual tests. It took approximately one hour to make that measurement. The user interface also became reliable, easy to use and it is in English

mm-Wave Pulse-Generation Circuits in 65nm CMOS

Three mm-wave pulse generation circuits fabricated in a standard 65nm CMOS process are presented. Two versions are based on the cross-coupled NMOS LC-VCO (500um × 300 um), and one is based on the Colpitts VCO (600um × 300 um). No additional buffers are used in the cross-coupled versions, as they are directly loaded by 50 Ohms through a balun. They can produce measured pulses exceeding 8dBm peak output power suitable for impulse radio (IR) systems, and also capable of producing pulses at 6.2pJ/pulse. A drive stage is used in the Colpitts based version to drive 50 Ohm measurement equipment, achieving phase coherent pulses with 8.6pJ/pulse, suitable for pulsed radar applications or IR systems