Radio frequency integrated circuits (RFICs) are the building blocks that enable every device from cable television sets to mobile telephones to transmit and receive signals and data. This newly revised and expanded edition of the 2003 Artech House classic, "Radio Frequency Integrated Circuit Design", serves as an up-to-date, practical reference for complete RFIC know-how. The second edition includes numerous updates, including greater coverage of CMOS PA design, RFIC design with on-chip components, and more worked examples with simulation results. By emphasizing working designs, this book practically transports readers into the authors' own RFIC lab so they can fully understand how these designs function. This title is suitable for radio frequency integrated circuit (RFIC) design engineers; radio systems architects; researchers and developers of RFIC technology; and, graduate level electrical engineering students.

Radio Frequency Integrated Circuit Design

This expanded and thoroughly revised edition of Thomas H. Lee's acclaimed guide to the design of gigahertz RF integrated circuits features a completely new chapter on the principles of wireless systems. The chapters on low-noise amplifiers, oscillators and phase noise have been significantly expanded as well. The chapter on architectures now contains several examples of complete chip designs that bring together all the various theoretical and practical elements involved in producing a prototype chip. First Edition Hb (1998): 0-521-63061-4 First Edition Pb (1998); 0-521-63922-0

The Design of CMOS Radio-Frequency Integrated Circuits: RF CIRCUITS THROUGH THE AGES

This paper provides evidence that, as a result of constant-field scaling, the peak f T (approx. 0.3 mA/μm), peak f MAX (approx. 0.2 mA/μm), and optimum noise figure NF MIN (approx. 0.15 mA/pm) current densities of Si and SOI n-channel MOSFETs are largely unchanged over technology nodes and foundries. It is demonstrated that the characteristic current densities also remain invariant for the most common circuit topologies such as MOSFET cascodes, MOS-SiGe HBT cascodes, current-mode logic (CML) gates, and nMOS transimpedance amplifiers (TIAs) with active pMOSFET loads. As a consequence, it is proposed that constant current-density biasing schemes be applied to MOSFET analog/mixed-signal/RF and high-speed digital circuit design. This will alleviate the problem of ever-diminishing effective gate voltages as CMOS is scaled below 90 nm, and will reduce the impact of statistical process variation, temperature and bias current variation on circuit performance. The second half of the paper illustrates that constant current-density biasing allows for the porting of SiGe BiCMOS cascode operational amplifiers, low-noise CMOS TIAs, and MOS-CML and BiCMOS-CML logic gates and output drivers between technology nodes and foundries, and even from bulk CMOS to SOI processes, with little or no redesign. Examples are provided of several record-setting circuits such as: 1) SiGe BiCMOS operational amplifiers with up to 37-GHz unity gain bandwidth; 2) a 2.5-V SiGe BiCMOS high-speed logic chip set consisting of 49-GHz retimer, 40-GHz TIAs, 80-GHz output driver with pre-emphasis and output swing control; and 3) 1-V 90-nm bulk and SOI CMOS TIAs with over 26-GHz bandwidth, less than 8-dB noise figure and operating at data rates up to 38.8 Gb/s. Such building blocks are required for the next generation of low-power 40-80 Gb/s wireline transceivers.

The invariance of characteristic current densities in nanoscale MOSFETs and its impact on algorithmic design methodologies and design porting of Si(Ge) (Bi)CMOS high-speed building blocks

An ultra-wideband (UWB) 3.1- to 10.6-GHz low-noise amplifier (LNA) employing a common-gate stage for wideband input matching is presented in this paper. Designed in a commercial 0.18-mum 1.8-V standard RFCMOS technology, the proposed UWB LNA achieves fully on-chip circuit implementation, contributing to the realization of a single-chip CMOS UWB receiver. The proposed UWB LNA achieves 16.7plusmn0.8 dB power gain with a good input match (S11<-9 dB) over the 7500-MHz bandwidth (from 3.1 GHz to 10.6 GHz), and an average noise figure of 4.0 dB, while drawing 18.4-mA dc biasing current from the 1.8-V power supply. A gain control mechanism is also introduced for the first time in the proposed design by varying the biasing current of the gain stage without influencing the other figures of merit of the circuit so as to accommodate the UWB LNA in various UWB wireless transmission systems with different link budgets

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A novel CMOS low-noise amplifier design for 3.1- to 10.6-GHz ultra-wide-band wireless receivers

In this letter, a novel method of reducing mutual coupling is proposed, and it used on a modified compact broadband antipodal Vivaldi antenna (AVA) array for future 5G millimeter-wave (mmWave) communication application. The proposed structure consists of eight antenna elements that are fed by a 1-to-8 power divider. In order to reduce the mutual coupling between AVA array elements, multiple notch structures are added on the ground plane. Thus, the isolation between the antenna elements can achieve a maximal additional 37.3 dB enhancement, impedance bandwidth is extended slightly from 24.65–28.5 GHz to 24.55–28.5 GHz, and the gain is improved simultaneously. To verify the designed method, the proposed AVA arrays were fabricated and measured. They show an overall size of 28.823 mm × 60 mm × 0.787 mm. The measured gain of the modified AVA array is 6.96–11.32 dB in the frequency band of future 5G mmWave communication, which is higher than the initial AVA array, whose gain is 5.34–8.5 dB.

A Compact Gain-Enhanced Vivaldi Antenna Array With Suppressed Mutual Coupling for 5G mmWave Application

This paper reports a CMOS distributed amplifier which operates from 1-27 GHz. This amplifier exhibits a measured gain of 6 dB and uses coplanar waveguides to implement required inductances. Power consumption is 68.1 mW while driven from a 3.3V supply but it can operate with supply voltages as low as 1.8V. Chip area is 1.8 /spl times/ 0.9 mm. To the author's knowledge this is the fastest frequency of operation ever reported for a distributed amplifier implemented in a standard CMOS technology.

A 27 GHz fully integrated CMOS distributed amplifier using coplanar waveguides

A method for wireless energy transfer includes forming a plurality of energy beams. Each energy beam includes one or more electromagnetic (EM) waves having a same fundamental frequency as another EM wave of another one of the energy beams. A device response of an energizable device to the plurality of energy beams incident thereon is tracked. The one or more EM waves for each of the plurality of energy beams is directed to power the energizable device. A respective phase of the one or more EM waves for at least one of the energy beams is aligned to another phase of another EM wave of another one of the energy beams. A received power level received by the energizable device is maximized according to the device response by optimizing for at least one of the energy beams, the directing, and the aligning of the phase, of the one or more EM waves.

Wireless energy transfer using alignment of electromagnetic waves

This letter describes the design and implementation of a highly linear, ultra-broadband non-uniform asymmetric distributed MMIC power amplifier in GaN, delivering 1 W of output power and suitable for operation at frequencies up to 6.5 GHz. The GaN HFETs used here have a gate length of 500 nm, and breakdown-voltages exceeding 100 V while exhibiting an fT of approximately 30 GHz. A non-uniform asymmetric distributed topology is used to achieve ultra-broadband performance. CW measurements carried out at nominal bias between 0.5 GHz and 6.5 GHz yielded a maximum PAE of 38.1% at 0.5 GHz, with PAE higher than 20% over the entire band, while achieving Pout > 30 dBm.

1 W, Highly Efficient, Ultra-Broadband Non-Uniform Distributed Power Amplifier in GaN

This paper presents a broadband microwave vertical transition structure suitable for System on Package (SOP) applications at millimeter-wave frequencies (mmW). The designed structure includes a Microstrip (MS) to Stripline (SL) back to back vertical transition optimized for 60 GHz applications but also suitable for E-band frequencies as well. The mmW transition presented here was fabricated in a Low-Temperature Co-fired Ceramic (LTCC) process using commercially available Ferro A6M tape layers. Design and optimization of this microwave transition was carried out in order to maintain a constant characteristic impedance over the entire bandwidth. A bandwidth improvement of 30% is observed by optimizing the ground via fence of the vertical transition. A maximum of 12 surrounding vias were used due to limitations in the LTCC process. Measurements of this vertical transition show a Return Loss of better than 10 dB for frequencies as high as 90 GHz while maintaining an insertion loss of less than 0.9 dB. A grounded coplanar waveguide (CPWG) to MS planar transition with good electrical performance for up to 110 GHz was also designed and implemented to characterize the vertical transition fabricated.

A broadband 3D vertical Microstrip to Stripline transition in LTCC using a quasi-coaxial structure for millimetre-wave SOP applications

3D printing has enabled materials, geometries and functional properties to be combined in unique ways otherwise unattainable via traditional manufacturing techniques, yet its adoption as a mainstream manufacturing platform for functional objects is hindered by the physical challenges in printing multiple materials. Vat polymerization offers a polymer chemistry-based approach to generating smart objects, in which phase separation is used to control the spatial positioning of materials and thus at once, achieve desirable morphological and functional properties of final 3D printed objects. This study demonstrates how the spatial distribution of different material phases can be modulated by controlling the kinetics of gelation, cross-linking density and material diffusivity through the judicious selection of photoresin components. A continuum of morphologies, ranging from functional coatings, gradients and composites are generated, enabling the fabrication of 3D piezoresistive sensors, 5G antennas and antimicrobial objects and thus illustrating a promising way forward in the integration of dissimilar materials in 3D printing of smart or functional parts.

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Rony E. Amaya

Papers

A 27 GHz fully integrated CMOS distributed amplifier using coplanar waveguides

Wireless energy transfer using alignment of electromagnetic waves

1 W, Highly Efficient, Ultra-Broadband Non-Uniform Distributed Power Amplifier in GaN

A broadband 3D vertical Microstrip to Stripline transition in LTCC using a quasi-coaxial structure for millimetre-wave SOP applications

Direct printing of functional 3D objects using polymerization-induced phase separation.