MICRO AND MILLIMETER WAVE CIRCUIT DESIGN IN SILICON WITH CONSIDERATIONS FOR NOISE REDUCTION AND ON-CHIP PASSIVE ELEMENTS

摘要

Amid the exponentially growing demand of wireless multimedia applications,the need for exceptionally high performance communication devices has leapt to theforefront of electronic design. Advances in the speed of the silicon transistor andincreased complexity of the integrated circuit metallization stack, along withsophisticated Electro-Magnetic (EM) simulation software has fortified the capabilityto meet new and seemingly unrelenting requirements on a platform common to mostconsumer electronics.A comprehensive design approach for implementing micro and millimeterwave wireless transceiver front-end circuits is proposed. The design methodologyexploits the aforementioned advances to ensure successful implementation of radiofrequency circuits operating anywhere from 2-100 GHz in both standard siliconCMOS and silicon germanium (SiGe) BiCMOS technologies. In this dissertation themost substantial work performed is on the design and characterization of a variety oflow noise amplifiers (LNAs). In the LNA arena, a new figure-of-merit (FOM)equation is proposed. Other successful demonstrations of transceiver circuits are alsocovered such as a direct down converter featuring an active balun at 94 GHz, andradio frequency identification (RFID) tags with an active transmitter at 24 GHz and 60GHz. The methodology is not limited to the above circuits. It can be applied to amyriad of other circuits where the operating frequency is high, noise must be curtailedand the dimensions of passive structures are comparable to the signal wavelength.Many of the techniques employed are intended to combat the limitations of thesilicon substrate; even beyond the frequency limitations of the devices, and towardsovercoming and in some cases exploiting the parasitic effects of interconnect wiring atincreased frequencies. Simulation and Measurement results from the circuits arepresented and an integrated simulation environment is proposed to simplify the designflow. Several successful hardware demonstrations confirm the validity of theproposed design methodology. Summaries are given at the end of each chapter andfuture research direction is highlighted at the end of the dissertation.