Explore Your Master

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Explore Your Master
In RF-front ends
Mixed-signal Microelectronics group
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Outline

• MsM group RF cluster
• A general RF transceiver
• 60 GHz Wireless applications
• e.g. A VCO for a mm-wave PLL
• Current PhD projects
• Challenges
• A typical IC design cycle
• Facilities/Opportunities

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RF Transceiver
Our focus
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60 GHz applications

• Unlicensed Bandwidth of 7 GHz
• High data rate transmission (gt1 Gbps)
• Short range (5-10m)

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Frequency synthesizer for 60 GHz

• 20 GHz I-Q tripled to 60 GHz

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40 GHz VCO
Measurement results

• Tuning range 41 to 44.5 GHz (8)
• Phase noise -106 dBc/Hz at 1 MHz
• Power consumption 3.6 mW
• FOM -192 dBc/Hz
• Area 700x400 µm

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Current PhD projects

• MM-wave PLL (Hammad, Xiaopeng)
• Smart Front-ends (Pooyan)
• Limit-cycle PAs (Mehdi, Foad)
• 60 GHz Ultra low power WSNs (Xia Li)
• Phased-array architectures (Wei Deng)
• 60 GHz PA Phase shifters (Yikun Yu)
• Ultra low power WSNs (Maarten Lont)
• Digitally enhanced Calibrated FEs (Erwin
  Janssen)

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Challenges

• Design at edge of technology
• Non-idealities of RF design
• Simulation vs. Measurement variations
• Circuit and Layout Parasitics
• Accurate modelling of active passive devices
  and interconnect

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A typical design cycle

• Target specifications

• Analytical, System level design

• Transistor level simulation

• Layout

• Layout extraction Re-simulation

• Chip Fabrication

• Measurement Characterization

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Facilities / Opportunities

• Access to sub-nm CMOS (90nm,65nm) technologies
• Industry standard IC-design tools
• Cadence, ADS, Momentum, Sonnet etc
• State-of-the-art measurement facilities uptil 67
  GHz
• Spectrum Network Analyzers, Signal Gens.
• Good Coffee..!!

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Visit US.!!!
RF team

• Prof. dr. ir. Van Roermund

• Prof. dr. ir. Baltus

• dr. ir. R. Mahmoudi

• PhD students

• Pooyan, Wei, Yikun, Lisa, Hammad, Maarten,
  Erwin, Mehdi, Foad