INNOVATIVE DESIGN AND REALIZATION OF MICROWAVE AND MILLIMETER-WAVE INTEGRATED CIRCUITS CHEN YING (B.Eng., Nanyang Technological University, Singapore) A THESIS SUBMITTED FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY DEPARTMENT OF ELECTRICAL AND COMPUTER ENGINEERING NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF SINGAPORE 2011 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The work described in this thesis could not have been accomplished without the help and support of many individuals. First and foremost, I owe my deepest gratitude to my supervisor, Assistant Professor Koen Mouthaan, for his guidance and continued encouragement throughout my PhD study. I still remember on my first day, he said he would like to be treated as a colleague and friend, so that we can have open discussions on any problems encountered during the research and even challenge each other’s opinions. His unique way of supervision has encouraged my independent and out-of-the-box thinking that has been inspiring me to explore innovative solutions for challenging research topics. Prof. Koen has always stressed the importance of practical solutions and experimental verifications, which are extremely crucial for engineering oriented research. I am especially grateful for his time and effort in weekly meetings and his help to overcome difficulties using his rich technical knowledge and experience whenever I got stuck. I have also benefited from his training in many other aspects, such as technical writing, analytical thinking, English language, and so on. All of these have been beneficial both to my academic progress and personal growth. I sincerely appreciate my mentor, Marcel Geurts, during my one-year research internship in NXP Semiconductors, Nijmegen, The Netherlands. Without him, my internship would not have been possible. He has made available his support in a number of ways. For example, he has set up an excellent platform, both software and hardware, in order for me to work on a very challenging research project that has a potential industry impact. He has also encouraged me to explore and ii implement good new ideas in the project. And I would like to thank him for his many constructive technical advices during my internship. Besides, I am also very grateful for his consistent help and care, both materially and emotionally, during my internship in The Netherlands. My gratitude is extended to all the colleagues in NXP Semiconductors during my internship. I would like to specially thank Louis Praamsma, Johan Janssen, Dr. Marek Schmidt-Szalowski, Dr. Koen van Caekenberghe, Hasan Gul, Rainier Breunisse, and Fanfan Meng from the High Performance RF group at NXP Nijmegen, for lots of insightful technical discussions and support in the measurements during the project. I am also grateful for the several critical design reviews by Dr. Domine Leenaerts, Dr. Jos Bergervoet, and Edwin van der Heijden from the RF Advanced Development Team at NXP Eindhoven. They are all experts in their fields, and I learned a lot from them. I appreciate the friendly interactions with Dr. Fujiang Lin, Dr. Kai Kang, and Dr. James Brinkhoff from the Integrated Circuit and System Lab in the Institute of Microelectronics, Singapore. Many useful discussions with them have been of great benefit to my research work. I am also thankful to all the members from the MMIC Lab of the National University of Singapore. I feel fortunate to have worked with them in a stimulating and enjoyable research environment. Those experiences are my cherished memories. My warmest thanks belong to my dear wife for her enormous support throughout my PhD study and for bringing our lovely baby son into the world. Last but not the least, I wish to thank my parents for bringing me up and for their forever love. I have been learning from them to be a responsible, optimistic and self-motivated person. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter : Introduction 1.1 Background . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.2 Design Challenges in Microwave and Millimeter-Wave ICs . . . . . . 1.2.1 Technologies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.2.2 Circuit Topologies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.2.3 System Architectures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Overview of Building Blocks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.3.1 Low Noise Amplifier (LNA) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.3.2 Power Amplifier (PA) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.3.3 Mixer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 1.3.4 Oscillator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 1.3.5 Filter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 1.4 Motivation, Scope and Thesis Organization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 1.5 List of Publications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27 1.3 Chapter : Parasitic Cancellation Technique for Colpitts Oscillators 30 2.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30 2.2 Conventional Colpitts Oscillators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31 2.2.1 Negative Resistance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32 2.2.2 High Frequency Limitations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32 2.2.3 Miller Effect of Cgd on Negative Resistance . . . . . . . . . . 33 2.3 Parasitic Cancellation Technique . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37 iv 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 2.3.1 Description of Parasitic Cancellation Technique . . . . . . . 37 2.3.2 Input Impedance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38 2.3.3 Frequency Tuning Range . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41 2.3.4 Q-factor of the Inductor Lgd . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42 2.3.5 Phase Noise . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43 2.3.6 Parasitic Cancellation Flexibility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45 2.3.7 Increasing the Maximum Operating Frequency . . . . . . . . 46 2.3.8 Large-Signal Regime and Uncertainty in the Miller Capacitance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48 Discrete Design Verification . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50 2.4.1 Oscillator Designs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50 2.4.2 Experimental Results . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55 MMIC Proof of Concept . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57 2.5.1 X-Band and Ka-Band Colpitts Oscillator Designs . . . . . . 57 2.5.2 Experimental Results . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60 2.5.3 Discussions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61 Application to Dual-Band Colpitts VCO Design . . . . . . . . . . . 68 2.6.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68 2.6.2 Dual-Band Colpitts VCO by Switched Negative Resistance Shaping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69 2.6.3 Experimental Results . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75 2.6.4 Discussions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77 Conclusions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77 Chapter : Varactorless Frequency-Tuning Technique for Wideband LC VCOs 79 3.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79 3.2 Wideband Varactorless VCO Using a Tunable NI Cell . . . . . . . . 80 v 3.3 3.2.1 Principle of Tunable NI Cell . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80 3.2.2 Start-Up Condition and Frequency-Tuning Analysis . . . . . 82 3.2.3 Effect of Transistor Parasitics and Output Capacitance of Current Sources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85 3.2.4 Effect of Degeneration Inductor’s Q-factor . . . . . . . . . . 87 3.2.5 Large-Signal Behavior . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87 3.2.6 VCO Design . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90 3.2.7 Experimental Results . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93 3.2.8 Discussions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96 Wideband Varactorless VCO with Constant Output Power Using Tunable NI and NC Cells . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101 3.3.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101 3.3.2 Principle of a tunable NC cell . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102 3.3.3 Combining Tunable NI and NC Cells to Achieve Constant Output Power . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104 3.4 3.3.4 VCO Design . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105 3.3.5 Experimental Results . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108 3.3.6 Discussions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111 Conclusions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112 Chapter : Highly-Linear Up-Conversion Mixer with Ultra-Low LO Feedthrough 114 4.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114 4.2 Proposed Up-Conversion Mixer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116 4.3 4.2.1 Topology Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116 4.2.2 Circuit Description . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118 Design Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119 4.3.1 Output Linearity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119 vi 4.3.2 LO Feedthrough . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121 4.3.3 Output Buffer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132 4.4 Design Implementation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133 4.5 Experimental Results . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134 4.6 Discussions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138 4.7 4.6.1 Performance Comparison . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138 4.6.2 Across-Wafer Spread . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140 Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141 Chapter : Conclusions and Recommendations 143 5.1 Parasitic Cancellation Technique for Colpitts Oscillators . . . . . . 143 5.2 Varactorless Frequency-Tuning Technique for Wideband LC VCOs 5.3 Highly-Linear Up-Conversion Mixer with Ultra-Low LO Feedthrough146 BIBLIOGRAPHY 145 148 vii Summary The current trend in wireless communication systems is towards higher operating frequencies with wider bandwidth. However, the higher operating frequencies lead to numerous design challenges in microwave and millimeter-wave ICs that are not present or not significant at lower frequencies. This thesis aims to propose and realize innovative circuit topologies and techniques in order to overcome design challenges in key building blocks of microwave and millimeter-wave front-end ICs. In order to overcome the start-up problem for microwave and millimeter-wave Colpitts oscillators, a parasitic cancellation technique is proposed. By cancelling the parasitic gate-drain or base-collector capacitance of the transistor using an inductor, the negative resistance, and hence, the maximum operating frequency of the microwave and millimeter-wave Colpitts oscillators are increased. The feasibility of the technique is first demonstrated in a discrete design as a proof of concept. Then, the MMIC proof of concept is shown using three Colpitts oscillator designs, one at X-band and two at Ka-band, in a 0.2-µm GaAs pHEMT technology with a fT of 60 GHz. An extended application of the parasitic cancellation technique is also introduced, which allows dual-band Colpitts VCO design using switched negative resistance shaping. In order to overcome the tuning limitations of conventional varactor-based VCOs, a new varactorless tuning technique suitable for microwave and millimeter-wave applications is proposed. The oscillation frequency is tuned using tunable negativeinductance (NI) and tunable negative-capacitance (NC) cells. Two wideband varactorless VCOs, implemented in a 0.35-µm SiGe BiCMOS process, are presented. A highly-linear up-conversion Gilbert mixer with ultra-low LOFT for Ka-band viii VSAT applications is also presented. An individual biasing technique has been proposed to reduce the LOFT due to device mismatch. In addition, a method is proposed to compensate the EM-related LOFT. NXP’s QUBIC4X 0.25-µm SiGe:C BiCMOS technology is used for the implementation. The proposed up-conversion mixer can be used as a mixer cell to form the fully integrated image-reject singlesideband (SSB) up-converter with single-conversion low-IF architecture. ix LIST OF TABLES 1.1 Technology requirements for RF/analog mixed-signal CMOS, bipolar, and on-chip passives. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.1 Component Values for Discrete Oscillator Design Verifications . . . 53 2.2 Measured Oscillator Performance Summary For Discrete Design Verification . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57 2.3 Performance Summary and Comparison of the Oscillators at X-Band 65 2.4 Performance Summary and Comparison of the Oscillators from KBand to Ka-Band . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66 2.5 Component Values of the Dual-Band Colpitts VCO . . . . . . . . . 73 2.6 Performance Summary of the Dual-Band Colpitts VCO . . . . . . . 77 3.1 Performance Comparison with both Varactorless and Varactor-Based Wideband LC VCOs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.2 97 Performance Summary of the Varactorless VCO with the Tunable NI and NC Cells . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109 4.1 Summary of LOFT Cancellations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127 4.2 Performance Summary and Comparison of the Up-Conversion Mixers in a Similar Frequency Range. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140 4.3 Probing Repeatability Test for LOFT. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140 x switching stage from the IF transconductance stage. Note that the proposed individual biasing technique is not suitable for zero-IF up-conversion due to the DC decoupling from IF to RF. In order to compensate the EM-related LOFT, an additional method is proposed by deliberately applying certain amplitude and phase imbalances to the differential LO input. The proposed up-conversion mixer is implemented in NXP’s QUBIC4X 0.25-µm SiGe:C BiCMOS technology. The mixer achieves a very high LOFT suppression of −61.5 dBc with the one-tone IMD3 spurs below −45.9 dBc relative to the desired output level. The measured OP1dB and two-tone OIP3 are −4 dBm and +9 dBm respectively. In order to make a fair performance comparison, LOFTnorm for −50 dBc IMD3 has been defined. The proposed up-conversion mixer achieves LOFTnorm of −54.6 dBc, which is better than previously published up-conversion mixers, and significantly advances the state-of-the-art performance. Future research could be extended in the directions proposed below. • As demonstrated, the output buffer with MOS input transistor shows good LOFT performance. Therefore, a more advanced process with a smaller MOS transistor feature size, such as 0.18-µm or 0.13-µm SiGe BiCMOS, could be used to provide a higher output buffer gain. • The proposed up-conversion mixer could be used as a mixer cell to form the complete low-spurs image-reject up-converter, which allows full SoC integration. 147 BIBLIOGRAPHY [1] G. Fettweis, “The Wireless Roadmap,” in IEEE Vehicular Technology Conference, Plenary Contribution, 2007. [2] International Technology Roadmap for Semiconductors, http://www.itrs.net. [3] B. Razavi, “Design of Millimeter-Wave CMOS Radios: A Tutorial,” IEEE Transactions on Circuits and Systems I: Regular Papers, vol. 56, pp. 4–16, Jan. 2009. [4] B. Razavi, “A 5.2-GHz CMOS receiver with 62-dB image rejection,” IEEE Journal of Solid-State Circuits, vol. 36, pp. 810–815, May 2001. [5] B. Razavi, “A Millimeter-Wave CMOS Heterodyne Receiver With On-Chip LO and Divider,” IEEE Journal of Solid-State Circuits, vol. 43, pp. 477–485, Feb. 2008. [6] J. del Alamo, “RF power suitability of logic CMOS,” in Proceedings of the IEEE RFIC Workshop on Silicon CMOS PA: From RF to mmWave, 2007. [7] M. Danesh, J. Long, R. Hadaway, and D. Harame, “A Q-factor enhancement technique for MMIC inductors,” in IEEE Radio Frequency Integrated Circuits (RFIC) Symposium, pp. 217–220, 1998. [8] J. Zeng, C. Wang, and A. Sangster, “Theoretical and Experimental Studies of Flip-Chip Assembled High-Q Suspended MEMS Inductors,” IEEE Transactions on Microwave Theory and Techniques, vol. 55, pp. 1171–1181, June 2007. 148 [9] S.-F. Chu, K. Chew, W. Loh, Y. Wang, B. Onn, Y. Ju, J. Zhang, and K. Shao, “High quality factor silicon-integrated spiral inductors achieved by using thick top metal with different passivation schemes,” in International Symposium on VLSI Technology, Systems, and Applications., pp. 154–157, 2001. [10] L. Nan, K. Mouthaan, Y.-Z. Xiong, J. Shi, S. Rustagi, and B.-L. Ooi, “Design of 60- and 77-GHz Narrow-Bandpass Filters in CMOS Technology,” IEEE Transactions on Circuits and Systems II: Express Briefs, vol. 55, pp. 738 –742, Aug. 2008. [11] T. H. Lee, The Design of CMOS Radio-Frequency Integrated Circuits. Cambridge Univ. Press, 2nd ed., 2004. [12] G. Cusmai, M. Repossi, G. Albasini, A. Mazzanti, and F. Svelto, “A Magnetically Tuned Quadrature Oscillator,” IEEE Journal of Solid-State Circuits, vol. 42, pp. 2870–2877, Dec. 2007. [13] K. Kwok and H. Luong, “Ultra-low-Voltage high-performance CMOS VCOs using transformer feedback,” IEEE Journal of Solid-State Circuits, vol. 40, pp. 652–660, March 2005. [14] K. C. Kwok and J. Long, “A 23-to-29 GHz Transconductor-Tuned VCO MMIC in 0.13 µm CMOS,” IEEE Journal of Solid-State Circuits, vol. 42, pp. 2878–2886, Dec. 2007. [15] M. Sanduleanu and E. Stikvoort, “Highly linear, varactor-less, 24GHz IQ oscillator,” in IEEE Radio Frequency integrated Circuits (RFIC) Symposium, Digest of Papers., pp. 577–580, 2005. 149 [16] P. Andreani, “A 1.8-GHz monolithic CMOS VCO tuned by an inductive varactor,” in IEEE International Symposium on Circuits and Systems (ISCAS), vol. 4, pp. 714–717 vol. 4, 2001. [17] D. Pi, B.-K. Chun, and P. Heydari, “A 2.5-3.2GHz CMOS differentiallycontrolled continuously-tuned varactor-less LC-VCO,” in IEEE Asian SolidState Circuits Conference (ASSCC)., pp. 111–114, 2007. [18] Y. Chen and K. Mouthaan, “Wideband Varactorless VCO Using a Tunable Negative-Inductance Cell,” IEEE Transactions on Circuits and Systems I: Regular Papers, vol. PP, no. 99, pp. 1–1, 2010. [19] Y. Chen, K. Mouthaan, and M. Geurts, “A Varactorless VCO with 15% Continuous Frequency Tuning Range and 0.2 dB Output Power Variation,” in IEEE European Microwave Integrated Circuits Conference (EuMIC), 2010. [20] M. Yanez and J. Cartledge, “Synthesis of Distributed Phase-Locked Oscillators,” IEEE Transactions on Circuits and Systems I: Regular Papers, vol. 56, pp. 1146–1159, June 2009. [21] K. Entesari, A. Tavakoli, and A. Helmy, “CMOS Distributed Amplifiers With Extended Flat Bandwidth and Improved Input Matching Using Gate Line With Coupled Inductors,” IEEE Transactions on Microwave Theory and Techniques, vol. 57, pp. 2862–2871, Dec. 2009. [22] Y.-S. Lee, M.-W. Lee, S.-H. Kam, and Y.-H. Jeong, “A New Wideband Distributed Doherty Amplifier for WCDMA Repeater Applications,” IEEE Microwave and Wireless Components Letters, vol. 19, pp. 668–670, Oct. 2009. [23] Y.-N. Jen, J.-H. Tsai, T.-W. Huang, and H. Wang, “Design and Analysis of a 55-71-GHz Compact and Broadband Distributed Active Transformer Power 150 Amplifier in 90-nm CMOS Process,” IEEE Transactions on Microwave Theory and Techniques, vol. 57, pp. 1637–1646, July 2009. [24] D. Guckenberger and K. Kornegay, “Design of a differential distributed amplifier and oscillator using close-packed interleaved transmission lines,” IEEE Journal of Solid-State Circuits, vol. 40, pp. 1997–2007, Oct. 2005. [25] B. Razavi, RF Microelectronics. Prentice Hall PTR Upper Saddle River, NJ, 1998. [26] R. Ludwig and P. Bretchko, RF Circuit Design: Theory and Applications. Pearson Education, Inc., 2000. [27] D. Leeson, “A simple model of feedback oscillator noise spectrum,” Proceedings of the IEEE, vol. 54, no. 2, pp. 329–330, 1966. [28] D. Leenaerts, J. Van Der Tang, and C. Vaucher, Circuit Design for RF Transceivers. Springer Netherlands, 2001. [29] J. Steinkamp, F. Henkel, P. Waldow, O. Pettersson, C. Hedenas, and B. Medin, “A Colpitts Oscillator Design for a GSM Base Station Synthesizer,” in IEEE Radio Frequency Integrated Circuits (RFIC) Symposium, pp. 405–408, 2007. [30] Q. Huang, “Phase noise to carrier ratio in LC oscillators,” IEEE Transactions on Circuits and Systems I: Fundamental Theory and Applications, vol. 47, pp. 965–980, Jul 2000. [31] K. Mayaram, “Output voltage analysis for the MOS Colpitts oscillator,” IEEE Transactions on Circuits and Systems I: Fundamental Theory and Applications, vol. 47, pp. 260–263, Feb 2000. 151 [32] M. Kazimierczuk, V. Krizhanovski, J. Rassokhina, and D. Chernov, “Class-E MOSFET tuned power oscillator design procedure,” IEEE Transactions on Circuits and Systems I: Regular Papers, vol. 52, pp. 1138–1147, June 2005. [33] P. Maffezzoni, “A Versatile Time-Domain Approach to Simulate Oscillators in RF Circuits,” IEEE Transactions on Circuits and Systems I: Regular Papers, vol. 56, pp. 594–603, March 2009. [34] A. Radwan, A. Elwakil, and A. Soliman, “Fractional-Order Sinusoidal Oscillators: Design Procedure and Practical Examples,” IEEE Transactions on Circuits and Systems I: Regular Papers, vol. 55, pp. 2051–2063, Aug. 2008. [35] D. Yates and A. Holmes, “Preferred Transmission Frequency for SizeConstrained Ultralow-Power Short-Range CMOS Oscillator Transmitters,” IEEE Transactions on Circuits and Systems I: Regular Papers, vol. 56, pp. 1173–1181, June 2009. [36] F. Plessas, A. Papalambrou, and G. Kalivas, “A 5-GHz Subharmonic Injection-Locked Oscillator and Self-Oscillating Mixer,” IEEE Transactions on Circuits and Systems II: Express Briefs, vol. 55, pp. 633–637, July 2008. [37] S. Nicolson, K. Yau, P. Chevalier, A. Chantre, B. Sautreuil, K. Tang, and S. Voinigescu, “Design and Scaling of W-Band SiGe BiCMOS VCOs,” IEEE Journal of Solid-State Circuits, vol. 42, pp. 1821–1833, Sept. 2007. [38] K. W. Tang, S. Leung, N. Tieu, P. Schvan, and S. P. Voinigescu, “Frequency Scaling and Topology Comparison of Millimeter-wave CMOS VCOs,” in IEEE Compound Semiconductor Integrated Circuit Symposium (CSIC), pp. 55–58, Nov. 2006. [39] Y.-J. E. Chen, W.-M. L. Kuo, Z. Jin, J. Lee, Y. Tretiakov, J. Cressler, J. Laskar, and G. Freeman, “A low-power ka-band Voltage-controlled oscil152 lator implemented in 200-GHz SiGe HBT technology,” IEEE Transactions on Microwave Theory and Techniques, vol. 53, pp. 1672–1681, May 2005. [40] B. Heydari, M. Bohsali, E. Adabi, and A. Niknejad, “Millimeter-Wave Devices and Circuit Blocks up to 104 GHz in 90 nm CMOS,” IEEE Journal of Solid-State Circuits, vol. 42, pp. 2893–2903, Dec. 2007. [41] W. Perndl, H. Knapp, K. Aufinger, T. Meister, W. Simburger, and A. Scholtz, “Voltage-controlled oscillators up to 98 GHz in SiGe bipolar technology,” IEEE Journal of Solid-State Circuits, vol. 39, pp. 1773–1777, Oct. 2004. [42] C. Lee, L.-C. Cho, J.-H. Wu, and S.-I. Liu, “A 50.8−53-GHz Clock Generator Using a Harmonic-Locked PD in 0.13-µm CMOS,” IEEE Transactions on Circuits and Systems II: Express Briefs, vol. 55, pp. 404–408, May 2008. [43] J. Rogers and C. Plett, Radio Frequency Integrated Circuit Design. Artech House Publishers, 2003. [44] N. Nomura, Y. Aoyagi, C. kai Chang, K. Asano, and Y. Sekine, “A ColpittsType Crystal Oscillator for Gigahertz Frequency,” in IEEE International Frequency Control Symposium and Exposition, pp. 233–236, June 2006. [45] B. Razavi, Design of Analog CMOS Integrated Circuits. McGraw-Hill, Inc. New York, NY, USA, 2000. [46] G. Palumbo, M. Pennisi, and S. Pennisi, “Miller Theorem for Weakly Nonlinear Feedback Circuits and Application to CE Amplifier,” IEEE Transactions on Circuits and Systems II: Express Briefs, vol. 55, pp. 991–995, Oct. 2008. [47] H. Krauss, C. Bostian, and F. Raab, Solid State Radio Engineering. Wiley New York, 1980. 153 [48] J. Davidse, Analog Electronic Circuit Design. Prentice Hall, 1991. [49] A. T. Phan, J. Lee, V. Krizhanovskii, Q. Le, S.-K. Han, and S.-G. Lee, “Energy-Efficient Low-Complexity CMOS Pulse Generator for Multiband UWB Impulse Radio,” IEEE Transactions on Circuits and Systems I: Regular Papers, vol. 55, pp. 3552–3563, Dec. 2008. [50] http://www.ommic.com. [51] U. Rohde, A. Poddar, and G. Bock, The Design of Modern Microwave Oscillators for Wireless Applications: Theory and Optimization. WileyInterscience, 2005. [52] A. Fard and P. Andreani, “An Analysis of 1/f2 Phase Noise in Bipolar Colpitts Oscillators (With a Digression on Bipolar Differential-Pair LC Oscillators),” IEEE Journal of Solid-State Circuits, vol. 42, pp. 374–384, Feb. 2007. [53] U. Karthaus, “A Differential Two-Pin Crystal Oscillator−Concept, Analysis, and Implementation,” IEEE Transactions on Circuits and Systems II: Express Briefs, vol. 53, pp. 1073–1077, Oct. 2006. [54] A. Hajimiri and T. Lee, “Design issues in CMOS differential LC oscillators,” IEEE Journal of Solid-State Circuits, vol. 34, pp. 717–724, May 1999. [55] E. Hegazi, H. Sjoland, and A. Abidi, “A filtering technique to lower LC oscillator phase noise,” IEEE Journal of Solid-State Circuits, vol. 36, pp. 1921– 1930, Dec 2001. [56] D. Baek, T. Song, E. Yoon, and S. Hong, “8-GHz CMOS quadrature VCO using transformer-based LC tank,” IEEE Microwave and Wireless Components Letters, vol. 13, pp. 446–448, Oct. 2003. 154 [57] S. Ko, H. D. Lee, D.-W. Kang, and S. Hong, “An X-band CMOS quadrature balanced VCO,” in IEEE MTT-S International Microwave Symposium Digest, 2004. [58] J.-H. C. Zhan, J. Duster, and K. Kornegay, “A 25-GHz emitter degenerated LC VCO,” IEEE Journal of Solid-State Circuits, vol. 39, pp. 2062–2064, Nov. 2004. [59] B. Piernas, K. Nishikawa, T. Nakagawa, and K. Araki, “A compact and low-phase-noise Ka-band pHEMT-based VCO,” IEEE Transactions on Microwave Theory and Techniques, vol. 51, pp. 778–783, Mar. 2003. [60] J.-H. Zhan, J. Duster, and K. Kornegay, “A high fOSC /fT ratio VCO in SiGe BiCMOS technology,” IEEE Microwave and Wireless Components Letters, vol. 15, pp. 156–158, March 2005. [61] Z. Li and K. O, “A low-phase-noise and low-power multiband CMOS voltage-controlled oscillator,” IEEE Journal of Solid-State Circuits, vol. 40, pp. 1296–1302, June 2005. [62] Z. Safarian and H. Hashemi, “Wideband Multi-Mode CMOS VCO Design Using Coupled Inductors,” IEEE Transactions on Circuits and Systems I: Regular Papers, vol. 56, pp. 1830–1843, Aug. 2009. [63] N. Tchamov, S. Broussev, I. Uzunov, and K. Rantala, “Dual-Band LC VCO Architecture With a Fourth-Order Resonator,” IEEE Transactions on Circuits and Systems II: Express Briefs, vol. 54, pp. 277–281, March 2007. [64] A. Bevilacqua, F. Pavan, C. Sandner, A. Gerosa, and A. Neviani, “Transformer-Based Dual-Mode Voltage-Controlled Oscillators,” IEEE Transactions on Circuits and Systems II: Express Briefs, vol. 54, pp. 293– 297, April 2007. 155 [65] K. Hosoya, S. Tanaka, Y. Amamiya, T. Niwa, H. Shimawaki, and K. Honjo, “RF HBT oscillators with low-phase noise and high-power performance utilizing a (λ/4 ± δ) open-stubs resonator,” IEEE Transactions on Circuits and Systems I: Regular Papers, vol. 53, pp. 1670–1682, Aug. 2006. [66] V. Kaper, V. Tilak, H. Kim, A. Vertiatchikh, R. Thompson, T. Prunty, L. Eastman, and J. Shealy, “High-power monolithic AlGaN/GaN HEMT oscillator,” IEEE Journal of Solid-State Circuits, vol. 38, pp. 1457–1461, Sept. 2003. [67] J. Steinkamp, F. Henkel, U. Stehr, C. Eube, P. Waldow, H. Uda, H. Hayashi, R. Kimura, and K. Mizuno, “A 5.84 GHz tunable SAW oscillator with frequency doubler for a DSRC system,” in IEEE Radio Frequency Integrated Circuits (RFIC) Symposium, pp. 483–486, 2003. [68] C. Cao and K. O, “Millimeter-wave voltage-controlled oscillators in 0.13-µm CMOS technology,” IEEE Journal of Solid-State Circuits, vol. 41, pp. 1297– 1304, June 2006. [69] J. Kim, J. Shin, S. Kim, and H. Shin, “A Wide-Band CMOS LC VCO With Linearized Coarse Tuning Characteristics,” IEEE Transactions on Circuits and Systems II: Express Briefs, vol. 55, pp. 399–403, May 2008. [70] Y. Zhang, Q. Li, W. Fan, C. H. Ang, and H. Li, “A Differential CMOS T/R Switch for Multistandard Applications,” IEEE Transactions on Circuits and Systems II: Express Briefs, vol. 53, pp. 782–786, Aug. 2006. [71] Y. Zhang, J. Wang, Q. Li, and X. Li, “Antenna-in-Package and Transmit−Receive Switch for Single-Chip Radio Transceivers of Differential Architecture,” IEEE Transactions on Circuits and Systems I: Regular Papers, vol. 55, pp. 3564–3570, Dec. 2008. 156 [72] A. Goel and H. Hashemi, “Frequency Switching in Dual-Resonance Oscillators,” IEEE Journal of Solid-State Circuits, vol. 42, pp. 571–582, March 2007. [73] J. Borremans, A. Bevilacqua, S. Bronckers, M. Dehan, M. Kuijk, P. Wambacq, and J. Craninckx, “A Compact Wideband Front-End Using a Single-Inductor Dual-Band VCO in 90 nm Digital CMOS,” IEEE Journal of Solid-State Circuits, vol. 43, pp. 2693–2705, Dec. 2008. [74] Z. Safarian and H. Hashemi, “A 1.3−6 GHz triple-mode CMOS VCO using coupled inductors,” in IEEE Custom Integrated Circuits Conference (CICC), pp. 69–72, 2008. [75] L.-H. Lu, H.-H. Hsieh, and Y.-T. Liao, “A Wide Tuning-Range CMOS VCO With a Differential Tunable Active Inductor,” IEEE Transactions on Microwave Theory and Techniques, vol. 54, pp. 3462–3468, Sept. 2006. [76] D. Hauspie, E.-C. Park, and J. Craninckx, “Wideband VCO With Simultaneous Switching of Frequency Band, Active Core, and Varactor Size,” IEEE Journal of Solid-State Circuits, vol. 42, pp. 1472–1480, July 2007. [77] G. Cusmai, M. Repossi, G. Albasini, and F. Svelto, “A 3.2-to-7.3GHz Quadrature Oscillator with Magnetic Tuning,” in IEEE International SolidState Circuits Conference (ISSCC), Digest of Technical Papers, 2007. [78] J.-H. Zhan, K. Maurice, J. Duster, and K. Kornegay, “Analysis and design of negative impedance LC oscillators using bipolar transistors,” IEEE Transactions on Circuits and Systems I: Fundamental Theory and Applications, vol. 50, pp. 1461–1464, Nov. 2003. [79] J. Chen, E. Sanchez-Sinencio, and J. Silva-Martinez, “Frequency-dependent harmonic-distortion analysis of a linearized cross-coupled CMOS OTA and its 157 application to OTA-C filters,” IEEE Transactions on Circuits and Systems I: Regular Papers, vol. 53, pp. 499–510, March 2006. [80] A. Tasic, W. Serdijn, and J. Long, “Resonant-Inductive Degeneration for Manifold Improvement of Phase Noise in Bipolar LC-Oscillators,” IEEE Transactions on Circuits and Systems I: Regular Papers, vol. 57, pp. 1175– 1186, June 2010. [81] G. De Astis, D. Cordeau, J.-M. Paillot, and L. Dascalescu, “A 5-GHz fully integrated full PMOS low-phase-noise LC VCO,” IEEE Journal of SolidState Circuits, vol. 40, pp. 2087–2091, Oct. 2005. [82] T. T. Ta, S. Kameda, T. Takagi, and K. Tsubouchi, “A 5GHz band low noise and wide tuning range Si-CMOS VCO,” in IEEE Radio Frequency Integrated Circuits (RFIC) Symposium, pp. 571–574, 2009. [83] B. Soltanian, H. Ainspan, W. Rhee, D. Friedman, and P. Kinget, “An Ultra-Compact Differentially Tuned 6-GHz CMOS LC-VCO With Dynamic Common-Mode Feedback,” IEEE Journal of Solid-State Circuits, vol. 42, pp. 1635–1641, Aug. 2007. [84] Y. Wachi, T. Nagasaku, and H. Kondoh, “A 28GHz Low-Phase-Noise CMOS VCO Using an Amplitude-Redistribution Technique,” in IEEE International Solid-State Circuits Conference (ISSCC), Digest of Technical Papers, 2008. [85] F. Bahmani and E. Sanchez-Sinencio, “A Stable Loss Control Feedback Loop for VCO Amplitude Tuning,” IEEE Transactions on Circuits and Systems I: Regular Papers, vol. 53, pp. 2498–2506, Dec. 2006. [86] V.-H. Do, V. Subramanian, W. Keusgen, and G. Boeck, “A 60 GHz Monolithic Upconversion Mixer in SiGe HBT Technology,” in Proc. IEEE In- 158 ternational Workshop on Radio-Frequency Integration Technology (RFIT), pp. 112–115, Dec. 2007. [87] J. Comeau and J. Cressler, “A 28-GHz SiGe up-conversion mixer using a series-connected triplet for higher dynamic range and improved IF port return loss,” IEEE J. Solid-State Circuits, vol. 41, pp. 560–565, Mar. 2006. [88] S. Kim and L. Larson, “A 44-GHz SiGe BiCMOS Phase-Shifting SubHarmonic Up-Converter for Phased-Array Transmitters,” IEEE Trans. Microw. Theory Tech., vol. 58, pp. 1089–1099, May 2010. [89] J. Crols and M. Steyaert, “A single-chip 900 MHz CMOS receiver front-end with a high performance low-IF topology,” IEEE J. Solid-State Circuits, vol. 30, pp. 1483–1492, Dec. 1995. [90] J. Craninckx, B. Debaillie, B. Come, and S. Donnay, “A WLAN direct upconversion mixer with automatic image rejection calibration,” in IEEE International Solid-State Circuits Conference (ISSCC), pp. 546–616, 2005. [91] E. Convert, P. Beasly, S. Mahon, A. Dadello, and J. Harvey, “Design of broadband, highly integrated, 20-30 GHz and 35-45 GHz MMIC upconverters,” in Proc. IEEE European Gallium Arsenide and Other Semiconductor Application Symposium (EGAAS), pp. 573–576, Oct. 2005. [92] T. Hirota and M. Muraguchi, “K-band frequency up-converters using reduced-size couplers and dividers,” in Proc. IEEE Gallium Arsenide Integrated Circuit (GaAs IC) Symposium, pp. 53–56, Oct. 1991. [93] S.-C. Tseng, C. Meng, and Y.-T. Lee, “Dual-Band Adjustable and Reactive I/Q Generator With Constant Resistance for Down- and Up-Converters,” IEEE Trans. Microw. Theory Tech., vol. 56, pp. 1861–1868, Aug. 2008. 159 [94] K. Hettak, G. Morin, and M. Stubbs, “A novel miniature multilayer MMIC CPW single side band CPW mixer for up conversion at 44.5 GHz,” IEEE Microw. Wireless Compon. Lett., vol. 15, pp. 606–608, Sep. 2005. [95] K. Kawakami, M. Shimozawa, H. Ikematsu, K. Itoh, Y. Isota, and O. Ishida, “A millimeter-wave broadband monolithic even harmonic image rejection mixer,” in Proc. IEEE MTT-S International Microwave Symposium Digest, vol. 3, pp. 1443–1446, Jun. 1998. [96] H. Fujishiro, Y. Ogawa, T. Hamada, and T. Kimura, “SSB MMIC mixer with subharmonic LO and CPW circuits for 38 GHz band applications,” Electronics Letters, vol. 37, pp. 435 –436, Mar. 2001. [97] J.-H. Tsai and T.-W. Huang, “35−65-GHz CMOS Broadband Modulator and Demodulator With Sub-Harmonic Pumping for MMW Wireless Gigabit Applications,” IEEE Trans. Microw. Theory Tech., vol. 55, pp. 2075–2085, Oct. 2007. [98] H.-Y. Chang, T.-W. Huang, H. Wang, Y.-C. Wang, P.-C. Chao, and C.-H. Chen, “Broad-band HBT BPSK and IQ modulator MMICs and millimeterwave vector signal characterization,” IEEE Trans. Microw. Theory Tech., vol. 52, pp. 908–919, Mar. 2004. [99] H.-Y. Chang, P.-S. Wu, T.-W. Huang, H. Wang, C.-L. Chang, and J. Chern, “Design and analysis of CMOS broad-band compact high-linearity modulators for gigabit microwave/millimeter-wave applications,” IEEE Trans. Microw. Theory Tech., vol. 54, pp. 20–30, Jan. 2006. [100] G. Carchon, D.-P. Schreurs, W. de Raedt, P. Van Loock, and B. Nauwelaers, “A direct Ku-band linear subharmonically pumped BPSK and I/Q vector 160 modulator in multilayer thin-film MCM-D,” IEEE Trans. Microw. Theory Tech., vol. 49, pp. 1374–1382, Aug. 2001. [101] T. Tsukahara and J. Yamada, “3 to GHz quadrature modulator and demodulator using a wideband frequency-doubling phase shifter,” in IEEE International Solid-State Circuits Conference (ISSCC), pp. 384–385, 2000. [102] A. Mirzaei, H. Darabi, J. C. Leete, and Y. Chang, “Analysis and Optimization of Direct-Conversion Receivers With 25% Duty-Cycle Current-Driven Passive Mixers,” IEEE Trans. Circuits Syst. I: Regular Papers, vol. 57, pp. 2353–2366, Sep. 2010. [103] F. Behbahani, A. Fotowat, S. Navid, R. Gaethke, and M. Delurio, “A low distortion bipolar mixer for low voltage direct up-conversion and high IF systems,” IEEE J. Solid-State Circuits, vol. 32, pp. 1446–1450, Sep. 1997. [104] G. Grau, U. Langmann, W. Winkler, D. Knoll, J. Osten, and K. Pressel, “A current-folded up-conversion mixer and VCO with center-tapped inductor in a SiGe-HBT technology for 5-GHz wireless LAN applications,” IEEE J. Solid-State Circuits, vol. 35, pp. 1345–1352, Sep. 2000. [105] A. Italia, E. Ragonese, L. La Paglia, and G. Palmisano, “A 5-GHz high-linear SiGe HBT up-converter with on-chip output balun,” in Proc. IEEE Radio Frequency Integrated Circuits (RFIC) Symposium, pp. 543–546, Jun. 2004. [106] J.-S. Syu and C. Meng, “2.4/5.7 GHz Dual-Band High Linearity Gilbert Upconverter Utilizing Bias-Offset TCA and LC Current Combiner,” IEEE Microw. Wireless Compon. Lett., vol. 17, pp. 876 –878, Dec. 2007. [107] P.-S. Wu, C.-H. Wang, C.-S. Lin, K.-Y. Lin, and H. Wang, “A Compact 60 GHz Integrated Up-Converter Using Miniature Transformer Couplers With 161 dB Conversion Gain,” IEEE Microw. Wireless Compon. Lett., vol. 18, pp. 641–643, Sep. 2008. [108] F. Zhang, E. Skafidas, and W. Shieh, “60 GHz double-balanced up-conversion mixer on 130 nm CMOS technology,” Electronics Letters, vol. 44, pp. 633– 634, May. 2008. [109] A. Verma, K. O, and J. Lin, “A low-power up-conversion CMOS mixer for 22−29-GHz ultra-wideband applications,” IEEE Trans. Microw. Theory Tech., vol. 54, pp. 3295–3300, Aug. 2006. [110] I. Lai, Y. Kambayashi, and M. Fujishima, “50GHz Double-Balanced UpConversion Mixer Using CMOS 90nm Process,” in Proc. IEEE International Symposium on Circuits and Systems (ISCAS), May 2007. [111] T.-H. Wu, C. Meng, T.-H. Wu, and G.-W. Huang, “A fully integrated 5.2 GHz SiGe HBT upconversion micromixer using: lumped balun and LC current combiner,” in Proc. IEEE MTT-S International Microwave Symposium Digest, Jun. 2005. [112] M. Borremans and S. Steyaert, “A 2-V, low distortion, 1-GHz CMOS upconversion mixer,” IEEE J. Solid-State Circuits, vol. 33, pp. 359–366, Mar. 1998. [113] P. Kinget and M. Steyaert, “A 1-GHz CMOS up-conversion mixer,” IEEE J. Solid-State Circuits, vol. 32, pp. 370–376, Mar. 1997. [114] T. Umeda, S. Otaka, K. Kojima, and T. Itakura, “A 1V 2GHz CMOS up-converter using self-switching mixers,” in IEEE International Solid-State Circuits Conference (ISSCC), pp. 402–476, 2002. 162 [...]... communications at X-band and Ka-band, automotive radar at 24 GHz and 77 GHz and unlicensed short range wireless communication at 60 GHz Fig 1.2 illustrates the frequency spectrum allocation for various wireless applications 1.2 Design Challenges in Microwave and Millimeter- Wave ICs The higher operating frequencies of wireless applications lead to a lot of design challenges in microwave and millimeter- wave ICs... 55 2.22 Measured single-sideband phase noise for the three discrete oscillators 56 2.23 Simulated input resistance Rin and reactance Xin versus frequency: (a) X-band design, (b) Ka-band design, (c) Ka-band (flexible) design 59 2.24 Micrographs of the fabricated MMIC Colpitts oscillators: (a) Xband design, (b) Ka-band design, (c) Ka-band (flexible) design 61 2.25 Measured output spectrum... limitations, many microwave and millimeter- wave ICs can only be designed with an fT that is 2∼5 times greater than the system operating frequency, which poses much bigger design challenges Over the past several decades, III-V technologies, such as GaAs or InP, have traditionally dominated the microwave and millimeter- wave spectrum, due to their low loss semi-insulated substrates and high fT Today,... performance of microwave and millimeter- wave IC designs Furthermore, in spite of intensive research carried out to improve the quality factor (Q-factor) of the passive components in silicon technologies [7]–[10], the Q-factors at microwave and millimeter- wave are still lower than those in III-V Therefore, in the microwave and millimeter- wave ICs market today, III-V technology targets the low-volume highperformance... microwave and millimeter- wave suffer from serious trade-offs in operating frequency, power consumption and frequency bandwidth, which makes the design of frequency dividers challenging In general, the selection of a proper system architecture requires knowledge of the overall system specification and clear understanding of both system-level and circuit-level trade-offs 1.3 1.3.1 Overview of Building Blocks Low... bipolar, and on-chip passives [2] As shown, continuous improvements in technology are required 1.2.2 Circuit Topologies The challenges of circuit topologies are strongly influenced by the constraints of technologies, such as limited fT , low Q-factors of the passives, and large parasitics of devices Generally, conventional topologies at lower frequencies don’t work well at microwave and millimeter- wave. .. the years 2005 and 2007 The gap between Si/SiGe and III-V technologies is getting narrower On the other hand, in Si/SiGe technologies, the power handling capabilities do not improve with scaling [6] In addition, because the passive components as well as interconnects don’t scale with the transistors, their parasitics severely limit the performance of microwave and millimeter- wave IC designs Furthermore,... 138 4.17 Illustration of the relationship between LOFT suppression and output linearity 138 4.18 Comparison of the LOFTnorm of the proposed up-conversion mixer with other previously published up-conversion mixers 139 4.19 Measured across-wafer spread of LOFT with LO phase imbalance of −15o 141 xviii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS fT transistor... scaling of transistor’s feature size towards submicrometer, the fT for Si and SiGe technologies has increased to beyond 100 GHz The enhancement of fT makes these technologies feasible for many microwave and millimeter- wave applications that were once exclusively realized in III-V technologies The key advantage of using Si/SiGe technologies is their higher integration capabilities with the digital baseband... for LNA design However, the major drawback of the inductive source degeneration topology is the narrow-band characteristics 1.3.2 Power Amplifier (PA) The last stage of a typical transmitter is a power amplifier, which has quite different design principles and considerations as compared to the LNA design In PA design, noise is no longer a concern, and the gain is usually lower than that in the LNA design . INNOVATIVE DESIGN AND REALIZATION OF MICROWAVE AND MILLIMETER- WAVE INTEGRATED CIRCUITS CHEN YING (B.Eng., Nanyang Technological University, Singapore) A THESIS SUBMITTED FOR THE DEGREE OF. thesis aims to propose and realize innovative circuit topologies and techniques in order to overcome design challenges in key building blocks of microwave and millimeter- wave front-end ICs. In. resistance, and hence, the maximum operating frequency of t he microwave and millimeter- wave Colpitts oscillators are increased. The feasibility of the technique is first demonstrated in a discrete design