The objective of this research is to optimize silicon-germanium (SiGe) heterojunction bipolar transistor (HBT) BiCMOS analog circuit building blocks for operation in extreme environments utilizing design techniques. First, negative feedback effects on single-event transient (SET) in SiGe HBT analog circuits were investigated. In order to study the role of internal and external negative feedback effects on SET in circuits, two different types of current mirrors (a basic common-emitter current mirror and a Wilson current mirror) were fabricated using a SiGe HBT BiCMOS technology and exposed to laser-induced single events. The SET measurements were performed at the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory using a two-photon absorption (TPA) pulsed laser. The measured data showed that negative feedback improved SET response in the analog circuits; the highest peak output transient current was reduced by more than 50%, and the settling time of the output current upon a TPA laser strike was shortened with negative feedback. This proven negative feedback radiation hardening technique was applied later in the high-speed 5-bit flash analog-to-digital converter (ADC) for receiver chains of radar systems to improve SET response of the system.

Ce travail porte sur la conception d'un amplificateur de puissance à 79 GHz et la co-intégration de l'amplificateur de puissance et l'antenne en technologie silicium SiGe. L'objectif de la thèse est de développer un module radiofréquence à l'émission pour des applications radar à 79 GHz. Ce module sera composé d'un amplificateur de puissance, d'une antenne et du circuit d'adaptation PA/Antenne. L'inter-étage entre le PA et l'antenne est une source supplémentaire d'atténuation du signal, d'autant plus rédhibitoire en technologie intégrée pour des fréquences aussi élevées. En réalisant une conception commune, ou codesign, de l'antenne et de l'amplificateur de puissance (PA), nous pouvons, à terme, nous affranchir du traditionnel inter-étage d'adaptation d'impédance entre ces deux blocs. Plus précisément, il convient de dimensionner l'antenne afin qu'elle présente a la sortie du PA l'impédance optimale que requiert son rendement en puissance maximum.

Les systèmes de communication sans fil en fréquences millimétriques ont gagné considérablement en importance au cours des dernières années. Des applications comme les réseaux WLAN et WPAN à 60 GHz, le radar automobile autour de 80 GHz ou l'imagerie à 94 GHz sont apparues, demandant un effort conséquent pour la conception des circuits intégrés émetteurs et récepteurs sur silicium. Dans ce contexte, les transformateurs intégrés sont particulièrement intéressants. Ils peuvent réaliser des fonctions comme l'adaptation d'impédance, la conversion du mode asymétrique au différentiel et la combinaison de puissance. La conception et la modélisation de ce type de transformateur font le sujet de cette thèse. Une étude détaillée des topologies de transformateurs est présentée, concernant le dessin des inductances, leur position relative, leurs dimensions géométriques, le blindage du substrat et l'obtention de rapports importants de transformation. Leur modélisation par des simulations électromagnétiques et par un circuit électrique à éléments discrets est également discutée. Le modèle présente une topologie 2-π et une série d'équations analytiques dépendant de ses caractéristiques technologiques et géométriques pour évaluer tous ses composants. Un très bon accord entre les simulations et les mesures est observé pour des transformateurs en technologies CMOS 65 nm et BiCMOS 130 nm jusqu'à 110 GHz. Finalement, les transformateurs sont appliqués à la conception d'un mélangeur BiCMOS à 77 GHz et un amplificateur de puissance CMOS à 60 GHz.

In this thesis, three different types of low-noise amplifiers (LNA’s) have been designed using a 0.25 mm SiGe BiCMOS process. Firstly, a single-stage amplifier has been designed with 11 dB gain and 3.7 dB noise figure at 8 GHz. Secondly, a cascode two-stage LNA with 16 dB gain and 3.8 dB noise figure at 8 GHz is also described. Finally, a cascade two-stage LNA with a wide-band RF performance (a gain larger than unity between 2-17 GHz and a noise figure below 5 dB between 1.7 GHz and 12 GHz) is presented. These SiGe BiCMOS LNA’s could for example be used in the microwave receivers modules of advanced phased array antennas, potentially making those more cost- effective and also more compact in size in the future. All LNA designs presented in this report have been implemented with circuit layouts and validated through simulations using Cadence RF Spectre.

<p>In this thesis, three different types of low-noise amplifiers (LNA’s) have been designed using a 0.25 mm SiGe BiCMOS process. Firstly, a single-stage amplifier has been designed with 11 dB gain and 3.7 dB noise figure at 8 GHz. Secondly, a cascode two-stage LNA with 16 dB gain and 3.8 dB noise figure at 8 GHz is also described. Finally, a cascade two-stage LNA with a wide-band RF performance (a gain larger than unity between 2-17 GHz and a noise figure below 5 dB between 1.7 GHz and 12 GHz) is presented. </p><p>These SiGe BiCMOS LNA’s could for example be used in the microwave receivers modules of advanced phased array antennas, potentially making those more cost- effective and also more compact in size in the future. </p><p>All LNA designs presented in this report have been implemented with circuit layouts and validated through simulations using Cadence RF Spectre.</p>

Zugl.: Berlin, Techn. Univ., Diss., 2007 / Hergestellt on demand

Next generation communication systems are reaching 110Gbps rates. At these frequencies, the skin effect and dielectric loss of copper cables cause inter-symbol interference (ISI) and frequency dependent loss, severely limiting the channel bandwidth. In this thesis, different methods for alleviating ISI are explored. The design of the critical blocks of an adaptive channel equalizer with up to two times oversampling are presented. The circuits were fabricated in a 0.13μm SiGe BiCMOS technology. The linear, adaptive equalizer operates up to 70Gbps and its measured S-parameters exhibit a single-ended peak gain of 12.2dB at 52GHz, allowing for 31dB of peaking between DC and 52GHz. Equalization is demonstrated experimentally at 59Gbps for a cable loss of 17.9dB. These results make it the fastest receive equalizer published to date. A retiming flip-flop operating between 72 and 118 GHz, the highest reported in silicon, is also designed and characterized, showing less than 500-fs jitter.

Next generation communication systems are reaching 110Gbps rates. At these frequencies, the skin effect and dielectric loss of copper cables cause inter-symbol interference (ISI) and frequency dependent loss, severely limiting the channel bandwidth. In this thesis, different methods for alleviating ISI are explored. The design of the critical blocks of an adaptive channel equalizer with up to two times oversampling are presented. The circuits were fabricated in a 0.13μm SiGe BiCMOS technology. The linear, adaptive equalizer operates up to 70Gbps and its measured S-parameters exhibit a single-ended peak gain of 12.2dB at 52GHz, allowing for 31dB of peaking between DC and 52GHz. Equalization is demonstrated experimentally at 59Gbps for a cable loss of 17.9dB. These results make it the fastest receive equalizer published to date. A retiming flip-flop operating between 72 and 118 GHz, the highest reported in silicon, is also designed and characterized, showing less than 500-fs jitter.

This thesis focuses on the design and analysis of a novel variable inductor (VID) based VCO solution to the frequency tuning range (TR) limitation of the IEEE 802.11ad compliant radio systems. The IEEE 802.11ad standard has drawn strong attention from the industry as the next generation affordable multi-gigabit speed wireless communication standard. Prepared for the global market, IEEE 802.11ad compliant systems are required to cover a broad 8 GHz TR centered on 60 GHz. This wide TR at V band imposes significant challenge to the VCO design in radio transceivers, and makes the TR of the integrated VCO a major bottleneck to the successful commercialization of many IEEE 802.11ad compliant radio systems today. As an effort to solve the current TR problem for the IEEE 802.11ad compliant radio systems, 2 VCOs designs based on this novel VID-based solution and a conventional Colpitts-Clapp VCO design are presented in this thesis report. The novel VCOs integrate a VID into the differential Colpitts configuration to create a feasible solution to the aforementioned TR problem. The VID in the VCO tank eliminates the base node varactors and their fixed parasitic capacitance that degrades TR in conventional VCO designs, while the differential Colpitts configuration provides advantageous performance at mm-wave frequencies and high output power for real-world applications. Also, a fundamental 30 GHz Colpitts-Clapp VCO was developed in conjunction with the other 2 VCOs for comparison purposes. One of the 2 VID-based VCO designs is a fundamental 30 GHz VID-based Colpitts VCO that covers 17% TR for proof of concept to the novel topology. Another is an IEEE 802.11ad compliant 60 GHz VCO chain consists of the 30 GHz VID-based Colpitts VCO and a frequency doubler covering 17% TR with 3 dBm output power and -115.7 dBc/Hz phase noise at 10 MHz offset. The conventional Colpitts-Clapp VCO is used to compare with the other 2 VID-based VCOs. As the measurement results indicate, this VID-based VCO topology provides a viable solution to overcome the TR bottleneck in the current IEEE 802.11ad compliant VCO development. All 3 VCOs are fabricated using a 130 nm SiGe BiCMOS process. / Thesis (Master, Electrical & Computer Engineering) -- Queen's University, 2014-01-23 13:40:31.258

Millimetre-wave technology is used for applications such as telecommunications and imaging. For both applications, the bandwidth of existing systems has to be increased to support higher data rates and finer imaging resolutions. Millimetrewave circuits with very large bandwidths are developed in this thesis. The focus is put on amplifiers and the on-chip integration of the amplifiers with antennas. Circuit prototypes, fabricated in a commercially available 130nm Silicon-Germanium (SiGe) Bipolar Complementary Metal-Oxide-Semiconductor (BiCMOS) process, validated the developed techniques. Cutting-edge performances have been achieved in the field of distributed and resonant-matched amplifiers, as well as in that of the antenna-amplifier co-integration. Examples are as follows: - A novel cascode gain-cell with three transistors was conceived. By means of transconductance peaking towards high frequencies, the losses of the synthetic line can be compensated up to higher frequencies. The properties were analytically derived and explained. Experimental demonstration validated the technique by a Traveling-Wave Amplifier (TWA) able to produce 10 dB of gain over a frequency band of 170GHz.# - Two Cascaded Single-Stage Distributed Amplifiers (CSSDAs) have been demonstrated. The first CSSDA, optimized for low power consumption, requires less than 20mW to provide 10 dB of gain over a frequency band of 130 GHz. The second amplifier was designed for high-frequency operation and works up to 250 GHz leading to a record bandwidth for distributed amplifiers in SiGe technology. - The first complete CSSDA circuit analysis as function of all key parameters was presented. The typical degradation of the CSSDA output matching towards high frequencies was analytically quantified. A balanced architecture was then introduced to retain the frequency-response advantages of CSSDAs and yet ensure matching over the frequency band of interested. A circuit prototype validated experimentally the technique. - The first traveling-wave power combiner and divider capable of operation from the MHz range up to 200 GHz were demonstrated. The circuits improved the state of the art of the maximum frequency of operation and the bandwidth by a factor of five. - A resonant-matched balanced amplifier was demonstrated with a centre frequency of 185 GHz, 10 dB of gain and a 55GHz wide –3 dB-bandwidth. The power consumption of the amplifier is 16.8mW, one of the lowest for this circuit class, while the bandwidth is the broadest reported in literature for resonant-matched amplifiers in SiGe technology.