The smart environments and the connected human seems to be the future of wireless communications. The development of new frequency bands in the millimeter range will allow us to create high data rate communications which will led to the Wireless Body Environment Networks. In this kind of scenarios, it is expected that the user and the environment will interact. In order to develop such new applications, it is necessary to first study the propagation mechanisms and then, the communication channel underlying body centric environments. This thesis treats of channel models for 60 GHz Body Area Networks and more particularly of three kinds of scenarios: (i) the communication between an external base station and a worn node (off-body); (ii) the communication between two worn nodes (on-body); the communication between an external base station and a hand-held device (near-body). An indoor off-body channel model is numerically proposed and implemented. The model is based on the IEEE 802.11ad indoor standard channel at 60 GHz and a fast computation solution of the scattering of a plane wave by a circular cylinder. The model is developed for two orthogonal polarizations and the communications performances are studied. The on-body propagation is studied for two different configurations: line-of-sight and non-line-of-sight communications on the body. These scenarios led to different solutions for the channel knowing as, respectively, Norton’s equations and creeping formulations. These solutions are obtained using simplified geometries which has been experimentally validated. Further, in order to improve the propagation on the human body, a technique using metallic plates has been proposed. This technique has been theoretically studied using Milligton’s equations and experimentally assessed on a flat phantom with the properties of the human skin. The proposed method allows to save up to 20 dB. Finally, the near-body communication scenario has been introduced and studied. The near-body region is extended from 5 to 30 cm away of the user body which corresponds to the arm’s reach and models a handheld device. A numerical algorithm has been proposed to model indoor near-body environments. Also, a special has been given to statistical body shadowing. It has been shown that the fading follows a Two-Wave Diffuse Power distribution. / Doctorat en Sciences de l'ingénieur et technologie / info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished

Este trabalho, realizado junto ao Grupo de Novos Materiais e Dispositivos (GNMD) pertencente ao Laboratório de Microeletrônica (LME) da Universidade de São Paulo, teve como objetivo correlacionar algumas propriedades físico-químicas de filmes finos de Ba1-XSrxTiO3 (BST), obtidos pela técnica de pulverização catódica reativa (sputtering), com os parâmetros de deposição, visando a fabricação de defasadores inteligentes operando em 60 GHz. Propriedades como cristalinidade e composição química foram estudadas e relacionadas com o tipo de substrato sobre o qual os filmes finos de BST foram depositados, e com os diversos parâmetros de deposição variados. Foi observada uma forte influência dos parâmetros de deposição, principalmente da temperatura e do tipo de substrato, na cristalinidade dos filmes. Os filmes depositados sobre cobre são mais cristalinos do que aqueles depositados sobre Si. Já a composição química dos filmes não variou significativamente, mantendo-se próxima à do alvo de sputtering utilizado, independentemente do substrato ou das condições de deposição. As propriedades elétricas dos filmes fabricados foram extraídas de capacitores de placas paralelas construídos utilizando o BST como dielétrico linear. As curvas de capacitância vs tensão a 1 MHz destes capacitores permitiram determinar uma variação de tunabilidade de até 44 %, para uma permissividade elétrica relativa de 310, valores estes compatíveis com aqueles encontrados na literatura. As propriedades elétricas dos filmes produzidos permitiram projetar um defasador de 1,3 mm2, com uma figura de mérito de 30º/dB para uma defasagem de 360º. / This work, performed at the New Materials and Devices Group (GNMD) of the Microelectronics Laboratory of the Polytechnic School of the University of São Paulo, has the objective to correlate reactive sputtered-BST thin films to its deposition parameters, aiming to produce a 60 GHz tunable phase shifter. Thin film crystallinity and stoichiometry were correlated with sputtering deposition parameters and the type of substrate. A strong influence of the sputtering parameters was observed on BST crystallinity, mainly the temperature and the type of substrate. Thin films on copper are more crystalline than on Si (100). The stoichiometry, on the other hand, did not change as function of the deposition parameters or the substrate in both cases. The thin films electrical properties were obtained by capacitance vs voltage measurements, with the BST as linear dielectric of a parallel plate capacitor. The capacitors 1 MHz C-V characterization showed tunabilities as high as 44%, for an electrical permittivity of 310. These properties allowed a phase shifter project, resulting a 1,3 mm2 device with a figure of merit of 30 º/dB for 360 º phase shift.

In the past, radio-frequency signals were commonly used for low-speed wireless electronic systems, and optical signals were used for multi-gigabit wired communication systems. However, as the emergence of new millimeter-wave technology introduces multi-gigabit transmission over a wireless radio-frequency channel, the borderline between radio-frequency and optical systems becomes blurred. As a result, there come ample opportunities to design and develop next-generation broadband systems to combine the advantages of these two technologies to overcome inherent limitations of various broadband end-to-end interconnect systems in signal generation, recovery, synchronization, and so on. For the transmission distances of a few centimeters to thousands of kilometers, the convergence of radio-frequency electronics and optics to build radio-over-fiber systems ushers in a new era of research for the upcoming very-high-throughput broadband services. Radio-over-fiber systems are believed to be the most promising solution to the backhaul transmission of the millimeter-wave wireless access networks, especially for the license-free, very-high-throughput 60-GHz band. Adopting radio-over-fiber systems in access or in-building networks can greatly extend the 60-GHz signal reach by using ultra-low loss optical fibers. However, such high frequency is difficult to generate in a straightforward way. In this dissertation, the novel techniques of homodyne and heterodyne optical-carrier suppressions for radio-over-fiber systems are investigated and various system architectures are designed to overcome these limitations of 60-GHz wireless access networks, bringing the popularization of multi-gigabit wireless networks to become closer to the reality. In addition to the advantages for the access networks, extremely high spectral efficiency, which is the most important parameter for long-haul networks, can be achieved by radio-over-fiber signal generation. As a result, the transmission performance of spectrally efficient radio-over-fiber signaling, including orthogonal frequency division multiplexing and orthogonal wavelength division multiplexing, is broadly and deeply investigated. On the other hand, radio-over-fiber is also used for the frequency synchronization that can resolve the performance limitation of wireless interconnect systems. A novel wireless interconnects assisted by radio-over-fiber subsystems is proposed in this dissertation. In conclusion, multiple advantageous facets of radio-over-fiber systems can be found in various levels of end-to-end interconnect systems. The rapid development of radio-over-fiber systems will quickly change the conventional appearance of modern communications.

Millimeter-wave has been a medium for automotive, sensor, and defense applications for a long time. But, a fully integrated silicon-based transceiver at 60 GHz or higher frequencies has become the driving force for recent research activities in integrated millimeter-wave (MMW) circuit designs. However, no integrated compact high-performance millimeter-wave system can be designed without accurate estimation and optimization of layout parasitics. In this dissertation, the estimation, modeling and optimization of parasitic effects as well as the verification of extraction methodologies for RF/MMW applications are investigated. Different circuit design- and layout-examples are considered with stress on the inclusion and optimization of wire/interconnect parasitics. A novel methodology is proposed to reduce the number of design-passes and to include layout parasitics in the design optimization procedure. An automated verification procedure for existing parasitic extraction tools is developed. Neural-network-based models are used to demonstrate the effectiveness of artificial intelligence techniques for characterizing parasitic components. The parasitic sensitivities for selected millimeter-wave circuits are demonstrated, and a parasitic benchmarking procedure is developed using MMW oscillators. Measurement results of several circuits that are implemented in state-of-the-art CMOS and SiGe-BiCMOS processes are used to demonstrate the role of parasitics and the systematic design methodology including parasitics.

Thesis (Ph.D)--Electrical and Computer Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, 2008. / Committee Chair: Laskar, Joy; Committee Member: Chang, Jae Joon; Committee Member: Cressler, John D.; Committee Member: Kornegay, Kevin T.; Committee Member: Lee, Chang-Ho; Committee Member: Tentzeris, Manos M.. Part of the SMARTech Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Collection.

Ce travail se concentre sur la conception de VCO mm-wave pour les applications de Backhaul en BiCMOS 55 nm technologie. Toutes les conceptions de VCO proposées sont par rapport à conventionnel LC-tank oscillateur. La première conception de l'oscillateur proposé fonctionne entre 81-86 GHz. L'innovation est liée à l'utilisation d'une bande coplanaires ondes lentes (S-CPS) comme inducteur différentiel. Grace à facteur de qualité élevé (≈ 33) de S-CPS, le bruit de phase a été amélioré de 20 dBc/Hz à l'offset 10MHz et la consommation d'énergie a été réduite de 14% aussi. La plage de réglage de fréquence (FTR) était de 5,3 GHz seulement. La seconde conception du VCO est sur la base de ligne déphaseur chargé comme un résonateur. Le déphaseur a été conçu en utilisant une topologie dissymétrique de S-CPS, afin de parvenir à une meilleure FTR. Mais la performance réalisée de VCO n'a pas été beaucoup améliorée en raison de la capacité parasite en charge. Ainsi, avec le même dissymétrique résonateur déphaseur sur la base d'un oscillateur d'onde permanente distribuée a été conçu, ce qui a réduit l'effet de charge et de conduire à une FTR de 8 GHz. Enfin, un buffer moins mm-wave oscillateur stationnaire a été conçu. Dans ce proposé moins oscillateur buffer, il a montré que l’impédance caractéristique de sortie peut être envisagé grâce à un choix judicieux de la position de sortie. Par conséquent, aucun buffer de sortie n’est nécessaire dans la conception proposée, en raison de la flexibilité dans le choix de la position long de sortie de SWO. Cette innovation conduit à deux mérites. Tout d'abord une sortie 50 ohms peut-être synthétisé sans consommation d'énergie supplémentaire et d'autre part la taille est réduite si un réseau d'adaptation est nécessaire pour connecter le VCO à un mélangeur ou un autre bloc de construction du système d'émetteur-récepteur. / This work focuses on the design of mm-wave VCO for Backhaul applications in BiCMOS 55 nm technology. All the proposed VCO designs are compared to the conventional LC-tank oscillator. The first proposed oscillator design operates between 81-86 GHz. The innovation is linked to the use of a slow-wave coplanar strip (S-CPS) as a differential inductor. Thanks to high quality factor (≈ 33) of S-CPS, the phase noise was improved by 20 dBc/Hz at 10 MHz offset and the power consumption was reduced by 14 % as well. The achieved frequency tuning range (FTR) was 5.3 GHz only. The second VCO design is based on loaded line phase shifter as a resonator. The phase shifter has been designed using an unsymmetric topology of S-CPS in order to achieve better FTR. But the achieved VCO performance was not improved a lot due to the loading parasitic capacitance. So, with the same unsymmetric phase shifter based resonator a distributed standing wave oscillator was designed, which reduced the loading effect and lead to a FTR of 8 GHz. Finally, a buffer less mm-wave standing wave oscillator was designed. In this proposed buffer less oscillator it is shown that any output characteristic impedance can be envisaged thanks to a careful choice of the output position. Hence, no output buffer is needed in the proposed design, due to the flexibility in choosing the output position along the SWO. This innovation leads to two merits. Firstly a 50 ohms output can be synthesized without any additional power consumption and secondly the size is reduced if a matching network is needed to connect the VCO to a mixer or another building block of the transceiver system.

La technologie SIW, introduite dans les années 2000, suscite aujourd’hui un très vif intérêt pour la conception de circuits micro-ondes compacts, intégrés, faible coût et blindés par nature. Cependant, les guides d’onde métalliques, qui offrent de bien meilleures performances en termes de pertes d’insertion et de tenue en puissance, malgré un coût bien plus important, sont encore incontournables pour de nombreuses applications millimétriques. Afin de proposer une alternative intégrée et faible coût au guide d’onde rectangulaire, et de permettre une large exploitation du spectre millimétrique, cette thèse propose une nouvelle structure SIW appelée SIW creux. Cette nouvelle structure a été étudiée théoriquement et expérimentalement. Aux fréquences millimétriques, comparativement au SIW, le SIW creux offre des pertes d’insertion trois fois plus faible ainsi qu’une tenue en puissance moyenne quatre fois plus importante. De nombreux dispositifs passifs SIW creux ont été conçus en prenant avantage du procédé de circuit imprimé multicouche mis en œuvre. Des coupleurs, déphaseurs, diviseurs de puissance, antennes et filtres ont été réalisés basés sur la technologie introduite. Leurs performances sont théoriquement et expérimentalement comparées avec leur contrepartie SIW afin de démontrer les avantages de la nouvelle technologie proposée. / The substrate integrated waveguide (SIW) technology, introduced in the early 2000s, has presently trigged a huge interest from academia to industry with the focus on the design and development of low-loss, compact, integrated, self-packaged and low-cost microwave and millimeter-wave circuits, antennas and systems. However, the classical metallic waveguide technology, which offers better performances such as lower insertion loss and higher power handling, has still been used in the design of microwave and millimeter-wave systems, despite its higher cost and bulky structure. To offer a highly integrated, further loss-reduced, low-cost alternative to the conventional waveguide and also to allow a wide-spread use of the millimeter-wave spectrum, this thesis research introduces a new SIW structure called Air-Filled SIW (AFSIW). This new structure has been theoretically and experimentally studied in details with a substantial amount of results. At millimeter wave frequencies, compared to the SIW topologies, the proposed AFSIW scheme exhibits a substantially lower insertion loss (three times, for example) and a much higher average power handling capability (four times, for example). Numerous AFSIW passive components have been investigated designed and demonstrated, which take advantages of the well-established multilayer printed circuit board (PCB) fabrication process. Couplers, phase shifters, power dividers, antennas and filters have been modeled, designed, prototyped and measured based on the introduced technology. Their performances have theoretically and experimentally been compared with their SIW counterparts to demonstrate and validate the benefits of the proposed technology.

L’objectif de ces travaux de recherche est la conception en technologie intégrée d’une nouvelle topologie de ligne de transmission accordable afin de réaliser des déphaseurs en bande millimétrique. Cette topologie nommée TS-CPW (pour « Tunable Slow wave CoPlanar Waveguide ») utilise d’une part le phénomène d’ondes lentes qui permet de miniaturiser longitudinalement la ligne de transmission et offre un facteur de qualité plus élevé qu’en technologie microruban intégrée, et d’autre part une approche de type MEMS (Micro Electro Mechanical system) afin obtenir l’accordabilité de la ligne avec une figure de mérite élevée comparativement à une approche de type varactor. Dans un premier temps, la topologie et la conception d’une ligne TS-CPW basée sur des simulations électromagnétiques sont présentées en technologie BiCMOS. Dans un second temps, toujours sur la base de TS-CPWs, des déphaseurs présentant 3-bit de résolution, avec différentes valeurs de déphasage total (de 157.5° et 315°), ont été développés à une fréquence de fonctionnement égale à 60 GHz. Les TS-CPWs et les déphaseurs ont été réalisés avec la technologie BiCMOS 0.25 µm de l’institut IHP en Allemagne, puis mesurés à l’aide d’un analyseur de réseau à IHP et à l’IMEP-LaHc. / This work focuses on the design of millimeter-wave phase shifters based on a new topology of tunable transmission lines named Tunable Slow wave CoPlanar Waveguide (TS-CPW). TS-CPW uses, on one side, the slow wave phenomenon in order to miniaturize longitudinally the transmission line and to show a better quality factor than its integrated microstrip transmission line counterpart and, on the other side, the MEMS approach to achieve tunability of the transmission line with a good figure-of-merit. First, the topology, the design and the electromagnetic simulations of the TS-CPW based on MEMS (Micro Electro Mechanical system) are presented in a BiCMOS technology. Next, phase shifters with 3-bit of resolution based on TS-CPWs are developed at 60 GHz with two different values of total phase shift (157.5° and 315°). These TS-CPWs and phase shifters were fabricated in IHP’s 0.25 µm BiCMOS technology and measured on the vector network analyzers of IHP and IMEP-LaHC.

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. / Millimeter-wave wireless communication systems have considerably gained in importance in recent years. Important applications as 60-GHz WLANs and WPANs, 80- GHz automotive radar, and 94 GHz imaging have emerged, requiring significant effort on the design of transceiver’s silicon-based integrated circuits. In this context, integrated transformers are of a particular interest. They may perform, among other functions, impedance matching, single to differential conversion, and power combination. The design and modeling of this type of transformers is the subject of this thesis. A comprehensive study on the topology of transformers is presented, regarding the layout of individual coils, their relative position, geometric dimensions, substrate shields, and the achievement of high transformation ratios. Their modeling through electromagnetic simulations and a lumped-element electric circuit is discussed as well. The model presents a 2-π topology and analytical equations depending on both technological and geometric characteristics to evaluate the totality of its components. A close agreement between model and measurement is shown for 65-nm CMOS and 130-nm BiCMOS transformers up to 110 GHz. Those transformers are then applied to the design of a 77-GHz BiCMOS mixer and a 60-GHz CMOS power amplifier.

Cette thèse se concentre sur la conception de circuits intégrés radio fréquence en technologie CMOS. En particulier, l’effort est axé sur les circuits pour la synthèse de fréquence (boucles à verrouillage de phase) pour les émetteurs/récepteurs. L’attention se concentre sur la conception des blocs critiques comme les oscillateurs contrôlé en tension(VCO) et les diviseurs de fréquence. La première partie de la thèse présente des directives pour la conception de VCO à résonateur LC à résistance négative et la conception d’un oscillateur en quadrature contrôlé en tension (QVCO) à 15GHz. Ce dernier représente la contribution à la réalisation d’un synthétiseur de fréquence à 15GHz en technologie CMOS 130 nm pour des applications satellites réalisé en collaboration avec Polytech’Nice (Sophia Antipolis, France). La deuxième partie de la thèse montre la contribution à la réalisation d’un synthétiseur de fréquence 60GHz en technologie CMOS 65 nm, en collaboration avec le laboratoire LAAS (Toulouse, France) pour les réseaux haut débit sans fil et à courte distance WPAN. Une attention particulière a été portée sur la conception des blocs fonctionnant des les bandes millimétriques tel que l’oscillateur et les deux premiers blocs de la chaine de division.En ce qui concerne les diviseurs de fréquence, deux topologies à injection ont été utilisées pour leur efficacité et leur basse consommation. Le prédiviseur a été conçu avec une topologie oscillateur à résonateur LC synchronisé suivi d’un oscillateur en anneau synchronisé. Le VCO a une topologie à résistance négative. Tous les circuits ci-dessus ont été réalisés et testée avec succès. / The research activities presented in this thesis are related to the design of analog CMOS Radio Frequency Integrated Circuits. In particular the effort was focused on frequency synthesizers (Phase-Locked Loop) for transceiver. This work especially deals with critical blocks such as Voltage Controlled Oscillator (VCO) and Frequency Dividers.The first part of the thesis reports the design guidelines of a negative resistance LC-tank VCO and the design of a 15GHz Quadrature Voltage Controlled Oscillator. This represents the contributions to the realizations of a Phase-Locked Loop (PLL) realization in CMOS 130 nm technology for satellite applications in collaborations with the Polytech’Nice Sophia laboratory in France. The second part of this work reports the design contribution of a 60GHz Phase-Locked Loop in 65 nm CMOS technology for Wireless Personal Area Network (WPAN) applications in collaboration with the LAAS laboratory (Toulouse, France). In particular the design efforts were devote to the blocks working at millimeter Wave (mmW) frequency such as VCO and Frequency Divider (FD). Concerning the Frequency Dividers the Injection-Locked topology was selected for the sake of its high frequency and low power characteristics. In particular the prescaler is an Injection-Locked LC-tank Frequency Divider (ILLCFD) followed by an Injection-Locked Ring Oscillator Frequency Divider (ILROFD). For the VCO the negative resistance design approach has been employed.All cited circuits have been implemented and succesfully tested.