CHIC

Click Here for Free Open Access Full Paper pdf from IEEE Waveguiding across the visible spectrum in an unmodified bulk CMOS chip is reported. The chip is fabricated in a standard CMOS process, and a simple wet etch removes metal in predetermined locations to expose glass rib waveguides. A modified Euler bend is introduced to […]

We demonstrate a quantum-limited silicon photonic coherent receiver with 26.0 dB shot noise clearance, 34.6 μW knee power, and 0.00200 mm2 chip area. We measure squeezed vacuum with the integrated receiver and demonstrate phase-locking to the squeezed quadrature.

Click Here for Free Open Access Full Paper pdf from IEEE Subtractive photonics is presented as a method for implementing photonic waveguides into any bulk CMOS or electronics process. Metal and glass are patterned in the backend layers by the foundry to reveal suspended dielectric waveguides when the metal is etched away. This method requires […]

Wireless revolution in communication systems over the last several decades is beginning to move to the realm of energy transfer. In this paper, we review some of the underlying fundamental trade-offs in wirless power transfer over distance.

Click Here for Free Open Access Full Paper pdf from IEEE Multi-beam relays can be used to overcome the non-line-of-sight (NLOS) issues in millimeter-wave (mm-wave) communication networks that serve many users in an obstruction-rich environment. We demonstrate a modular multi-beam relay array at 28 GHz, which is scalable and fully decentralized. The individual branches of […]

Subtractive photonics-electronics co-integration in standard 180 nm bulk CMOS process is demonstrated by low-loss suspended waveguides made from BEOL low-k doped glass, waveguide coupled photodiodes, and full integration of a waveguide coupled photodiode and a TIA. The doped glass waveguides operate over broad range of wavelengths including visible and IR and have losses as low […]

Click Here for Free Open Access Full Paper pdf from IEEE Shape-changing arrays are an emerging frontier of phased array development. These arrays fold, conform, and flex dynamically as they operate. In this work we describe the technology developments which have enabled their creation and use. We present the theoretical implications of aperture change for […]

We present an analysis of sub-shot-noise-limited coherent receivers for detecting quantum states of light. We introduce a noise model for coherent receivers and outline a guide to coherent receiver design for silicon photonics platforms.

Thermo-optic phase shifters (TOPS) are ubiquitously used in large-scale photonic integrated circuits for phase modulation and correction because of their low loss and small form factor [1]. In high-density integration of TOPS, when each TOPS is directly addressed, the number of electrical connections and electrical driver complexity scale rapidly, becoming a limiting factor of scalability […]

Click Here for Free Open Access Full Paper pdf from Nature Complex and dynamic control of radiated fields are advantageous for flexible radio systems, which naturally move, roll, bend, twist, deform, and vibrate. Practical challenges hinder the proliferation of these antenna arrays. This work shows how using radio-frequency microchips reduces system component count, decreases mass […]

Click Here for Free Open Access Full Paper pdf from IEEE We introduce a thermo-optic phase shifter (TOPS) array architecture with independent phase control of each phase shifter for large-scale and high-density photonic integrated circuits with two different control schemes: pulse amplitude modulation (PAM) and pulse width modulation (PWM). We realize a compact spiral TOPS […]

Meta-material inspired switched passive networks on flexible sheets can be placed in the unused area between antennas in Origami and Kirigami shape-changing arrays. These meta-gaps can manipulate the near-field environment in order to compensate for the increased spacing in these arrays. Their flexibility allows meta-gaps to easily fold and deploy in both deployable arrays and […]

A 28 GHz scalable relay array that independently re-routes multiple beamformed data-channels in different frequency bands is presented, allowing for frequency and spatial division multiple access. The array is implemented at the element-level with a 65 nm CMOS RFIC that has two transmit-and-receive branches. Each transmit-and-receive branch provides phase delay, true time delay, and amplitude […]

One of the key challenges with Space Solar Power (SSP) using low-aerial-mass-density sheet-like structures is the power matching of the photovoltaic (PV) power to the optimal power point for microwave signal synthesis and power generation for wireless transmission. This work demonstrates a power tracking technique that can be readily integrated within the Power Amplifier (PA) […]

Click Here for Free Open Access Full Paper pdf Integrated photonic active beamforming can significantly reduce the size and cost of coherent imagers for LiDAR and medical imaging applications. In current architectures, the complexity of photonic and electronic circuitry linearly increases with the desired imaging resolution. We propose a novel photonic transceiver architecture based on […]

Click Here for Free Open Access Full Paper pdf Silicon photonics is an emerging technology which, enabling nanoscale manipulation of light on chips, impacts areas as diverse as communications, computing, and sensing. Wavelength division multiplexing is commonly used to maximize throughput over a single optical channel by modulating multiple data streams on different wavelengths concurrently. […]

A solid-state active beamformer based on the annular-ring diffraction pattern is demonstrated in an integrated photonic platform. Such a circularly symmetric annular-ring aperture achieves a radiating element limited field of view. Furthermore, it is demonstrated that a multi-annular-ring aperture with a fixed linear density of elements maintains the beam efficiency for larger apertures while reducing […]

Click Here for Open Access Full Paper pdf from IEEE Optical synchronization of large-span arrays offers significant benefits over electrical methods in terms of the weight, cost, power dissipation, and complexity of the clock distribution network. This work presents the analysis and design of the first phased array transmitter synchronized using a fully monolithic CMOS […]

Click Here for Open Access Full Paper pdf from IEEE Silicon photonics (SiP) integrated coherent image sensors offer higher sensitivity and improved range-resolution-product compared to direct detection image sensors such as CCD and CMOS devices. Previous generations of SiP coherent imagers suffer from relative optical phase fluctuations between the signal and reference paths, which results […]

A novel, low-drive-voltage, and compact modula- tor using serially-coupled ring resonators in a Mach-Zehnder interferometer (MZI) linearly reduces the modulator’s energy consumption as the number of rings in the chain increases. Such an MZI with three serially-coupled rings is invested for typical silicon photonics platforms.

Flexible, deployable phased arrays enable novel and diverse applications but necessitate similarly flexible radiators. Here we present a light and flexible 10GHz dipole antenna, which is co-cured to a glass-fiber composite and suited for flexible phased arrays. The antennas are designed to dynamically conform to new array shapes and be flexible enough to fold completely […]

Click Here for Open Access Full Paper pdf from IEEE Flexible phased arrays potentially enable diverse applications not permitted by rigid systems; however, they introduce ambiguity in antenna element positions. If this position ambiguity can be overcome, flexible arrays can perform the full suite of array functions: beam steering, wavefront engineering, and beam focusing. Furthermore, […]

This paper presents a modular 28 GHz phased array. Each of its 2×4-modules is driven by a CMOS RFIC, whose RF output is optically synchronized using a fully integrated silicon photodiode. The photocurrent is amplified using a tuned injection-locked TIA to serve as the reference for an on-chip synthesizer, which generates and distributes the RF […]

Lightweight, flexible phased arrays enable new applications by dynamically changing shape during deployment and operation. However, these shape changes must be tracked and accounted for by changing the element excitation in order for the array to continue proper operation. We propose a framework for reconstructing the shape of a flexible phased array using only measurements […]

Click Here for Open Access Full Paper pdf from IEEE We present architectures, circuits, and algorithms for dynamic 3-D lensing and focusing of electromagnetic power in radiative near- and far-field regions by arrays that can be arbitrary and nonuniform. They can benefit applications such as wireless power transfer at a distance (WPT-AD), volumetric sensing and […]

Click Here for Open Access Full Paper pdf from IEEE This work proposes and demonstrates the scal- able router array that eliminates the internal centralization of conventional arrays, unlocking scalability, and the potential for a system composed of spatially separated elements that do not share a common timing reference. Architectural variations are presented, and their […]

Click Here for Open Access Full Paper pdf from IEEE Nano-photonic antennas are one of the key compo- nents in integrated photonic transmitter and receiver systems. Conventionally, grating couplers, designed to couple into an op- tical fiber, suffering from limitations such as large footprint and small field-of-view (FOV) have been used as on-chip antennas. The […]

Click Here for the Open Access Full Paper pdf from OSA Realization of a multilayer photonic process, as well as co-integration of a large number of photonic and electronic components on a single substrate, presents many advantages over conventional solutions and opens a pathway for various novel architectures and applications. Despite the many potential advantages, […]

In situ geometric reconfiguration of a phased array increases the diversity of radiation patterns that can be synthesized by the array. Such shape-changing phased arrays enable new applications by dynamically conforming their shapes to the geometry best suited for a given task. This work presents the design and demonstration of an origami-inspired shape-changing array built […]

Large aperture flexible and deployable phased arrays will enable active RF fabric and deployable array structures for terrestrial and space applications. The flexible phased array design paradigm is enabled by small, multi-function radio frequency integrated circuits and low mass radiators, which avoid conventional dielectric materials. This paper presents a 256 element, 30 cm x 30 […]

Click Here for Open Access Full pdf file from ASC Cell-based therapies are becoming increasingly prominent in numerous medical contexts, particularly in regenerative medicine and the treatment of cancer. However, since the efficacy of the therapy is largely dependent on the concentration of therapeutic cells at the treatment area, a major challenge associated with cell-based therapies is the ability to […]

Click Here for Open Access pdf from Nature The need for lightweight, miniature imaging systems is becoming increasingly prevalent in light of the development of wearable electronics, iot devices, and drones. computational imaging enables new types of imaging systems that replace standard optical components like lenses with cleverly designed computational processes. traditionally, many of these types of […]

Proximal-field sensing is introduced as an integrated sensing scheme for the in situ characterization of far-field radi- ation properties of integrated radiators, and the proximal-field radiation sensors (PFRSs) are proposed as the tools to enable this capability. These sensors are integrated on the same dielectric substrate as the transmitting antennas and extract the existing information […]

Due to the chromatic dispersion properties inherent in all optical materials, even the best-designed multispectral objective will exhibit residual chromatic aberration. Here, we demonstrate a multispectral microscope with a computational scheme based on the Fourier ptychographic microscopy (FPM) to correct these effects in order to render undistorted, in-focus images. The microscope consists of 4 spectral […]

A general model of electrical oscillators under the influence of a periodic injection is presented. Stemming solely from the autonomy and periodic time variance inherent in all oscillators, the model’s underlying approach makes no assumptions about the topology of the oscillator or the shape of the injection waveform. A single first-order differential equation is shown […]

A number of specialized topics within the theory of injection locking and pulling are addressed. The material builds on our impulse sensitivity function (ISF)-based, time-synchronous model of electrical oscillators under the influence of a periodic injection. First, we show how the accuracy of this model forLC oscillators under large injection is greatly enhanced by accounting […]

Click Here for Open Access Full pdf from IEEE This paper presents the analysis and design of a novel magnetic sensor. We study the underlying physics of inductance shift sensors as a special case of the broader family of magnetic energy deviation sensors. The result is a quantitative definition of performance metrics with all assumptions […]

Phased arrays are multiple antenna systems capable of forming and steering beams electronically using constructive and destructive interference between sources. They are employed extensively in radar and communication systems but are typically rigid, bulky and heavy, which limits their use in compact or portable devices and systems. Here, we report a scalable phased array system […]

Click Here for Open Access Full Paper pdf from IEEE Integrated optical phased arrays (OPAs) capable of adaptive beamforming and beam steering enable a wide range of applications. For many of these applications, a large scale 2-D OPA with full phase control for each radiating element is essential to achieve a functional low-cost solution. However, […]

An integrated broadband Vivaldi antenna driven by an on-chip traveling-wave photodetector is reported. The silicon photonic chip radiates between 21 and 67 GHz with -65 dBm coupled power at 44 GHz.

A sixteen-element coherent array of wideband spiral antennas driven by photodetectors is presented. The array radiates between 21 and 65 GHz, with -45 dBm of coupled power at 42 GHz.

Flexible and conformal phased arrays enable a broad range of novel applications. One of the major challenges for such systems is that they experience a change in their behavior when bent or deformed. A self-calibrating flexible phased array can overcome this by estimating the relative position change of its elements as they undergo local deformations. […]

This paper presents the first demonstration of a nanophotonic optical gyroscope (NOG) on a silicon-photonic platform. Reciprocal sensitivity enhancement is introduced as an effective method to overcome the limitations of NOGs.

Optical gyroscopes measure the rate of rotation by exploiting a relativistic phenomenon known as the Sagnac effect. Such gyroscopes are great candidates for miniaturization onto nanophotonic platforms. However, the signal-to-noise ratio of optical gyroscopes is generally limited by thermal fluctuations, component drift and fabrication mismatch. Due to the comparatively weaker signal strength at the microscale, […]

Optical phased arrays (OPAs) on integrated photonic platforms provide a low-cost chip-scale solution for many applications. Despite the numerous demonstrations of OPA transmitters, the realization of a functional OPA receiver presents a challenge due to the low received signal level in the presence of noise and interference that necessitates high sensitivity of the receiver. In […]

A highly-sensitive magnetic sensor with excellent long-term stability is presented. We modify a conventional all-inductor AC Wheatstone Bridge by coupling two inductor pairs in a cross-coupled configuration which halves its size and doubles its sensitivity, while maintaining a fully differential output that reduces common-mode induced offset and drift. The sensor was fabricated with integrated excitation […]

A large-scale timing synchronization scheme for scalable phased arrays is presented. This approach utilizes a DLL co-designed with a subsequent 2.5GHz PLL. The DLL employs a low noise, fine/coarse delay tuning to reduce the in-band rms jitter to 323fs, an order of magnitude improvement over previous works at similar frequencies. The DLL was fabricated in […]

Magnetic imagers, which utilize magnetic nanoparticles as labels to realize biodetection assays, hold significant promise for deployment at the point-of-use. Resonance-shift-based sensors can be realized in standard CMOS processes without post-process modifications and offer great sensitivity at low price tags. Unfortunately, CMOS resonant-shift magnetic sensors suffer significant degradation in SNR and long-term stability due to […]

Click Here for Open Access Full pdf from IEEE This paper presents the first integrated silicon photonics optical phased array (OPA) receiver with imaging capabilities. A 32-element one-dimensional (1-D) OPA with an overall aperture size of 96 Å~ 50 μm2 is used to generate an electrically steerable “gazing beam.” The OPA receiver elements couple the incident light to […]

A new perspective into the locking behavior of LC and ring oscillators is presented. By decomposing a sinusoidal injection current into in-phase and quadrature-phase components, exact expressions for the amplitude and phase of an injection-locked LC oscillator which hold for any injection strength and frequency are derived and confirmed by simulation. The analysis, which can […]

Integration of Proximal-Field Radiation Sensors (PFRS) with mm-wave integrated radiators enables extraction of valuable information about their far-field radiation properties from the surface waves inside the substrate and the electromagnetic fields in close proximity of the radiating antennas. In this paper, we present a 72 GHz 2×1 integrated radiator array with four on-chip PFRS units […]

An optical phased array (OPA) transmitter system with a high-swing electrical PWM driver achieving the highest reported grating-lobe-free field-of-view to beamwidth ratio of 16%.8° for a two-dimensional aperture is presented. This ratio translates to 400 resolvable spots-which is 30x more numerous than the state-of-the-art. This scalable OPA, with a sparsely populated aperture, overcomes optical routing […]

We have fabricated a functional prototype of an ultralight power converter tile; a modular building block for a space-based solar power system. The tile is ~10 × 15 cm in area, and weighs 4.5 kg/m 2 . It comprises a photovoltaic (PV) solar energy collector, a radio-frequency (RF) power converter, and an array of transmission […]

A scalable OPA with sparse 2D aperture is presented, achieving the highest reported grating-lobe-free FOV-to-beamwidth ratio (16°/0.8°). A PWM generator chip is designed to drive compact phase shifters with row-column layout to reduce power consumption.

An integrated silicon photonic MZM modulator with a slow-wave architecture to reduce π is presented. This structure achieves an 80% enhancement in extinction ratio and has a 14GHz bandwidth with 1mm long modulator arms.

Magnetic drug delivery is a promising therapeutic because of magnetic fields’ ability to permeate unperturbed in human tissue. One of the long-standing challenges in magnetic drug delivery is the inability to generate 3D aggregation non-invasively within the interior of the body. Earnshaw’s theorem, which proves the impossibility of creating an energetic minimum in a curl-free […]

Video Link The ability to integrate optical phased arrays (OPA) on a single silicon-photonics substrate offers a plethora of new opportunities in various fields, including projection and imaging. In this paper, we will discuss some of the trade-offs in the design of OPAs and their application. We investigate OPA receivers which can form and electronically […]

We demonstrate the development of a prototype lightweight (1.5 kg/m2) tile structure capable of photovoltaic solar power capture, conversion to radio frequency power, and transmission through antennas. This modular tile can be repeated over an arbitrary area to form a large aperture which could be placed in orbit to collect sunlight and transmit electricity to […]

Proximal-Field Radiation Sensors (PFRS) are introduced as a new set of tools to enable extraction of far-field radiation properties of integrated antennas from the surface waves inside their dielectric substrates. These sensors allow self-characterization, self-calibration, and self-monitoring of the radiation performance for both printed circuit board (PCB) antennas and integrated circuit (IC) antennas without any […]

A 10GHz fully-integrated stacked PA quad with dynamic digital feedback and control loops provides total output power of 200mW at 37% PAE. It utilizes data provided by multiple on-chip sensors to maintain safe operating conditions and regulate the individual power PA power supply voltages and independent power control for each PA. This digitally controlled stacked […]

This paper presents an 8×8 optical phased array (OPA) receiver that operates as a lens-less camera using a heterodyne architecture on a thin silicon-photonics integrated SOI substrate. It has a receiving beam width of 0.75° and beam steering range of 8°.

In this paper, we study the feasibility of using CMOS circuit blocks for designing future light weight, small in size atmospheric remote sensing receivers. A compact CMOS down-converter is designed which operates from 160 to 188 GHz and includes a sub-harmonically pumped I/Q resistive mixer, two IF amplifiers and a voltage controlled oscillator (VCO) with […]

We present an extension of the double-balanced current-commutating analog multiplier (also known as the Gilbert cell) that enables the multiplication of an arbitrary number of signed differential input voltages. A general analysis of the circuit for an arbitrary device nonlinearity is provided, and simulations on a bulk CMOS process as well as measurement results of […]

Compact power splitters designed ab initio using binary particle swarm optimization in a 2D mesh for a standard foundry silicon photonic platform are studied. Designs with a 4.8 μm × 4.8 μm footprint composed of 200 nm × 200 nm and 100 nm × 100 nm cells are demonstrated. Despite not respecting design rules, the […]

Integrated antennas have become the attractive solution as the electromagnetic (EM) interface for mm-Wave and terahertz ICs. However, on-chip antennas lying at the interface between two different dielectrics (such as air and substrate) can channel most of its power into multiple nonradiative surface- wave modes, reducing efficiency drastically. In this paper, we consider the following […]

It is shown that for systems with no zeros and no complex poles, the classical estimate of the 3 dB cutoff frequency based on the sum of the zero-value time constants (ZVTs) is always conservative. The opposite problem is also solved, whereby a non-trivial upper bound on the cutoff frequency which depends only on the […]

This paper presents a thin silicon-photonics integrated one-dimensional lens-free camera based on an optical phased array receiver on an SOI process. The camera has beam steering range in excess of 60° with no blind spots, a beam width of 0.74°, and is used to form images.

Simultaneous two-dimensional (2-D) beam steering and dynamic polarization control (DPC) of the radiated electric field in 2-D phased arrays ensure polarization matching between the transmitter and receiver antennas in both fixed and mobile wireless systems. Polarization matching is maintained regardless of the polarization, orientation, and location of the receiver antenna in space within the 2-D […]

A compact second harmonic 180 GHz I/Q balanced resistive mixer is realized in a 32-nm SOI CMOS technology for atmospheric remote sensing applications. The MMIC further includes two on-chip IF amplifiers at the mixer’s I and Q channels. A conversion gain of  8 dB is achieved with 74 mW of dc power consumption using a 1.2 […]

The feasibility of using CMOS technology for RF amplification in atmospheric remote sensing receiver is studied. The design and measurement results of a 200-GHz low-noise amplifier which is fabricated using a 32-nm SOI CMOS technology are presented. The 8-stage amplifier in a common-source configuration achieves a 9-dB noise figure and 25-dB gain with a power […]

We present a differential ring modulator that breaks the optical bandwidth/quality factor trade-off known to limit the speed of high-Q ring modulators. This structure maintains a constant energy in the ring to avoid pattern-dependent power droop.

In this paper, we introduce the concept of near-field synchronization as an efficient, scalable, and robust method to synchronize a 2-D array of mutually coupled oscillators for beam-forming at frequencies above fmax of a technology. The method employs an array of on-chip sense antennas to probe electromagnetic near-fields of the on-chip radiators. These sense antennas […]

Silicon photonics offer large bandwidths and low-loss delay, while integrated electronics can provide gain and complex signal processing with much lower overhead. Here, we will discuss a few examples of such hybrid solutions to demonstrate the potential of a more holistic approach to silicon integrated systems.

Low-power integrated projection technology can play a key role in development of low-cost mobile devices with built-in high-resolution projectors. Low-cost 3D imaging and holography systems are also among applications of such a technology. In this paper, an integrated projection system based on a two-dimensional optical phased array with fast beam steering capability is reported. Forward […]

The segmented power-mixer array based mm-wave power generation architecture is demonstrated to be an en- ergy-efficient technique for generating high-speed nonconstant envelope modulations. High output power levels are achieved by efficiently combining power from several power mixers using an area efficient dual-primary distributed active transformer. The segmented scheme leads to back-off efficiency improvements while simultaneously […]

Radiator arrays with Dynamic Polarization Control (DPC) and 2D beam steering enable polarization matching to the receiver antenna regardless of its polarization, orientation, and location. A fully integrated 122.9 GHz 2×2 DPC multi-port driven phased array radiates all linear polarizations (0°-180° polarization angles) with axial ratios above 14 dB, and controls the axial ratio from […]

Dynamic polarization control (DPC) is the method of setting the polarization of the far-field electric field generated by a radiating antenna entirely electronically in order to maintain polarization matching with the receiving antenna regardless of its polarization or orientation in space. This work implements a fully integrated 2 × 1 phased array radiator in 32 […]

In this paper, we report an integrated silicon-based active imaging chipset with a detector array in 0.13 μm SiGe process and a CMOS-based source array operating in the 240–290 GHz range. The chipset operates at room-temperature with no external RF or optical sources, high-resistivity silicon lenses (HRSi) or waveguides or any custom fabrication options, such […]

Electromagnetic duality is used to design a multi-port traveling-wave slot-ring antenna with on-chip driver circuitry to create a fully integrated radiator. By creating a slot version of the multi-port driven antenna, the required exclusive use area of the antenna is significantly decreased, while still being able to perform impedance matching, power combining, and power transfer off chip through electromagnetic radiation in […]

An optically-wideband adjustable self-equalizing photo-detector (ASEPD), capable of reviving eye closure due to limited bandwidth of electro-optical components in an optical link, is presented. The ASEPD enables use of various slower electro-optical components in faster data links.

Immunotherapy is currently being investigated for the treatment of many diseases, including cancer. The ability to control the location of immune cells during or following activation would represent a powerful new technique for this field. Targeted magnetic delivery is emerging as a technique for controlling cell movement and localization. Here we show that this technique […]

An integrated silicon nanophotonic coherent imager (NCI), with a 4 × 4 array of coherent pixels is reported. In the proposed NCI, on-chip optical processing determines the intensity and depth of each point on the imaged object based on the instantaneous phase and amplitude of the optical wave incident on each pixel. The NCI operates […]

This paper focuses on CMOS biosensor technologies for cellular biosensing applications. We first present our technologies to achieve on-CMOS cell culture, maintenance, and differentiation, as the basis for CMOS cellular biosensors. Next, we introduce a CMOS frequency- shift magnetic sensor scheme which performs detections without post-processing or external biasing magnetic field. Finally, we will demonstrate […]

A self-equalizing photo-detector (SEPD) that mitigates the bandwidth limitations of electro-optical components of optical communication systems is demonstrated, enabling higher rate of data transmission, using slower components. Unlike other all-optical equalization schemes, SEPD is optically wide band, thus does not require wavelength tuning.

A self-correcting quadrature voltage controlled oscillator (QVCO) with phase correcting loop is proposed. It comprises the QVCO core and phase correcting loop, which corrects the quadrature phase error. Two LC VCOs, buffers, and phase shifters are coupled in circular configuration to achieve IQ symmetry. This paper introduces the idea of realizing QVCO with low phase […]

The RF power amplifier (PA) is typically the most power hungry and area consuming block in a wireless transceiver system. A viable RF PA solution should offer competitive power and area efficiency while maintaining high-performance large-signal RF operations. Fully integrated RF PA in CMOS has been an area of active research and development over the […]

The core requirements for point-of-care (POC) diagnostics necessitate low-cost, portability, easily integrated sample preparation, and quick measurement time. Frequency-shift based magnetic sensing is a measurement technique utilizing a complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) integrated- circuit (IC) chip for magnetic label detection. The sensing scheme leverages the low-cost manufacturing of IC chips while demonstrating the potential for multiplexing […]

Dynamic polarization control (DPC) ensures polarization matching to the receiving antenna regardless of its polarization or orientation in space. A fully integrated 105.5 GHz 2×1 DPC multi-port driven radiator array with beam steering can radiate linear polarization across the the full polarization angle range of 0 to 180 degrees maintaining axial ratios above 10 dB, […]

A traveling-wave integrated slot radiator is designed using electromagnetic duality theory based off of the ring portion of a radial multi-port driven radiator to minimize the area required exclusively for the antenna. It is designed in 32 nm SOI CMOS and driven by a buffered quadrature VCO at 4 points to create the traveling wave […]

A high-power, fully-integrated, mm-wave power mixer based transmitter capable of generating high-speed, complex non-constant envelope modulations is implemented in a 32nm SOI CMOS technology. Segmented power generation approach is shown to be suitable for direct digital modulation as well as efficiency improvements at back-off power levels. The transmitter has a peak output power of 19.1dBm […]

A compact silicon-photonics optically driven mm-wave radiator uses a multi-port driven travelling-wave antenna driven by 8 silicon-germanium photodiodes with -3dB bandwidth of 25GHz to produce -9.7dBm EIRP at 180GHz.

This paper presents electrical beam steering in an integrated 4×4 2D optical phased array (OPA) on a silicon on insulator (SOI) process enabling fast and repeatable beam steering for next generation projection, tracking, and imaging.

Magnetic spectroscopy allows for characterization of the magnetic susceptibility of magnetic beads across a broad frequency range. This enables differentiation and quantification of multiple beads of varying types concurrently present in the active volume of a sensor’s surface. A magnetic spectrometer can be used for multi-probe tagging and identification akin to multicolor fluorescent bio-sensing. We […]

Integrated multi-port driven (MPD) radiator design is presented as an approach that takes advantage of the increased design space offered by using a hybrid design of an antenna with multiple ports and its driver circuitry integrated together on a single substrate. This reduces costly losses by eliminating independent elements for power combination, output impedance matching […]

The core requirements for point-of-care (POC) diagnostics necessitate low-cost, high multiplexing, portability, easily integrated sample preparation, and quick measurement time. Frequency-shift based magnetic sensing is a measurement technique utilizing a complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) integrated-circuit (IC) chip for magnetic label detection. Using this technology, we have developed a complete handheld, low-power, low-cost, disposable cartridge-based diagnostic device […]

The first integrated wideband laser phase noise reduction scheme is presented where the laser phase noise is first detected using a photonic chip, processed using an electronic chip, and subtracted from the laser phase in a feed-forward manner. The proof-of-concept experiments on a commercially available 1553nm distributed feedback laser show linewidth reduction from 6MHz to […]

A multi-port driven (MPD) antenna allows for the removal of RF blocks for impedance matching, power combining, and power delivery by enabling efficient radiation at the fundamental frequency from several output stages driving the antenna. A radiating source utilizing an 8-phase ring oscillator and eight power amplifiers to drive the MPD antenna at 161 GHz […]

We have implemented a fully integrated CMOS magnetic spectrometer that can detect, quantify, and characterize magnetic materials from 1.1 to 3.3GHz frequency range. Frequency responses of various magnetic beads are measured and magnetic multiplexing capability is demonstrated with a mixture of two different kinds of 1μm sized beads for the first time. The sensor consumes […]

Self-healing as a technique for improving performance and yield of millimeter-wave power amplifiers (PAs) against process variation and transistor mismatch, load impedance mismatch, and partial and total transistor failure is described and investigated. A 28-GHz PA is presented with three types of sensors, two types of actuators, data converters, and a digital algorithm block that […]

Cell-based sensing represents a new paradigm for performing direct and accurate detection of cell- or tissue-specific responses by incorporating living cells or tissues as an integral part of a sensor. Here we report a new magnetic cell-based sensing platform by combining magnetic sensors implemented in the complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) integrated microelectronics process with cardiac progenitor […]

4.0 to 6.6GHz self-correcting quadrature voltage controlled oscillator (QVCO) with phase compensation loop is implemented in a 65nm CMOS process. The topology couples IQ oscillation signals of two LC-VCOs, a phase shifter, and buffers with circular configuration. This paper introduces the idea to obtain low phase noise and accurate IQ phase quadrature oscillation signal, by […]

In this paper, we present a scalable transmitter architecture for power generation and beam-steering at THz frequencies using a centralized frequency reference, sub-harmonic signal distribution, and local phase control. The power generation and radiator core is based on a novel method called distributed active radiation, which enables high conversion efficiency from DC to radiated terahertz power above fmax of a […]

A fully-integrated self-healing mm-wave power amplifier heals process variation, load mismatch, and transistor failure with on-chip sensors, actuators and an integrated digital algorithm ASIC without external calibration. Measurements of 20 chips showed increased RF power up to 3dB, or reduced DC power by 50% in back off at 28 GHz. Healing 4-1 VSWR load mismatch for RF and DC power improvement was […]

This paper presents various low power, compact, low insertion-loss sensors with digitized ADC output and digitally controlled actuation methods for on-chip characterization and healing of a mm-Wave power amplifier. We demonstrate low insertion loss (0.4dB) RF sensors which measure true input and output power in presence of load variations and very lowheadroom (10-30mV) DC sensors with built-in regulators and thermal sensors as […]

Up until recently, the terahertz frequency range (0.3 to 3THz) has been mostly addressed by high-mobility custom III-V processes, bulky and expensive nonlinear optics, or cryogenically cooled quantum cascade lasers. A low-cost room temperature alternative will enable a wide range of applications in security, defense, ultra-high-speed wireless communication, sensors, and biomedical imaging not currently accessible […]

Serial data links are often designed targeting a specific transmission medium. High-speed links using different predetermined transmission media have been demonstrated in the past [1-3]. This, however, restricts user’s ability to use an integrated link interface with other transmission media once the chip is fabricated. For example, traditional transceivers for copper interconnects typically transmit baseband […]

In this paper, the design of a wide-swing low-noise transconductance amplifier (LNTA) is presented in the context of passive mixer-based direct-conversion RF receivers, noting that the compression performance of such systems is limited by the initial voltage-to-current conversion. The proposed LNTA utilizes a stacked PMOS/NMOS common-gate configuration with its input common-mode voltage maintained by a […]

A new interconnect solution with plastic waveguide is demonstrated. The system consists of a pair of transceivers and a plastic waveguide. Millimeter wave signal is transmitted in a low-cost long piece of solid plastic dielectric acting as a waveguide. The plastic waveguide medium offers a large bandwidth for data communication using mm-wave carrier frequencies. Plastic […]

This paper presents an integrated THz imaging receiver in bulk 0.13μm SiGe technology. The receiver, based on direct power detection, achieves a peak responsivity of 2.6MV/W and 700kV/W and a NEP of 8.7pW/√Hz and 32.4 pW/√Hz at 0.25 THz and 0.3 THz, respectively. No external silicon lens or post- processing, such as substrate thinning, was […]

This paper presents a full-range broadband phase synthesis scheme with autonomous phase correction functionality. The on-chip phase measurement is achieved by a set of on-chip LO self-/inter-mixing testing sequences, which eliminates the need for auxiliary test tones. As a design example, a 2-to-6GHz quadrature phase synthesis system in a 65nm CMOS is demonstrated. The phase […]

On-chip spurious tone detection and correction in an 8-12 GHz CMOS synthesizer is used to automatically reduce spurious output tones at different offset frequencies by up to 20dB. Using synchronous detection, sensitivity is limited by detection time only. The presented methods are generally applicable to frequency synthesizers and phased-locked loops in various applications.

The paper demonstrates Distributed Active Radiator (DAR) arrays as a novel way of beam-forming at sub-THz frequencies in CMOS. Near-field coupling is shown to be a scalable method for mutually locking multiple DARs to beam-form and generate high EIRP. As proofs of concept, 2×1 and 2×2 arrays of DARs, mutually synchronized through near-field coupling, are implemented in 65nm bulk CMOS. The paper […]

Distributed Active Radiator (DAR) arrays are demonstrated as novel ways of harmonic generation, radiation, and filtration to generate power at frequencies above the cut-off frequency of a technology. As proofs-of-concept, 2×1 and 2×2 arrays of DAR with beam-forming are implemented on PCB, which are designed to oscillate at the fundamental frequency of 1.25GHz, while radiating […]

In this paper, a general framework for the adaptive feedforward cancellation of higher order intermodulation distortion (IMD) products is presented. By generating only second-order and principal-odd-order IMD reference products in the RF/analog domain and reproducing higher order IMD reference products at digital baseband, the proposed reference distortion scheme minimizes the analog hardware burden on the system. Inherent in this procedure is an […]

Motivated by different applications in circuits, electromagnetics, and optics, this paper is concerned with the synthesis of a particular type of linear circuit, where the circuit is associated with a control unit. The objective is to design a controller for this control unit such that certain specifications on the parameters of the circuit are satisfied. […]

This paper presents a 12.5+12.5Gb/s full-duplex plastic waveguide interconnect solution based on millimeter-wave signal transmission. The plastic waveguide is simply a long solid piece of plastic that provides a very simple, versatile, flexible, and low-cost transmission medium that has the main advantages of optical fiber in isolation and bandwidth, without the need for costly EO […]

Ten years ago, it was widely accepted conventional wisdom that watt level fully integrated power amplifiers (PAs) were not feasible in standard complimentary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) technology. Today, millions of such devices are commercially produced and shipped every month and are used in hundreds of millions of cellular phones across the world. Such dramatic transition from […]

Despite the aggressive scaling of silicon-based IC’s over the past few decades, the transistor characteristics have yet to improve so that the ‘THz’-range (~300GHz-to-3THz) circuits can be effectively designed using the conventional techniques. This has led the few attempts at signal generation at these frequencies in CMOS to produce very small power levels (e.g., tens of nano-watts)[1,2]. The broad range […]

We recently introduced passively controllable smart (PCS) antenna systems for efficient wireless transmission, with direct applications in wireless sensor networks. A PCS antenna system is accompanied by a tunable passive controller whose adjustment at every signal transmission generates a specific radiation pattern. To reduce co-channel interference and optimize the transmitted power, this antenna can be […]

A transformer-based high-order output matching network is proposed for broadband power amplifier design, which provides optimum load impedance for maximum output power within a wide operating frequency range. A design methodology to convert a canonical bandpass network to the proposed matching configuration is also presented in detail. As a design example, a push-pull deep class-AB PA is implemented with a third-order output […]

A novel millimeter-wave Intra-Connect solution for short range, high speed, internal I/O connections in low-power logic 40 nm CMOS process is demonstrated. The system consists of a transmitter and a receiver that uses binary amplitude shift keying (ASK) modulation for a compact and power efficient de- sign. The receiver realizes coherent demodulation using injection locking […]

This paper presents a scalable and ultra sensitive magnetic biosensing scheme based on on-chip LC resonance frequency-shifting. The sensor transducer gain is demonstrated as being location-dependent on the sensing surface and proportional to the local polarization magnetic field strength |B|2 generated by the sensing inductor. To improve the gain uniformity, a bowl-shape stacked coil together with floating shimming metal is proposed for […]

During the last decade, the unprecedented increase in the affordable computational power has strongly supported the development of optimization techniques for designing antennas. Among these techniques, genetic algorithm [1] and particle swarm optimization [2] could be mentioned. Most of these techniques use physical dimensions of an antenna as the optimization variables, and require solving Maxwell’s […]

This paper studies the constellation diagram design for a class of communication systems known as near-field direct antenna modulation (NFDAM) systems. The modulation is carried out in a NFDAM system by means of a control unit that switches among a number of pre-designed passive controllers such that each controller generates a desired voltage signal at […]

The generalized method of time and transfer con- stants is introduced. It can be used to determine the transfer function to the desired level of accuracy in terms of time and transfer constants of first-order systems using exclusively low frequency calculations. This method can be used to determine the poles and zeros of circuits with […]

A compact, modular 16-way combiner is presented which is based on a self-similar combiner topology. The combiner achieves a simulated passive efficiency of 38% at 77 GHz in a standard 90nm process with 1.49jlm thick AI top metal. A 77 GHz power amplifier is built based on the combiner, combining the output power of 16 stages to achieve a Psat […]

A direct conversion receiver is demonstrated which operates in the presence of a rail-to-rail (+12.4dBm) out-of-band blocker and a -16.3dBm blocker, where the ICP1 is +12.5dBm and the uncorrected extrapolated IIP3 is +33.5dBm. IM distortion is adaptively cancelled via feedforward loops which are digitally expanded to reproduce higher order nonlinear reference terms. Cancellation improves input-referred total IM distortion by over 24dB, resulting in […]

This paper presents a scalable and ultrasensitive frequency-shift magnetic biosensing array scheme. The theoretical limit of the sensor noise floor is shown to be dominated by the phase noise of the sensing oscillators. To increase the sensitivity, a noise suppression technique, Correlated Double Counting (CDC), is proposed with no power overhead. As an implementation example, a 64-cell sensor array is designed […]

A push-pull Class-AB CMOS PA is implemented using a broadband load-pull matching technique. The amplifier achieves a -3 dB bandwidth of 5.2 to 13 GHz with +25.2 dBm peak Psat and 21.6% peak PAE. The EVM for QPSK (4.5 MS/S) and 16 QAM (5 MS/s) are below 2.9% and 6.8% at 1 dB compression point. The […]

An 11 Gb/s low-power millimeter-wave end-to-end solution for short-range wireless intra-connect with an active footprint of 0.13 mm2 per channel is demonstrated. Implemented in 40 nm CMOS, the 60 GHz transmitter and the injection-locked receiver achieve coherent transmission with BER of 10e-11 over a distance of 14 mm.

A broad class of problems in circuits, electromagnetics, and optics can be expressed as finding some parameters of a linear system with a specific type. This paper is concerned with studying this type of circuit using the available control techniques. It is shown that the underlying problem can be recast as a rank minimization problem […]

The power mixer array is presented as a novel power generation approach for non-constant envelope signals. It comprises several power mixer units that are dynamically turned on and off to improve the linearity and back-off efficiency. At the circuit level, the power mixer unit can operate as a switching amplifier to achieve high peak power […]

Adaptive feedforward error cancellation applied to correct distortion arising from third-order nonlinearities in RF receivers requires low-noise low-power reference cubic nonidealities. Multistage cubic-term generators utilizing cascaded nonlinear operations are ideal in this regard, but the frequency response of the interstage circuitry can introduce errors into the cubing operation. In this paper, an overview of the use of cubic-term generators in receivers relative […]

An effective linearization technique capable of equalizing IM3 products resulting from an arbitrary out-of-band blocking scenario in a wideband direct conversion receiver is presented. IM3 products are regenerated in the RF analog domain of a low-power mixed-signal feedforward path and are used to cancel analogous signal terms in the original receiver at digital baseband via […]

An integrated spectral-scanning nuclear magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) transceiver is implemented in a 0.12 m SiGe BiCMOS process. The MRI transmitter and receiver circuitry is designed specifically for small-scale surface MRI diagnostics applications where creating low (below 1 T) and inhomogeneous magnetic field is more practical. The operation frequency for magnetic resonance detection and analysis is tunable from 1 kHz to 37 […]

A near-field direct antenna modulation (NFDAM) transmitter at 2.4GHz is demonstrated on a microstrip setting. The transmitter is capable of transmitting information in a direction-dependent fashion by sending the correct signal constellation only in the desired direction while leaving the signal constellation points scrambled in undesired directions. This direction-dependent constellation scrambling nature of the NFDAM […]

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The noise figure (NF) of a front-end low-noise amplifier (LNA) places a lower bound on the sensitivity of a receiver. In a conventional LNA, there is a tradeoff between the intrinsic input capacitance of the input transistors and the achievable bandwidth (BW) of the amplifier. This makes it necessary to use smaller transistors at higher […]

In this paper, a wideband watt-level fully-integrated CMOS power amplifier (PA) for non-constant modulation been demonstrated. The output currents of sixteen power mixer cores are combined at their drains, where the non-constant envelope RF signal is regenerated.

Future point-of-care (PoC) molecular-level diagnosis requires advanced biosensing systems that can achieve high sensitivity and portability at low power consumption levels, all within a low price-tag for a variety of applications such as in-field medical diagnostics, epidemic disease control, biohazard detection, and forensic analysis. Magnetically labeled biosensors are proposed as a promising candidate to potentially […]

This paper reports a SAW-less direct-conversion receiver which utilizes a mixed-signal feedforward path to regenerate and adaptively cancel IM3 products, thus accomplishing system-level linearization. The receiver system performance is dominated by a custom integrated RF front end implemented in 130-nm CMOS and achieves an uncorrected out-of-band IIP3 of 7.1 dBm under the worst-case UMTS FDD Region 1 blocking specifications. Under IM3 equalization, […]

This paper reports a 6-to-18 GHz integrated phased array receiver implemented in 130-nm CMOS. The receiver is easily scalable to build a very large-scale phased-array system. It concurrently forms four independent beams at two different frequencies from 6 to 18 GHz. The nominal conversion gain of the receiver ranges from 16 to 24 dB over the entire band while the worst-case […]

A near-field direct antenna modulation (NFDAM) technique is introduced, where the radiated far-field signal is modulated by time-varying changes in the antenna near-field electromagnetic (EM) boundary conditions. This enables the transmitter to send data in a direction-dependent fashion producing a secure communication link. Near-field direct antenna modulation (NFDAM) can be performed by using either switches […]

Concentric distributed active transformers (DAT) are used to implement a fully-integrated quad-band power amplifier (PA) in a standard 130 nm CMOS process. The DAT enables the power amplifier to integrate the input and output matching networks on the same silicon die. The PA integrates on-chip closed loop power control and operates under supply voltages from 2.9 V to 5.5 V in […]

A SAW-less direct-conversion receiver is presented which utilizes a mixed-signal feedforward path to regenerate and equalize IM3 products, thus accomplishing system-level linearization. The receiver system performance is dominated by a custom integrated front end realized in 130nm CMOS and achieves an uncorrected out-of-band IIP3 of -7.1dBm under the worst-case UMTS FDD Region 1 blocking specifications. IM3 equalization results in an effective IIP3 […]

We describe how a 2-D rectangular lattice of inductors and capacitors can serve as an analog Fourier transform de- vice, generating an approximate discrete Fourier transform (DFT) of an arbitrary input vector of fixed length. The lattice displays diffractive and refractive effects and mimics the combined optical effects of a thin-slit aperture and lens. Diffraction […]

Sensors based on nanoelectromechanical systems vibrating at high and ultrahigh frequencies1 are capable of levels of performance that surpass those of larger sensors. Nanoelectromechanical devices have achieved unprecedented sensitivity in the detection of displacement2, mass3, force4 and charge5. To date, these milestones have been achieved with passive devices that require external periodic or impulsive stimuli to excite them into resonance. Here, […]

Millimeter-waves integrated circuits offer a unique opportunity for a holistic design approach encompassing RF, analog, and digital, as well as radiation and electromagnetics. The ability to deal with the complete system covering a broad range from the digital circuitry to on-chip antennas and everything in between offers unparalleled opportunities for completely new architectures and topologies, which were previously impossible due the […]

Millimeter-waves integrated circuits offer a unique opportunity for a holistic design approach encompassing RF, analog, and digital, as well as radiation and electromagnetics. The ability to deal with the complete system from the digital circuitry to on-chip antennas and everything in between offers unparalleled opportunities for completely new architectures and topologies, previously impossible due the […]

This paper presents a scalable phased-array receiver system that covers a tritave bandwidth of 6-to-18 GHz implemented in a 130nm CMOS process. The single receiver element with a 10-bit phase shifting resolution achieves a maximum phase error of 2.50 within a baseband amplitude variation of 1.5dB for an arbitrary target angle. This dense interpolation provides excellent’ phase error/offset calibration capability in the […]

This paper presents a study and design of tunable concurrent dual-band receiver. Different system architectures and building blocks have been compared and analyzed. A tunable concurrent dual-band receiver front end has then been fabricated and characterized. It operates across a tri-tave 6-18GHz bandwidth with a nominal 17- 25dB conversion gain, worst-case -15dBm IIP3, and worst case -24.5dBm ICP1dB.

Fully integrated frequency-phase generators for a 6-18GHz wide-band phased-array receiver element are presented that generate 5-7GHz and 9-12GHz first LO signals with less than -95dBc/Hz phase noise at 100kHz offset. Second LO signals with digitally controllable four quadrant phase- and amplitude spread with better than 3o resolution are generated and allow removal of systematic reference clock skew as well as accurate selection […]

This paper presents a near-field reflector switching technique that can generate independently controlled modulated signals for sufficiently different angles of radiation. This technique can be used either to transmit different data in different directions simultaneously, or to generate the correct signal constellation only in the desired direction and scrambled ones for other angles, creating a […]

The presented PA proves the viability of CMOS technology for watt-level fully integrated power generation for wireless applications and serves as another step toward a single-chip cell-phone.

The wideband direct-conversion receiver architecture is proposed in this paper. In order to provide a quantitative design objective, the UMTS standard is targeted. The single-ended-to-differential conversion previously handled by an inter-stage SAW filter is now performed by a balun. The balun is followed by high-P2 MP mixers driven by Cherry-Hooper LO buffers. The MP BB […]

This paper describes the general architecture and the signal-path behavior of a CMOS programmable phased-array receiver element that simultaneously operates at two frequencies between 6 and 18GHz (a tritave) while forming four independently controlled beams.

An integrated spectral-scanning magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) technique is implemented in a 0.12μm SiGe BiCMOS process. This system is designed for small-scale MRI applications with non-uniform and low magnetic fields. The system is capable of generating customized magnetic resonance (MR) excitation signals, and also recovering the MR response using a coherent direct conversion receiver. The […]

This paper presents a 10-bit wideband Cartesian phase rotator with a novel linear digital VGA implemented in a 0.13um CMOS process. The VGA topology is robust to device modeling uncertainties and PVT variations. The system provides 7.8dB voltage gain with -3dB bandwidth of 7.6GHz. A maximum phase error of 2º has been achieved for a […]

Millimeter-waves offer promising opportunities and interesting challenges to silicon integrated circuit and system designers. These challenges go beyond standard circuit design questions and span a broader range of topics including wave propagation, antenna design, and communication channel capacity limits. It is only meaningful to evaluate the benefits and shortcoming of silicon-based mm-wave integrated circuits in this broader context. This paper reviews […]

In this paper, we present a comprehensive stochastic model describing the measurement uncertainty, output signal, and limits of detection of affinity-based biosensors. The biochemical events within the biosensor platform are modeled by a Markov stochastic process, describing both the probabilistic mass transfer and the interactions of analytes with the capturing probes. To generalize this model and incorporate the detection […]

This work demonstrates W-band integrated dipole antennas and a four channel phased transceiver implemented in IBM 130 nm silicon germanium BiCMOS process. The chip includes the complete receiver, transmitter, signal generation blocks, phase shifters, and on-chip dipole antennas. A hemispherical silicon lens with diameter of about one inch is also used to remove the substrate modes. Measurement results show a maximum antenna gain of about +8 dB.

A novel breakdown voltage (BV) multiplier is introduced that makes it possible to generate high output voltage swings using transistors with low breakdown voltages. The timing analysis of the stage is used to optimize its dynamic response. A 10 Gb/s optical modulator driver with a differential output voltage swing of 8 V on a 50 load was implemented in a SiGe […]

A 60GHz RF-combining phased-array front-end is implemented in silicon using a hybrid parallel/series phase-shift approach that reduces the requirements of the on-chip phase shifters. The 4-element array provides for simultaneous illumination of 2 angles of incidence and includes amplitude control and continuous phase adjustment. The front-end NF <6.9dB at 60GHz and the array achieves full […]

A 77-GHz, +17.5 dBm power amplifier (PA) with fully integrated 50- input and output matching and fabricated in a 0.12- m SiGe BiCMOS process is presented. The PA achieves a peak power gain of 17 dB and a maximum single-ended output power of 17.5 dBm with 12.8% of power-added efficiency (PAE). It has a 3-dB bandwidth of 15 GHz and draws […]

Integration of mm-wave multiple-antenna systems on silicon-based processes enables complex, low-cost systems for high frequency communication and sensing applications. In this paper, the transmitter and LO-path phase-shifting sections of the first fully integrated 77-GHz phased-array transceiver are presented. The SiGe transceiver utilizes a local LO-path phase-shifting architecture to achieve beam steering and includes four transmit and receive elements, along with the LO […]

In this paper, we present the receiver and the on-chip antenna sections of a fully integrated 77-GHz four-element phased-array transceiver with on-chip antennas in silicon. The receiver section of the chip includes the complete down-conversion path comprising low-noise amplifier (LNA), frequency synthesizer, phase rotators, combining amplifiers, and on-chip dipole antennas. The signal combining is performed using a novel distributed active combining amplifier […]

This paper describes the design of an integrated coupled-oscillator array in SiGe for millimeter-wave applications. The design focuses on a scalable radio architecture where multiple dies are tiled to form larger arrays. A 2 2 oscillator array for a 60-GHz transmitter is fabricated with integrated power amplifiers and on-chip antennas. To lock between multiple dies, an injection-locking scheme appropriate for wire-bond […]

The authors demonstrate Brownian-noise-limited operation of an optomechanical oscillator, wherein mechanical oscillations of a silica optical microcavity are sustained by means of radiation pressure. Using phase noise measurement above threshold, it has been shown that the short-term line width of mechanical oscillations is fundamentally broadened, limited by thermal equipartition of energy.

We present for the first time a detailed experimental study of the oscillation frequency, linewidth, RF spectrum and the phase noise of a radiation-pressure-driven micromechanical oscillator in a microtoroid geometry. Through this study we identify the critical parameters for optimal operation of this device and derive key expressions for tailoring the desired characteristics. The outcome of this study […]

A novel approach to equalization of high-speed serial links combines both amplitude pre-emphasis to correct for intersymbol interference and phase pre-emphasis to compensate for deterministic jitter, in particular, data-dependent jitter. Phase preemphasis augments the performance of low power transmitters in bandwidth-limited channels. The transmitter circuit is implemented in a 90-nm bulk CMOS process and reduces power consumption by pushing CMOS static logic […]

This paper describes an integrated coupled oscillator array in SiGe for millimeter wave applications. The design focuses on scalable radio architectures where multiple dies are tiled to form larger arrays. A 2×2 oscillator array for a 60GHz transmitter is designed with integrated power amplifiers and antennas. The 2×2 array demonstrates a 200MHz locking range and […]

A novel jitter equalization circuit is presented that addresses crosstalk-induced jitter in high-speed serial links. A simple model of electromagnetic coupling demonstrates the generation of crosstalk-induced jitter. The analysis highlights unique aspects of crosstalk-induced jitter that differ from far-end crosstalk. The model is used to predict the crosstalk-induced jitter in 2-PAM and 4-PAM, which is compared to measurement. Furthermore, the model suggests […]

Abstract—Data-dependent jitter limits the bit-error rate (BER) performance of broadband communication systems and aggravates synchronization in phase-and delay-locked loops used for data recovery. A method for calculating the data-dependent jitter in broadband systems from the pulse response is discussed. The impact of jitter on conventional clock and data recovery circuits is studied in the time and frequency domain. The deterministic nature of […]

We propose a class of electrical circuits for extremely wideband
EWB signal shaping. A one-dimensional, nonlinear, nonuniform transmission line is proposed for narrow pulse generation. A two-dimensional transmission lattice is proposed for EWB signal combining. Model equations for the circuits are derived. Theoretical and numerical solutions of the model equations are presented, showing that the circuits can be used […]

On-chip antennas are used in a fully integrated phased-array receiver at 77GHz. The complete down-conversion, power-combining, and phase-generation functions are integrated in silicon with no external mm-wave electrical connections. Each of the 4 receiver elements has 41dB of gain with a NF of 8dB with a system BW of 3GHz.

A fully integrated 77GHz 4-element phased-array transmitter in 0.12mum SiGe BiCMOS based on a continuous local phase shifting approach is presented. Each element generates +12.5dBm output power at 77GHz and has 34dB gain from baseband to RF with a bandwidth of 2.5GHz. The chip demonstrates successful beam-steering at 77GHz.

A number of different CMOS implementations of power amplifiers (PAs) have performed well [1-4], but most of them are switching-type PAs. In this paper, we report the first demonstration of a single-chip linear CMOS PA for OFDM WLAN applications. This PA adopts a fully differential topology with a transformer- type output matching and operates at […]

A non-uniform 2D propagation medium is compatible with modern IC processes and is used to produce a 4-to-1 broadband power combiner called an electrical funnel. The combiner is used in a wideband power amplifier in a 0.13mum SiGe BiCMOS process and yields 125mW peak output power at 85GHz with a 24GHz 3dB bandwidth.

This paper presents the first fully integrated 24-GHz phased-array transmitter designed using 0.18- m CMOS transistors. The four-element array includes four on-chip CMOS power amplifiers, with outputs matched to 50 , that are each capable of generating up to 14.5 dBm of output power at 24 GHz. The heterodyne transmitter has a two-step quadrature up-conversion architecture with local oscillator (LO) frequencies of […]

An eye-opening monitor (EOM) architecture that can capture a two-dimensional (2-D) map of the eye diagram of a high speed data signal has been developed. Two single-quadrant phase rotators and one digital-to-analog converter (DAC) are used to generate rectangular masks with variable sizes and aspect ratios. Each mask is overlapped with the received eye diagram and the number of signal transitions […]

We present a method for predicting data-dependent jitter (DDJ) introduced by a general linear time-invariant LTI system based on the system’s unit step response. We express the exact DDJ of a first-order system and verify the validity of the solution experimentally. We then propose a perturbation technique to generalize the analytical expression for DDJ. We highlight the significance of the unit […]

A decade ago, RF CMOS, even at low gigahertz frequencies, was considered an oxymoron by all but the most ambitious and optimistic. Today, it is a dominating force in most commercial wireless applications (e.g., cellular, WLAN, GPS, BlueTooth, etc.) and has proliferated into areas such as watt level power amplifiers (PA) [1] that have been […]

Silicon offers a new set of possibilities and challenges for RF, microwave, and millimeter-wave applications. While the high cutoff frequencies of the SiGe heterojunction bipolar transistors and the ever-shrinking feature sizes of MOSFETs hold a lot of promise, new design techniques need to be devised to deal with the realities of these technologies, such as low breakdown voltages, lossy substrates, low-Q […]

A novel jitter equalization circuit is presented that addresses crosstalk-induced jitter in high-speed communication links. A simplified model of electromagnetic coupling demonstrates the generation of crosstalk-induced jitter. This model suggests an equalizer that compensates for the data induced electromagnetic coupling between adjacent links. Additionally, a data-dependent jitter equalizer that provides separate adjustments of rising and […]

A 77GHz, +17.5dBm fully-integrated power amplifier (PA) with 50Ω input and output matching is fabricated in a 0.12μm SiGe BiCMOS process. The power amplifier achieves a peak power gain of 17dB and a maximum single-ended output power of +17.5dBm with 12.8% of power-added efficiency (PAE). It has a 3dB bandwidth of 15GHz and draws 165mA […]

A 24-GHz +14.5-dBm fully integrated power amplifier with on-chip 50-input and output matching is demonstrated in 0.18- m CMOS. The use of substrate-shielded coplanar waveguide structures for matching networks results in low passive loss and small die size. Simple circuit techniques based on stability criteria derived result in an unconditionally stable amplifier. The power amplifier […]

An alternative architecture for instantaneous data recovery for burst-mode communication is introduced. The architecture can perform 1: demultiplexing without additional clock recovery phase-locked loop or sampling blocks. A finite-state machine (FSM) is formed with combinational logic and analog LC transmission line delay cells in a feedback loop. The FSM responds to input data transitions instantaneously and sets the outputs. The system reduces […]

We present a method for estimating data dependent jitter (DDJ) introduced by a general LTI system, based on the system’s step response. A perturbation technique is used to generalize the analytical expression for DDJ. Different scales of DDJ are defined that characterize the probability distribution of jitter. In particular, we identify a dominant prior bit […]

A fully integrated radio on a chip offers innumerable advantages and several challenges. In this article, we will discuss some of these opportunities and challenges for a fully-integrated CMOS PA and see how the distributed active transformer (DAT) technology can over come them.

Nonlinear transmission lines (NLTL) are used for pulse shaping. We developed the theory of pulse propagation through the NLTL. The problem of a wide pulse degenerating into multiple pulses rather than a single pulse is solved by using a gradually scaled NLTL. We exploit certain favorable properties of accumulation-mode MOS varactors to design an NLTL […]

A local-oscillator phase-shifting approach is introduced to implement a fully integrated 24-GHz phased-array receiver using an SiGe technology. Sixteen phases of the local oscillator are generated in one oscillator core, resulting in a raw beam-forming accuracy of 4 bits. These phases are distributed to all eight receiving paths of the array by a symmetric network. The appropriate phase for each path […]

An eye-opening monitor circuit in 0.13 μm CMOS operates from 1 to 12.5Gbit/s at 1.2V supply. It maps the input eye to a 2D error diagram with 68dB mask error dynamic range. Left and right halt of the eye are monitored separately to capture asymmetric eyes. Tested input amplitude is from 50 to 400mV. The […]

A fully integrated 4-element phased-array transmitter at 24 GHz with on-chip PAs is implemented in a 0.18 μm CMOS process. It has a beam-forming resolution of 10°, a peak-to-null ratio of 23 dB, and isolation between paths of 28 dB. Each CMOS PA can deliver up to +14 dBm into a 50 Ω load. The […]

This paper reports the first fully integrated 24-GHz eight-element phased-array receiver in a SiGe BiCMOS technology. The receiver utilizes a heterodyne topology and the signal combining is performed at an IF of 4.8 GHz. The phase-shifting with 4 bits of resolution is realized at the LO port of the first down-conversion mixer. A ring LC voltage-controlled oscillator (VCO) generates 16 different […]

An analysis for calculating data-dependent jitter (DDJ) in a first-order system is introduced. The predicted DDJ features unique threshold crossing times with self-similar geometry. An approximation for DDJ in second-order systems is described in terms of the damping factor and natural frequency. Higher order responses demonstrate conditions under which unique threshold crossing times do not exist and total jitter is minimized. The […]

A 24GHz, +14.5dBm fully-integrated power amplifier with 50Q input and output matching is fabricated using 0.18pm CMOS transistors. To enable this, a shielded-substrate coplanar waveguide transmission line structure is used to achieve low loss and small area. The power amplifier achieves a power gain of 7dB and a maximum single-ended output power of +14.5dBm with […]

A novel breakdown voltage (BV) doubler is introduced that makes it possible to generate high output voltage swings using transistors with low breakdown voltages. The timing analysis of the stage is used to optimize its dynamic response. A 10Gb/s optical modulator driver with a differential output voltage swing of 8V on a 50Ω load was […]

An equalization circuit is presented that reduces data-dependent jitter by aligning data transition deviations. This paper presents an analytic solution to data-dependent jitter and demonstrates its impact on the phase noise of the recovered clock. A data-dependent jitter equalizer is presented that compensates the impairment of the channel and lowers the phase noise of the […]

A technique for bandwidth enhancement of a given amplifier is presented. Adding several interstage passive matching networks enables the control of transfer function and frequency response behavior. Parasitic capacitances of cascaded gain stages are isolated from each other and absorbed into passive networks. A simplified design procedure, using well-known low-pass filter component values, is introduced. To demonstrate the feasibility of the method, […]

Phased array systems, a special case of MIMO systems, take advantage of spatial directivity and array gain to increase spectral efficiency. Implementing a phased array system at high frequency in a commercial silicon process technology presents several challenges. This article focuses on the architectural and circuit-level trade-offs involved in the design of the first silicon-based fully integrated phased array system operating at 24 GHz. […]

Wireline signal processing circuits such as transversal equalizers rely on true time delay. An active analog delay stage is proposed that requires a sixteenth of the area of a comparable LC delay line. A delay reference loop is also presented to tune the delay stage against process, voltage, and temperature variations. A reference signal is […]

This paper presents an on-chip multiphase LO generation and distribution technique used to implement a fully-integrated 24-GHz 8-path phased-array receiver in silicon. Sixteen LO phases are generated by an LC ring oscillator and distributed by a symmetric network to all eight paths. The 8-path array achieves a phase shifting resolution of 22.5o and a total […]

This paper resolves the jitter impairment of non-return-to-zero data in transmission lines. The limited bandwidth of the transmission line introduces data dependent jitter. Crosstalk between neighboring lines results in bounded uncorrelated jitter in the data eye. An analytical approach to representing data-dependent jitter and crosstalk induced bounded uncorrelated jitter is presented. Comparison with jitter measurements […]

This paper reports the first 24-GHz CMOS front-end in a 0.18- m process. It consists of a low-noise amplifier (LNA) and a mixer and down converts an RF input at 24GHz to an IF of 5 GHz. It has a power gain of 27.5 dB and an overall noise figure of 7.7 dB with an input return loss, S11 […]

A 5.3GHz 0.18μm CMOS circular-geometry oscillator exploits high Q of slab inductors. The oscillator draws 10mA from 1.4V with a phase noise of -147.3dBc/Hz at 10MHz offset. A second 5.4GHz circular-geometry VCO has a tuning range of 8% with phase noise of -142.2dBc/Hz at 10MHz offset while drawing 12mA from a 1.8V supply.

A fully integrated 8-channel phased-array receiver at 24 GHz is demonstrated. Each channel achieves a gain of 43 dB, noise figure of 8 dB, and an IIP3 of -11dBm, consuming 29 mA of current from a 2.5 V supply. The 8-channel array has a beam-forming resolution of 22.5°, a peak-to- ratio of 20 dB (4-bits), […]

Intersymbol interference (ISI) caused by intermodal dispersion in multimode fibers is the major limiting factor in the achievable data rate or transmission distance in high-speed multimode fiber-optic links for local area networks applications. Compared with optical-domain and other electrical-domain dispersion compensation methods, equalization with transversal filters based on distributed circuit techniques presents a cost-effective and low power solution. The design of integrated […]

Non-linear transmission limes (NLTL) are used for pulse shaping. We developed the theory of pulse propagation through the NLTL. The problem of a wide pulse degenerating into multiple pulses rather than a single pulse is solved by using a novel gradually scaled NLTL. We exploit certain favorable properties of accumulation mode MOS varactors to design […]

Statistical properties of integrated passive LC delay lines are investigated. A new variation using spiral inductors and vertical parallel plate (VPP) capacitors is introduced whose delay is primarily determined by the lateral dimensions, resulting in very accurate and repeatable delays. An MIM-based version of this line is also fabricated for comparison. Additionally, LC delay-based oscillators […]

A new family of switching amplifiers, each member having some of the features of both class E and inverse F, is introduced. These class-E/F amplifiers have class-E features such as incorporation of the transistor parasitic capacitance into the circuit, exact truly switching time-domain solutions, and allowance for zero-voltage-switching operation. Additionally, some number of harmonics may be tuned in the fashion of […]

This paper demonstrated the first 2-stage, 2.8W, 1.8V, 1.9GHz fully-integrated DAT power amplifier with 50Ω input and output matching using 0.18μm CMOS transistors. It has a small-signal gain of 27dB. The amplifier provides 2.8W of power into a 50Ω load with a PAE of 50%.

A differential 7-tap transverse filter was designed and used to equalize an 850nm multimode link. The ISI penalty was reduced from 11dB to 2.2dB on a 10Gb/s link with 600m of 50μm next-generation multimode fiber.

This paper presents a new physical theory of oscillator phase noise. Built around the concept of phase diffusion, this work bridges the fundamental physics of noise and existing oscillator phase-noise theories. The virtual damping of an ensemble of oscillators is introduced as a measure of phase noise. The explanation of line width compression through virtual damping provides a unified view of […]

Differential 4-tap and 7-tap transverse filters are designed in a 0.18 μm SiGe BiCMOS technology for equalization of 10Gb/s multimode fiber optic signals. The 7-tap equalizer reduced the ISI of a 10Gb/s signal received through 300m of 50 μm noncompliant next generation multimode fiber from 4.2dB to 0.8dB. The circuit dissipates 40mW from a 3.3V supply.

A novel noise-shifting differential Colpitts VCO is presented. It uses current switching to lower phase noise by cyclostationary noise alignment and improve the start-up condition. A design strategy is also devised to enhance the phase noise performance of quadrature coupled oscillators. Two integrated VCOs are presented as design examples.

The phase noise of a distributed oscillator is evaluated very simply by identifying an effective capacitance equal to the total capacitance distributed along the transmission lines. The contributions of the various passive and active noise sources to the total phase noise are calculated revealing several guidelines for improved distributed oscillator designs.

This paper reports the first 24GHz 0.18-¹m CMOS front-end. It down-converts an RF input at 24GHz range to an IF of 5GHz range with a power gain of 27.5dB and an overall noise figure of 7.7dB. It achieves an input return loss, S11 of -21dB drawing 43mA from a 1.5V supply. The LNA achieves a […]

A new technique for bandwidth enhancement of amplifiers is developed. Adding several passive networks, which can be designed independently, enables the control of transfer function and frequency response behavior. Parasitic capacitances of cascaded gain stages are isolated from each other and absorbed into passive networks. A simplified design procedure, using well-known filter component values is […]

A 250 W dual-band power amplifier belonging to the Class E/F switching amplifier family is presented. The amplifier operates in the 7 MHz and 10 MHz HAM bands, achieving 16 dB and 1 5 d B gain with power added efficiencies (PAE) of 92 70 and 87 % in those bands, respectively. It utilizes dual-resonant […]

This paper presents a new point of view of oscillator noise, bringing transparent insight into the phase noise. This work bridges fundamental physics of noise and existing oscillator phase noise theories and reveals the direct correspondence of phase noise and the Einstein relation. The concept of virtual damping is presented utilizing an ensemble of oscillators […]

A novel on-chip impedance matching and power combining method, the distributed active transformer is presented. It combines several low-voltage push–pull amplifiers efficiently with their outputs in series to produce a larger output power while maintaining a 50- match. It also uses virtual ac grounds and magnetic couplings extensively to eliminate the need for any off chip component, such as tuned bonding wires […]

Theoretical limits for the capacitance density of integrated capacitors with combined lateral and vertical field components are derived. These limits are used to investigate the efficiency of various capacitive structures such as lateral flux and quasifractal capacitors. This study leads to two new capacitor structures with high lateral-field efficiencies. These new capacitors demonstrate larger capacities, superior matching properties, tighter tolerances, and higher […]

A 0.35 μm VCO uses current switching to increase voltage swing, lower phase noise by cyclostationary noise alignment, and improve startup reliability. A CMOS VCO in a 3-metal, 0.35 μm process has -139 dBc/Hz phase noise at 3 MHz offset from a 1.8 GHz carrier and 30% of continuous tuning using inductors with Q of […]

“Distributed integrated circuits are presented as “a methodology to design high-frequency commu- nication building blocks. Distributed circuits oper- ate based on multiple parallel signal path s working in synchronization that can be used to enhance the frequency of operation, combine power, and enhance the robustness of the design. These multiple signal paths usually result i n […]

In this paper, we compare the performance of the newly introduced distributed active transformer (DAT) structure to that of conventional on-chip impedance-transformations methods. Their fundamental power-efficiency limitations in the design of high-power fully integrated amplifiers in standard silicon process technologies are analyzed. The DAT is demonstrated to be an efficient impedance-transformation and power-combining method, which combines several low-voltage push–pull amplifiers in series by […]

The concept of concurrent multiband low-noise-amplifiers (LNAs) is introduced. A systematic way to design concurrent multiband integrated LNAs in general is developed. Applications of concurrent multiband LNAs in concurrent multiband receivers together with receiver architecture are discussed. Experimental results of a dual-band LNA implemented in a 0.35- m CMOS technology as a demonstration of the concept and theory is presented.

Underlying physical mechanisms controlling the noise properties of oscillators are studied. This treatment shows the importance of inductance selection for oscillator noise optimization. A design strategy centered around an inductance selection scheme is executed using a practical graphical optimization method to optimize phase noise subject to design constraints such as power dissipation, tank amplitude, tuning range, startup condition, and diameters of spiral […]

A new concurrent dual-band receiver architecture is introduced that is capable of simultaneous operation at two different frequency bands. The concurrent operation results in higher bandwidth, lower total power dissipation and less sensitivity to channel variations. The architecture uses a novel concurrent dual-band low noise amplifier (LNA), combined with an elaborate frequency conversion scheme to […]

A 2.4-GHz, 2.2-W, 2-V fully integrated circular geometry power amplifier with 50Ω input and output matching is fabricated using 2.5V, 0.35μm CMOS transistors. It can also produce 450mW using a 1V supply. Harmonic suppression is 64dB or better. An on-chip circular geometry active-transformer is used to combine several push-pull low-voltage amplifiers efficiently to produce a […]

Theoretical limits for the capacitance density of lateral flux and quasi-fractal capacitors are calculated. These limits are used to investigate the efficiency of various capacitive structures such as lateral flux and quasi-fractal structures. This study leads to two new capacitor structures with high lateral field efficiency. Simulation and experimental results demonstrate higher capacity and superior […]

Distributed voltage-controlled oscillators (DVCOs) are presented as a new approach to the design of silicon VCOs at microwave frequencies. In this paper, the operation of distributed oscillators is analyzed and the general oscillation condition is derived, resulting in analytical expressions for the frequency and amplitude. Two tuning techniques for DVCOs are demonstrated, namely, the inherent-varactor tuning and delay-balanced current- steering tuning. A […]

Jitter and phase noise properties of phase-locked loops (PLL) are analyzed, identifying various forms of jitter and phase noise in PLLs. The effects of different building blocks on the jitter and phase noise performance of PLLs are demonstrated through a parallel analytical and graphical treatment of noise evolution in the phase locked loop.

A frequency divider is an essential building block and one of the major sources of power dissipation in widely-used frequency synthesizers. As the output frequency of the synthesizer increases, the trade-off between the speed and power dissipation of dividers becomes more critical. Narrow-band injection-locked frequency dividers (ILFD) dissipate a fraction of the energy stored in […]

Different methods to build integrated resonators and frequency tuning elements are reviewed. Two new figures of merit are defined and used to compare voltage-controlled oscillators (VCO) reported by various authors. It is shown that bipolar and CMOS VCOs can achieve similar performances.

A systematic approach to design of silicon bipolar distributed oscillators and VCOs is presented. The operation of distributed oscillators is analyzed and the general condition for oscillation is derived, resulting in analytical expressions for the frequency and amplitude of distributed oscillators. Special attention is paid to transmission line modeling that largely determines the performance of […]

A novel current-steering delay-balanced tuning technique for distributed voltage controlled oscillators (DVCO) is demonstrated. This tuning technique is used to design a DVCO operating at 10 GHz in a 0.35 p CMOS technology. The DVCO is continuously tunable between 9.9 and 10.3 GHz. Special attention is paid to the layout issues for the high frequency design.

A 10 GHz CMOS distributed voltage controlled oscillator (DVCO) is designed in a 0.35mm BiCMOS process technology using only CMOS transistors. The oscillator achieves a tuning range of 12% (9.3 GHz to 10.5 GHz) and a phase noise of -114 dBc/Hz at 1 MHz offset from a carrier frequency of 10.2 GHz. The VCO uses […]

A low-power fully-integrated type-2 4th-order 1.7GHz CMOS frequency synthesizer for DCS- 1800 application is designed and simulated in a 0.25pm process technology. The frequency switching is achieved using a novel architecture exploiting a direct digital synthesis (DDS) device as the frequency reference. The new topology significantly lowers the undesired sideband power due to divider ratio […]

 A complete analysis of noise in CMOS switching mixers using stochastic differential equations (SDE) is presented. The noise figure is calculated using this analysis which takes both cyclostationary noise sources and capacitive high frequency effects into account. The analysis leads to important design implications for mixer design and shows that some commonly-used approximations for mixer […]

A 4 2.4GHz LC voltage controlled oscillator is designed and optimized via linear programming and implemented in a 0 . 3 5 ~ ~ 1 RF BiCh4OS process technology. Our design methodology provides an insight to choosing design variables given with several constraints such as voltage swing, tuning range, and start-up condition. The on-chip spiral […]

Linear time-invariant (LTI) phase noise theories provide important qualitative design insights but are limited in their quantitative predictive power. Part of the difficulty is that device noise undergoes multiple frequency translations to become oscillator phase noise. A quantitative understanding of this process requires abandoning the principle of time invariance assumed in most older theories of phase noise. Fortunately, the noise-to-phase transfer function […]

A companion analysis of clock jitter and phase noise of single-ended and differential ring oscillators is presented. The impulse sensitivity functions are used to derive expressions for the jitter and phase noise of ring oscillators. The effect of the number of stages, power dissipation, frequency of oscillation, and short channel effects on the jitter and phase noise of ring oscillators […]

We present a method for optimizing and automating component and transistor sizing for CMOS LC oscillators. We observe that the performance measures can be formulated as posynomial functions of the design variables. As a result, the LC oscillator design problems can be posed as a geometric program, a special type of optimization problem for which very efficient global optimization methods have […]

An analysis of phase noise in differential crosscoupled inductance–capacitance (LC) oscillators is presented. The effect of tail current and tank power dissipation on the voltage amplitude is shown. Various noise sources in the complementary cross-coupled pair are identified, and their effect on phase noise is analyzed. The predictions are in good agreement with measurements over a large range of tail currents […]

A linear capacitor structure using fractal geometries is described. This capacitor exploits both lateral and vertical electric fields to increase the capacitance per unit area. Compared to standard parallel-plate capacitors, the parasitic bottom plate capacitance is reduced. Unlike conventional metal-to-metal capacitors, the capacitance density increases with technology scaling. A classic fractal structure is implemented with 0.6-m metal spacing, and a factor of […]

An analysis of phase noise in differential cross-coupled tuned tank voltage controlled oscillators is presented. The effect of active device noise sources as well as the noise due to the passive elements are taken into account. The predictions are in good agreement with the measurements for different tail currents and supply voltages. The effect of […]

An analysis of the phase noise in differential and single ended ring oscillators using a time-variant model is presented. An expression for the RMS value of the impulse sensitivity function (ISF) is derived. A closed-form equation for phase noise of ring oscillators is calculated and a lower limit on the phase noise of ring oscillators […]

This paper presents an analytical approach to the design of CMOS cross-coupled inverter sense amplifiers. The effects of the equilibrating transistors and the tail current source on the speed of the sense amplifier are analyzed. An analysis of the offset due to mismatch in various parameters is performed, showing that a complete offset analysis has […]

This paper introduces a high-density linear capacitor structure with low bottom-plate parasitics. The density of such a structure improves as process technologies scale.

A general model is introduced which is capable of making accurate, quantitative predictions about the phase noise of different types of electrical oscillators by acknowledging the true periodically time-varying nature of all oscillators. This new approach also elucidates several previously unknown design criteria for reducing close-in phase noise by identifying the mechanisms by which intrinsic device noise and external noise sources contribute […]