RF Microelectronics Chip Design

EE619 Spring 2012

Shalabh Gupta (shalabh@ee.iitb.ac.in)

EE Department, IIT Bombay

Lecture #1 (2-Jan-2012)
Course Logistics
Instructor:
Shalabh Gupta
Email: shalabh@ee.iitb.ac.in
please include EE619 in subject line of emails
Office Location: Room #122B, EE building

Lectures: 6:358:00pm, Monday & Thursday

Location: EEG-101
TAs : Pavan Vemuri, R Siva Rama Krishna,
Nandakumar

Shalabh Gupta (IIT Bombay) EE619 RF Microelectronics Chip Design Lecture 1 (2-Jan-2012) Slide # 2
Course Logistics

Prerequisites:
EE618 (CMOS Analog VLSI Design)
/ Good understanding of analog circuits and
CMOS transistor operation.

References:
RF Microelectronics (by Behzad Razavi), Prentice
Hall (1998).
The Design of CMOS Radio-Frequency Integrated
Circuits (by Thomas H. Lee), Cambridge
University Press, 2004.
Wikipedia

Shalabh Gupta (IIT Bombay) EE619 RF Microelectronics Chip Design Lecture 1 (2-Jan-2012) Slide # 3
Assignments and Exams
Assignments: 3-4
Only simulation assignments will be graded
Quizzes: 2-3 (based on assignments)

One design project :

CMOS RF Receiver / PLL (in groups of TWO)

Grading (subject to readjustment)

Assignments/Quizzes: 20%
Mid-sem exam: 25%
Design project: 25%
Final exam: 30%

Shalabh Gupta (IIT Bombay) EE619 RF Microelectronics Chip Design Lecture 1 (2-Jan-2012) Slide # 4
Course Contents
Circuit & system level issues in RF
transmitters/receivers (one-third)
Circuit architectures & implementation
in CMOS technology (two-thirds)

Shalabh Gupta (IIT Bombay) EE619 RF Microelectronics Chip Design Lecture 1 (2-Jan-2012) Slide # 5
Topics Covered

Fundamentals
Quick review of MOS device characteristics
If required

Basic units used in RF Systems

Power, gain, noise, phase noise etc. (dBm, dB,
dBm/Hz, dBc/Hz etc.)

Shalabh Gupta (IIT Bombay) EE619 RF Microelectronics Chip Design Lecture 1 (2-Jan-2012) Slide # 6
Topics Covered
Non-linearity in circuits and systems
Why is linearity important?
How non-linearity represented and quantified?
IP3, IP2, 1-dB compression point, two tone test
Magnitude (dB)

Input
Output

f1 Frequency f1 f2 Frequency

How to improve linearity at circuit level &

at system level

Shalabh Gupta (IIT Bombay) EE619 RF Microelectronics Chip Design Lecture 1 (2-Jan-2012) Slide # 7
Topics Covered
10 dB/div

How to define dynamic

Power range, SNR etc.?
Spectral Is this SNR?
Density

Frequency

Noise in Analog /RF circuits

Noise in Analog/RF circuits
Noise floor and Noise Figure
Noise Figure measurement

Noise/Linearity tradeoff (dynamic range)

Shalabh Gupta (IIT Bombay) EE619 RF Microelectronics Chip Design Lecture 1 (2-Jan-2012) Slide # 8
Topics Covered

Why LNA is the 1st block after antenna

Low Noise Amplifiers
How to quantify noise
CMOS LNA Topologies: Gain, Noise figure,
Linearity
High frequency considerations (stability etc.)
Shalabh Gupta (IIT Bombay) EE619 RF Microelectronics Chip Design Lecture 1 (2-Jan-2012) Slide # 9
Topics Covered

Overview of modulation and detection: from

circuits perspective
Modulation formats (AM, FM, QAM, PSK, FSK, etc.)
Bandwidth and power efficiency
Access techniques (FDMA, OFDM, CDMA, TDMA)
Wireless Standards

Q
16-QAM

Shalabh Gupta (IIT Bombay) EE619 RF Microelectronics Chip Design Lecture 1 (2-Jan-2012) Slide # 10
Topics Covered
RF transceiver architectures important
considerations
Homodyne vs. heterodyne
Image, interference and noise considerations
Software defined radios and direct digital
synthesis

Shalabh Gupta (IIT Bombay) EE619 RF Microelectronics Chip Design Lecture 1 (2-Jan-2012) Slide # 11
Topics Covered
Mixers
Topologies: SSB vs. DSB, active/passive
Image rejection and LO harmonic issues
Mismatches and feedthrough (LO/RF)
Noise figure of mixers

Shalabh Gupta (IIT Bombay) EE619 RF Microelectronics Chip Design Lecture 1 (2-Jan-2012) Slide # 12
Topics Covered
Voltage Controlled Oscillators
VCO topologies
Phase noise, oscillator pulling / pushing etc.

Phase locked loops

PLL components, loop dynamics
PLL architectures (Integer-N, Frac-N etc.)
Phase noise considerations
Shalabh Gupta (IIT Bombay) EE619 RF Microelectronics Chip Design Lecture 1 (2-Jan-2012) Slide # 13
Topics Covered
PHASE

AMPLITUDE
Power Amplifiers
PA Classes T.Sowalti et al., IEEE JSSC, 2004
Power efficiency Feedback loop controls
vs. linearity phase and amplitude to get
linear PA response
Linearization techniques
PAPR (Peak-to-Average Power Ratio)
Example: Transmitter for high efficiency
and linearity in PA
Shalabh Gupta (IIT Bombay) EE619 RF Microelectronics Chip Design Lecture 1 (2-Jan-2012) Slide # 14
 Goal of RF IC Design:
to view the stars in broad daylight!

Always remember this big picture!

Shalabh Gupta (IIT Bombay) EE619 RF Microelectronics Chip Design Lecture 1 (2-Jan-2012) Slide # 18