Publication Date
2016
Document Type
Dissertation
Committee Members
Chien-In Henry Chen (Advisor), Jack Jean (Committee Member), Wen-Ben Jones (Committee Member), Marian Kazimierczuk (Committee Member), Yang Zhuang (Committee Member)
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
Abstract
With the increasing demand for high performance RF front-end modules, like multimedia handset and base station devices accommodating multiple wireless standards (2G, 2.5G, 3G, WiMAX, and LTE). Multiple IF amplifiers, mixers, RF band pass filters (BPFs), modulators and demodulators are desired to be tunable to meet dynamic standards with different frequency bands. Tunable devices with wide tuning frequency range, tuning speed, high linearity, energy conservative, high pass band gain, high stop band rejection are the paramount components in the reconfigurable RF front-end systems. In this dissertation, first a wide tuning passive inductor band pass filter (BPF) with steep roll-off high rejection and low noise figure is presented. The design feature of steep roll-off high stopband rejection (> 20 dB) and low noise figure (< 6 dB) provides a wide tuning frequency span (1-2.04 GHz) to accept desirable signals and reject close interfering signals. Next, a process variation aware design approach is proposed to verify robustness of the BPF after calibration from process variations. By operating in 1.04 GHz tuning frequency span the BPF achieves a stable center frequency, an average maximum deviation 1.16 dB on a nominal pass band gain of 55.6 dB, and an average maximum deviation 1.06 MHz on a nominal bandwidth of 12.3 MHz. Next, a high inductance high Q factor floating CMOS RF active inductor (AI) is proposed, which uses a resistive feedback and a negative resistance block. By changing design parameters, an active inductor designed in 1.8 V 180 nanometer CMOS process achieves a tuning inductance range from 52 nH to 1,462 nH at 1.52 GHz and a maximum Q factor of 553k at 1.27 GHz. Its wide tunable frequency span can be increased to 3.09 GHz. Its power is below 7.59 mW. Next, a AI driven BPF is proposed, which increases the BPF tuning frequency span from the original 1.04 GHz (1.0 - 2.04 GHz) to 2.1 GHz (1.0 - 3.1 GHz) while keeps a pass band gain (21.1 ~ 28.2 dB). The AI driven BPF achieves a low noise figure (1.81~5.42 dB), a power consumption of 18.6 mW, and a high stopband rejection of 28.9 dB. The AI driven BPF tuning frequency span can be further increased to 7.74 GHz (0.39 - 8.13 GHz) with a pass band gain of 8.14 dB. Finally, a wide tuning inductorless BPF is proposed. The BPF has two tuning frequency spans: 1) a tuning frequency span of 1.33 GHz (0.74 - 2.07 GHz) while keeping a pass band gain (2.17 - 17.04 dB), a low noise figure (6.3 - 10.2 dB), and a power of 22.6 mW, and 2) a tuning frequency span of 1.26 GHz (1.15 - 2.41 GHz) while keeping a pass band gain (4.83 - 19.7 dB), a low noise figure (7.12 to 12.5 dB), and a power of 23.4 mW.
Page Count
119
Department or Program
Ph.D. in Engineering
Year Degree Awarded
2016
Copyright
Copyright 2016, all rights reserved. My ETD will be available under the "Fair Use" terms of copyright law.
