1. RF ICs and mm-Wave ICs Saurabh Sinha, PhD (Eng)
Microelectronics & Electronics Group University of Pretoria, South Africa
Saturday, 22 April 2017
Departement Elektriese, Elektroniese & Rekenaar-Ingenieurswese
Department of Electrical, Electronic & Computer Engineering
Kgoro ya Merero ya Mohlagase, Elektroniki & Bointšinere bja Khomphutha

2. Carl and Emily Fuchs Institute for Microelectronics
CEFIM
Founded in 1981 after receiving a grant from
Carl and Emily Fuchs
(1972 to 1981 Institute for Microstructures)
THE MOST
IMPORTANT
PEOPLE ARE
OUR GRADUATE
STUDENTS 2

3. The Microelectronics & Electronics Research Group
Director & Professor: Prof. Monuko du Plessis, Pr Eng (INSiAVA (Pty) ltd)
Associate Professor: Prof. Saurabh Sinha, Pr Eng
Lecturers: Johan Schoeman
Jannes Venter
Junior lecturers: Hannetjie Nell
Bongani Mabuza
Lindani Tshibe (part-time)
Post-Docs.: Dr Jevgēņijs Golovins (Latvia)
[Vacancy]
Visiting researchers: Dr Alina Cismaru (IMT, Romania)
Dr Alexandra Ştefănescu (IMT, Romania)
Researchers: Alfons Bogalecki (INSiAVA (Pty) ltd)
Marius Goosen (INSiAVA (Pty) ltd)
Project manager: Gerrie Mostert (INSiAVA (Pty) ltd)
#Postgraduate students (PhD and MEng/MSc): Approx. 20
#Undergraduate project students (BEng Year IV): Approx. 20 3

4. Postgraduate Courses EIN 732 Introduction to Research
Prof. J.A.G. Malherbe
EME 732 Analogue Electronic Design
Prof. M. du Plessis
EDG 780 Digital Electronic Design
Prof. S. Sinha, Mr J. Schoeman, Mr P.J. Venter
DPSS, CSIR
EMK 732 Communication Electronics
EPT 732 Research project – Theory
Study leader/Student dependent
ERL 732 Research project – Design and laboratory
EEY 890/1 Dissertation (MEng / MSc)
EIN 990/1 Thesis (PhD (Eng) / PhD) 4

5. Focus Areas & International Research Partners
CMOS / Si device manufacture  INSiAVA (Pty) ltd
Georgia Tech, Atlanta, USA
Others
RF, RF MEMS and mm-wave ICs
IMT, Bucharest, Romania
Dresden University of Technology, Dresden, Germany
University of Electronic Sciences and Technology, China
Sogang University, South Korea
ICE Laboratory, Georgia Tech., USA
Non-linear RF Lab, Ohio State University, USA
MEMS simulation and manufacture
IMTEK, University of Freiburg, Germany 5

6. Peer-reviewed Research Outputs
Year
Book
Chapter(s)
in books
Journals
(Published)
(Accepted)
International Conferences
Local
Conferences
2005 2 4 8
2006 1
2007 12
2008 3 9
2009 10 26
2010 7 6

7. Aspects of RF System Integration7

8. Prototyping ○ IC Foundries
A [CMP] Wafer
Europractice (Belgium)
MOSIS (USA)
CMP (France)
AMS
AMI
TSMC
UMC
IHP
IBM
CSMC
OMMIC ST
IC FOUNDRIES
CEFIM 8

9. RF Circuit Building Blocks9

10. Conservative versus Innovative Approach
Hybrid system
3D Structures
cm-Dimensions
Diversity of Materials
Good ac Isolation
Known good component yield
RF Ground Plane
Integrated RF system
Planar, Quasi-2D Structures
Sub-mm Dimensions
VLSI Technology Material Set
Coupling through lossy Silicon
Integrated circuit yield
Quasi-Floating Ground
Innovative Approach
Conservative Approach
Low-loss substrate
Micromachined structures
Wafer-level packaging
Unaltered VLSI technology
Circuit level innovation 10

11. System Component Statistics11

12. Hierarchy of RF Passives12

13. Discrete vs. Distributed13

14. High Performance Low-Power
Two Partition IC
High Performance Low-Power
Low Cost SiGe HBT
Analogue CMOS
Digital CMOS
Chip 1: RF SiGe HBT, IF CMOS; Chip 2 – Baseband analogue & digital (all CMOS) 14

15. Graduate Projects (2010) 2010: 2011: 9 Caucasian 9 Caucasian
Project Titles
Student
Course
1. A Low Phase Noise CMOS based Digital PLL
Gert Veale
M.Eng
2. A SiGe BiCMOS LNA for mm-Wave Applications
Christo Janse van Rensburg
3. A Temperature Stabilized High-Performance CMOS VCO for Ultra-Low Voltage Operations
Johny Sebastian
4. A Wideband Linear SiGe BiCMOS LNA for Ku-Band Receivers
Marnus Weststrate
5. A Zero IF Receiver for mm-Wave Applications
Antonie Alberts
6. Design Methods for Integrated Switching-Mode Power Amplifiers
Mladen Božanić
7. EEPROM Switches for Post-Assembly Tuning
Bongani Mabuza
8. Improving Gain Utilising Floating Shielding for Power Amplifiers at mm-Wave Frequencies
Lindani Tshibe
9. Improving Linearity Utilising Analogue Predistortion for Power Amplifiers at mm-Wave Frequencies
Joe Valliarampath
10. Modelling of transceiver propagation characteristics through an analogue SiGe BiCMOS circuit
Wynand Lambrechts
PhD (Eng)
11. Power Efficient High Speed Analogue-to-Digital Converter in SiGe BiCMOS
Nicolaas Fauré
12. Range and Sensitivity Improvement of Infrared Detectors Using CMOS Technology
Johan Venter
13. Reducing jitter utilising adaptive pre-emphasis FIR filter for high speed serial links
Marius Goosen
14. SiGe Based Multiple-Phase VCO Operating for mm-Wave Frequencies
Deepa George
PhD
15. Spurious Free Dynamic Range Enhancement of High Speed Integrated Digital to Analogue Converters
Reeshen Reddy
M.Eng (2011)
6 (African, Coloured, Indian)
9 Caucasian
2010:
2011:
9 (African, Coloured, Indian)
9 Caucasian 15

16. A 5 GHz VCO with 360° Variable Phase Outputs
Vector Sum
90°
VGA +
In-phase
Quadrature
Vcontrol_I
Vcontrol_Q
+ - 16

17. A 5 GHz SiGe CMOS Voltage Controlled Oscillator with Reduced Phase Noise17

18. Metal Layer Shunting (I)18

19. Metal Layer Shunting (II)19

20. Newer technologies (I)20

21. Newer technologies (II)
Quality Factor
Minimum Line Width (m) 21

22. Business Enterprises at University of Pretoria (Pty) Ltd (BE at UP) offers the Switch-mode Power Amplifier Design Tool and Inductance Calculator (PA Design Tool and Inductance Calculator).
As a result of a dissertation, a MATLAB script was developed, whereby the script/application can be used to design inductors for high frequency integrated circuit power amplifiers. The “PA Design Tool and Inductance Calculator” consists of two stand-alone applications: switch-mode power amplifier (PA) design tool for the design of Class-E and Class-F PAs (paprog.m); as well as an inductance calculator (indcal2.m) for the design of spiral inductors. Although the latter is meant to be used as an expansion of the former, it can also be used separately to design spiral inductors for any applications that might be needed: including DC-to-DC converters, low noise amplifiers (LNAs), etc. The tool has the ability to export complete PA design netlist in SPICE format recognised by most microelectronics design tools, including but not limited to Tanner Tools and Cadence Virtuoso. This netlist can be used in schematic generation and simulation and is therefore capable of handling complete PA design flow.
The software is a secondary outcome resulting from the dissertation of Mladen Božanić, a postgraduate student at the Carl & Emily Fuchs Institute for Microelectronics (CEFIM), a centre of the Department of Electrical, Electronic & Computer Engineering, University of Pretoria, South Africa
BE at UP is a company wholly owned by the University of Pretoria and provides and facilitates easy access to a multidisciplinary range of contract research and consulting expertise at the University.
For more information, please contact:
Business Enterprises at University of Pretoria (Pty) Ltd (BE at UP)
Ms Ilana Small
Telephone: /4245
Website: 22

23. University of Pretoria ○ Selected listing of funded projects (contract research)
Grintek Ewation
2 Project (1-2 years)
A 5 GHz SiGe CMOS Voltage Controlled Oscillator with Reduced Phase Noise (delivered)
A Zero IF Receiver for mm-Wave Applications (contract awarded)
Defence, Peace, Safety & Security (DPSS), CSIR
Armscor (Origin: DoD)
5 Student Postgraduate Projects (1-2 years each)
A 5 GHz Voltage Controlled Oscillator (VCO) with 360° Variable Phase Outputs (delivered)
Reducing Jitter in High-Speed Serial Links (completed)
A Linear SiGe BiCMOS LNA for Wide Band Receivers (completed)
A SiGe BiCMOS LNA for mm-Wave Applications (in progress)
Power Efficient High Speed Analogue-to-Digital Converter in SiGe BiCMOS (in progress) 23

24. Feedback/questions
Prof. Saurabh Sinha, Pr Eng, SMIEEE Carl & Emily Fuchs Institute for Microelectronics Dept.: Electrical, Electronic & Computer Engineering University of Pretoria Pretoria 0002 SOUTH AFRICA Tel: +27-(12) / 24