RF Microelectronic Circuits
Introduction
Lecture 1
Tufan C Karalar
September 30th 2024
Course Logistics
Ø RF Microelectronic Circuit Design
Ø Instructor: Assoc. Prof. Tufan C. Karalar
(tufan.karalar@itu.edu.tr)
Ø Time: Monday 8.30-11.30
Ø Room: 5201
Ø Course Web will be on
§ https://ninova.itu.edu.tr/Ders/20474/Sinif/93825
§ Announcements and notes will be distributed through
Ninova.
Ø Notes will be based on EE142 course notes from UC
Berkeley by Prof Ali Niknejad.
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Prerequisites
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Grading
Weight
Homeworks 30%
Midterm 30%
Final 40%
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Homeworks
ØProblem Sets that involve circuit analysis and
simulations.
ØDesign problems to allow designing circuits.
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Why Microelectronics
ØIntegrated circuits have been the greatest
enabler of rapid economic and technological
advances
ØMass production of very complex
functionalities
ØExpectation that electronics improve an get
cheaper ( opposite of other products) is
established by VLSI manufacturing
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VLSI History Timeline
Ø 1951: William Shockey invents transistor at Bell Labs
Ø Late 1950’s: Jack Kilby (TI), Jean Hoerni (Fairchild), Bob Noyce(Fairchild)
invent fundamentals of integrated circuit design
Ø 1960s: First analog and digital IC’s are designed.
Ø 1970s: first microprocessors, high volume products like wristwatch chips,
Digital telephony filter chips.
Ø 1980s: Microprocessors, Audio, Video Controllers, power electronics.
Ø 1990s: SoC’s for Ethernet, Cable TV, Wireless communications, power
management.
Ø 2000s: SoC’s for WiFi, ADSL, Graphics, Cellular networks etc.
Ø 2010s: Internet of things, Mobile communications
Ø 2020s: Post Covid19 semiconductor shortage
Ø 2020s IC design and manufacturing is a $400B industry
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Radio from 1950’s
ØBased on Vacuum tubes and discrete
components.
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Contemporary Phone
Contemporary
Phone
Teardown
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Contemporary Phone Radio Section
ØNew
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Extra: Contemporary Phone Logic
ØLogic Section
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RF Microchip
ØIntel 5757 RF Transceiver
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Course Topics
1. Introduction
2. Resonant Circuits
3. Matching networks
4. Distortion
5. Low Noise Amplifiers
6. Mixers
7. Oscillators
8. Power Amplifiers
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1. RF Transceiver Block Diagram
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2. Resonant circuits
ØBandpass response
ØFrequency selectivity
ØBasis for oscillators.
ØAlso very important for
any analog filter design
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3. Two ports + Matching networks
ØTwo port models to
design.
ØMatching networks to
transform impedances.
ØOptimizes power delivery.
ØTwo port models.
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4. Low Noise Amplifier
ØWideband and High Frequency
Low Noise Amplifiers
§ Review of frequency response
§ Narrow band and tuned amplifiers
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5. Distortion in Circuits
Ø Nonlinear components
generate distortion and
corrupt spectrum
Ø Sources of Distortion in
electronic circuits
Ø Evaluation Metrics
Ø Mitigation methods
§ Feedback for reducing distortion
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6. Mixers and Frequency Translation
ØMixers do shift the signal to carrier (TX) or
down to baseband(RX) frequencies
ØActive: Gilbert Cell Based voltage switching
ØPassive: Switch based Multipliers
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7. Oscillators
ØStartup and Steady-State analysis
ØFrequency and Amplitude stability
ØConcept of Negative filters
ØMain types of oscillators
ØVoltage Controlled oscillators
ØIntroduction to PLLs
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8. Power Amplifiers
ØPower amplifiers
§ Output Power
§ Efficiency
§ Classes
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Overview of Communication
Systems
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Communication System
Ø We will study circuits that deal with interfacing the
channel: Freq generation, Freq conversion, LNA, PA
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Source Data
ØMost data are Baseband in nature
ØBandwidth of some common signals
§ Bio sensors: 100Hz
§ Telephone: 5kHz
§ HiFi Audio: 20kHz
§ 3G CDMA data:2MHz
§ Uncompressed Analog Video: 5MHz
§ 802.11b/g data:22MHz
§ HDMI: 320MHz
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Wireless Propagation
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Spectrum Regulation
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Near Far Problem
Ø Nearby jammer overpowers further transmitter
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More About Interferers
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Multipath
ØMultipath
effectively
filters the
signal and
reduces
signal
strength
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AM Transmit (TX) Architectures
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AM Receiver (RX) Architectures
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FM TX/RX pair
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Generic Modern Receiver
ØSuper Heterodyne receiver
ØSecond conversion can be in digital
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Generic Modern Trasmitter
Ø Direct Conversion transmitter.
Ø I/Q channels can be
Ø Antenna is often shared with receiver
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Received Signal Strength / Sensitivity
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Selectivity
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RX filtering
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Transmitter Spectrum
Ø Efficient Power delivery power is a challenge.
Especially for low loads.
Ø Phase Noise and Distortion and extra error sources.
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