State-of-the-Art of Millimeter-Wave Silicon Technology

165 Pages·2022·4.085 MB·English

by  Jaco du Preez, Saurabh Sinha

Lecture Notes in Electrical Engineering 945
Jaco du Preez
Saurabh Sinha
State-of-the-Art
of Millimeter-Wave
Silicon Technology
Lecture Notes in Electrical Engineering
Volume 945
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·
Jaco du Preez Saurabh Sinha
State-of-the-Art
of Millimeter-Wave Silicon
Technology
Jaco du Preez Saurabh Sinha
University of Johannesburg University of Johannesburg
Johannesburg, South Africa Johannesburg, South Africa
ISSN 1876-1100 ISSN 1876-1119 (electronic)
Lecture Notes in Electrical Engineering
ISBN 978-3-031-14654-1 ISBN 978-3-031-14655-8 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-14655-8
© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature
Switzerland AG 2022
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Contents
1 Evolution of Millimeter-Wave Silicon Technology ................. 1
1.1 Millimeter-Wave Wireless Communications .................... 2
1.1.1 Regulatory Challenges and Spectrum Allocation .......... 3
1.1.2 Semiconductor Requirements by Application Area ........ 4
1.2 Millimeter-Wave Technology Overview ........................ 7
1.2.1 CMOS versus BiCMOS Introductory Comparison ........ 8
1.2.2 State-of-the-Art Semiconductor Technologies ............ 9
1.2.3 Summary of Semiconductor Technology Options ......... 10
References ..................................................... 14
2 Millimeter-Wave Silicon Passive Components ..................... 17
2.1 Challenges with Implementing Silicon Passives ................. 17
2.1.1 Ground Plane Requirements ........................... 17
2.1.2 Implementing Ground Planes in Silicon MMICs .......... 19
2.1.3 Lossy Substrates and Narrow Transmission Lines ......... 19
2.2 Transmission Lines ......................................... 19
2.2.1 Inductive and Capacitive Quality Factors ................ 20
2.2.2 Microstrip and Coplanar Waveguide Transmission
Lines ............................................... 21
2.3 Resistors .................................................. 22
2.4 Diodes .................................................... 23
2.4.1 Schottky Barrier Diodes ............................... 23
2.4.2 PIN Diodes ......................................... 24
2.4.3 Varactor Diodes ...................................... 25
2.5 Capacitors ................................................. 25
2.6 Inductors .................................................. 26
2.6.1 Mm-wave Design Considerations ....................... 26
2.6.2 Planar and 3-D Spiral Inductors ........................ 26
2.6.3 Active Inductors ..................................... 29
2.6.4 Inductor Design Kits ................................. 31
2.7 Through-Silicon Vias ....................................... 31
v
vi Contents
2.8 Conclusion ................................................ 32
References ..................................................... 32
3 Active Millimeter-Wave Silicon Devices ........................... 35
3.1 Bipolar Transistors ......................................... 36
3.1.1 Small-Signal Equivalent Circuit ........................ 36
3.1.2 Integrated BJTs ...................................... 37
3.1.3 Heterojunction Bipolar Transistors ..................... 38
3.2 MOS Transistors ........................................... 39
3.2.1 Small-Signal Equivalent Circuit ........................ 39
3.2.2 Millimeter-Wave Operation ............................ 40
3.2.3 Layout Effects ....................................... 42
3.3 Compact Modelling ......................................... 42
3.3.1 HBT Models ........................................ 42
3.3.2 FET Models ......................................... 47
3.4 Process Corner Modelling ................................... 49
3.5 Conclusion ................................................ 49
References ..................................................... 49
4 Passive Circuits and Building Blocks in Millimeter-Wave Silicon .... 51
4.1 Matching Circuits and Impedance Transformation ............... 52
4.1.1 Matching Network Losses ............................. 52
4.2 Power Combiners and Directional Couplers .................... 53
4.2.1 Power Combining Performance Metrics ................. 53
4.2.2 Mm-Wave Combiner Challenges ....................... 54
4.2.3 T-Junction Dividers .................................. 55
4.2.4 Wilkinson Dividers ................................... 56
4.2.5 Capacitive Combiners ................................ 57
4.2.6 Combiner Applications ............................... 58
4.2.7 Quadrature Hybrid Couplers ........................... 60
4.2.8 Coupler Applications ................................. 62
4.3 Filters .................................................... 65
4.3.1 State-of-the-Art Bandpass Filters ....................... 65
4.3.2 Silicon Integrated Passive Device Filters ................. 66
4.3.3 Broadside-Coupled Resonator BPF ..................... 67
References ..................................................... 70
5 Solid-State Millimeter-Wave Silicon Amplifiers ................... 73
5.1 Amplifier Specifications ..................................... 73
5.1.1 Gain and Stability .................................... 73
5.1.2 Linearity ............................................ 76
5.1.3 Bandwidth .......................................... 79
5.1.4 Efficiency ........................................... 80
5.1.5 Noise .............................................. 80
5.2 Amplifier Classification ..................................... 84
5.3 Low-Noise Amplifiers ...................................... 86
Contents vii
5.3.1 Millimeter-Wave Design Techniques .................... 86
5.3.2 LNA Operating Characteristics ......................... 90
5.3.3 State-of-the-Art Silicon LNAs ......................... 90
5.4 Power Amplifiers ........................................... 91
5.4.1 Millimeter-Wave PA Design Considerations ............. 91
5.4.2 State-of-the-Art Silicon PAs ........................... 93
5.4.3 Conclusions and Discussion ........................... 96
References ..................................................... 96
6 Frequency Synthesis and Conversion Circuits
in Millimeter-Wave Silicon ...................................... 99
6.1 Oscillators ................................................. 100
6.1.1 Oscillator Performance Metrics ........................ 101
6.1.2 Basic Oscillator Operating Principles ................... 102
6.1.3 Oscillator Architectures ............................... 103
6.2 Mixers .................................................... 110
6.2.1 Basic Mixer Operating Principles ....................... 110
6.2.2 Mixer Architectures .................................. 112
6.2.3 Mm-wave Mixer Design .............................. 116
References ..................................................... 120
7 High-Performance Si Data Converters for Millimeter-Wave
Transceivers ................................................... 123
7.1 A/D Converters ............................................ 123
7.1.1 Architectures ........................................ 124
7.1.2 Mm-Wave A/D Converters ............................ 128
7.2 D/A Converters ............................................ 136
7.2.1 Operating Principles .................................. 136
7.2.2 Architectures ........................................ 137
7.2.3 Mm-wave D/A Converters ............................. 140
7.3 Conclusion ................................................ 142
References ..................................................... 142
8 State-of-the-Art Millimeter-Wave Silicon Transceivers
and Systems-on-Chip ........................................... 145
8.1 Radar and Remote Sensing SoCs ............................. 145
8.1.1 Automotive Radar .................................... 146
8.1.2 Imaging ............................................ 147
8.2 Wireless Communications ................................... 147
8.2.1 IEEE 802.11ad/ay WiGig ............................. 147
8.2.2 5G Mobile Communications ........................... 149
8.3 6G and Future Mm-Wave Systems ............................ 153
8.3.1 Evolution from 5 to 6G ............................... 153
8.3.2 THz-Band Communication ............................ 156
8.3.3 THZ Devices ........................................ 157
References ..................................................... 157
Chapter 1
Evolution of Millimeter-Wave Silicon
Technology
Innovation and evolution are paramount in a world with an insatiable requirement
for higher bandwidth, more data, and ubiquitous connectivity. Standards to define
mobile backhaul, small cell, fixed broadband and next-generation mobile networking
applications are deliberately moving into millimetre-wave (mm-wave) bands. The
802.11 Wireless Local Area Networking (LAN) Working Group specifies phys-
ical layer (PHY) operation in the 60 GHz band for 802.11ad WiFi networks and
802.11ay WLANs [1–3]. Additionally, 5G New Radio (NR) applications will utilise
the 26 MHz, 28 MHz and 39 MHz bands. 5G NR is a vital enabling technology for
Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) applications such as massive Internet of Things
(IoT), industrial 5G networks and C-V2X (cellular vehicle-to-everything) capabil-
ities for autonomous vehicles [4–6]. The 70–86 GHz E-band region will primarily
serve satellite communications and wireless backhaul [7]. Wireless links for wear-
able devices is another potential application. Here, standards like WirelessHD, IEEE
802.15.3c and ECMA-387 provide the framework for connecting several popular
devices that we use each day—smartphones, fitness trackers and wireless headsets
[8].
These frequency allocations represent only a minute portion of applications that
will quite likely, eventually, utilise mm-wave bands.
Alongside the evolution of wireless standards, the fundamental technologies
accompanying and driving rapid improvements in our products have experienced
unprecedented growth in recent decades. Perhaps some of the most significant
enhancements have been integrated circuit technology, and this text targets the promi-
nence of Si Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor (CMOS) as well as SiGe
Bipolar CMOS (BiCMOS) technologies. Arguably two of the most popular choices
in semiconductor technology, CMOS and BiCMOS, have gained immense traction
due to their low fabrication cost and unprecedented integration capability. In addi-
tion to this, the radio frequency (RF) and mm-wave performance of both processes
have matured them into a formidable competitor for III–IV (such as GaAs and InP)
© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2022 1
J. du Preez and S. Sinha, State-of-the-Art of Millimeter-Wave Silicon Technology,
Lecture Notes in Electrical Engineering 945,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-14655-8_1
2 1 EvolutionofMillimeter-WaveSiliconTechnology
technologies in recent years. With that said, Si devices will not be replacing III–
IV devices any time soon, as there are applications in which the latter devices are
preferred. GaAs, for example, is unparalleled in terms of output power, provide
excellent noise figure characteristics and enable oscillators with superb phase noise
performance.
In the last few decades, semiconductor technology has steadily grown in maturity,
with silicon transistors able to reach increasingly higher unity-gain frequency.
( f ) values. This has proven to be true for technologies based on both CMOS
max
and SiGe BiCMOS. Higher f values, in turn, lead to transistors suitable for
max
highly complex integrated circuits operating in millimetre-wave bands. The signif-
icant performance gains observed in signal processing and other digital circuits
based on silicon technologies serve as an excellent motivator for advancing such
technologies, particularly CMOS.
Furthermore, performance metrics of digital circuits such as power consumption
and computational speed improve alongside technology scaling. Advances in silicon
system-on-chip (SoC) solutions have led to integrated circuits (ICs) performing
various RF functions in addition to logic and digital processing, using the same
CMOS process. Such high levels of integration are advantageous for larger ICs since
SoCs reduce cost through reduced interconnect and layout complexity, lower overall
power consumption and improve robustness through self-diagnostic functions and
on-chip calibration.
1.1 Millimeter-Wave Wireless Communications
The introductory paragraphs of this chapter briefly note the drive toward mm-wave
migration. This section will expand on these ideas and further solidify the increase in
operating frequency, providing a precursor to the actual semiconductor requirements
that face engineers, standardisation organisations and system designers alike. The
next decade will likely experience a thousand-fold increase in data traffic [9, 10].
The microwave band between 300 MHz and 3 GHz will certainly not satisfy the
demand for capacity of this magnitude, especially since physical layer technology
has reached the Shannon limit [11]. The seemingly obvious route to explore would
be to increase system bandwidth, where the less congested mm-wave bands (30 to
300 GHz) come into play.
The short wavelengths, narrow beamwidths and intense interaction with the envi-
ronment (e.g. oxygen and water absorption) pertinent to mm-wave transmission
create as many opportunities as challenges. Smaller wavelengths mean that elec-
tronic components and transmission lines become physically shorter. Antennas also
become much smaller, resulting in densely packed and spatially efficient integrated
circuits (ICs) and transceivers. Moreover, wide bandwidths, the potential for wide-
band spread-spectrum (which generally reduces multipath) and excellent resistance
to jamming and interference contribute significantly to the case for mm-wave trans-
mission. One genuine challenge is the precision manufacturing required for mm-wave