Plastic packaging is a cost-effective solution for housing RF and microwave integrated circuits in low cost communication devices. While enabling low cost packaging of integrated circuits, plastic packages including the circuit ground patch (paddle) inside the package can have a significant parasitic effect on circuit performance. The purpose of this...
The importance of spectral efficiency in mobile communications often requires the use of non-constant-envelop linear digital modulation schemes. These modulation techniques carry signal information in both magnitude and phase, thus they must be linearly amplified to avoid nonlinear signal distortion which is not correctable in a typical receiver. A second...
A new comprehensive wide-band compact modeling methodology for single-ended spiral inductors and differential spiral inductors is presented. The new modeling methodology creates an equivalent circuit model consisting of frequency-independent circuit elements for use in circuit simulators. A fast automated extraction procedure is developed for determining the circuit element values from...
The focus of this work is on the steady-state analysis of RE circuits using a coupled device and circuit simulator. Efficient coupling algorithms for both the time-domain shooting method and the frequency-domain harmonic balance method have been developed. A modified Newton shooting method considerably improves the efficiency and reliability of...
Spiral inductors are a key component of mixed-signal and analog integrated circuits (IC's). Such circuits are often fabricated using silicon-based technology, owing to the inherent low-cost and high volume production aspects. However, semiconducting substrate materials such as silicon can have adverse effects on spiral inductor performance due to the lossy...
Electron and neutron irradiation effects in InGaP/GaAs single heterojunction bipolar transistors are investigated in this thesis. Devices with different emitter sizes and grown by two different growth techniques were examined. Based on the physics of heterojunction bipolar transistors and concepts of radiation damage mechanisms, the irradiation effects were analyzed. The...
In the first part of this dissertation, low frequency l/f or flicker noise in the frequency range of Hz to kHz has been identified and demonstrated to be described by temperature fluctuations in heat conduction in bipolar transistors operated at higher power densities. This noise phenomenon is not described by...
A computationally efficient and accurate substrate noise coupling model for multiple contacts in heavily doped CMOS processes is presented and validated with simulations and experimental data. The model is based on Z parameters that are scalable with contact separation and size. This results in fast extraction of substrate resistances for...
The primary goal of this thesis is to fabricate a magnetic film between the coplanar transmitted stripline for crosstalk suppression. Crosstalk is caused from undesired inductive and capacitive coupling of signals between two conductors. The effective crosstalk suppression results from the inductive coupling of circuit elements through the lossy properties...
The substrate noise injected by a stepped buffer circuit into two single-ended 1.5GHz low noise amplifiers is examined for a heavily doped 0.25µm CMOS process. The difference in the LNA noise rejection is characterized as a function of the size and placement of substrate contacts. The use of a resistive...