Ultra Low DC Power Consumption Research Articles

LO Chain (×12) Integrated 190-GHz Low-Power SiGe Receiver With 49-dB Conversion Gain and 171-mW DC Power Consumption

A 190-GHz mixer-based down-conversion receiver realized in a 130-nm SiGe BiCMOS technology featuring high-speed heterojunction bipolar transistors (HBTs) with ( $f_{\text {T}}$ , $f_{\text {max}}$ ) = (300, 500) GHz is presented. The core part of the receiver consists of a low-noise amplifier (LNA), an active tunable fundamental mixer, an intermediate frequency (IF) buffer amplifier (BA), and an active inverse balun. A wideband, high conversion gain (CG) local oscillator (LO) chain is integrated to make the receiver suitable for applications requiring tunable LO, which contains a multiplier with a multiplication factor of 12 ( $\times 12$ ) and a driver amplifier. To exploit the best possible performance with ultralow dc power consumption ( $P_{\text {dc}}$ ), the mixer and LNA transistors operate at forward-biased base–collector junction voltage ( $V_{\text {BC}}$ ). With a fixed IF frequency at 1 GHz, this receiver exhibits a peak CG of 49 dB with a 14-dB tuning range and a minimum single-sideband noise figure (NF) of 16.5 dB, consuming only 29-mW static dc power for the core part and 171 mW overall, including the LO chain. Within the CG tuning range, this receiver achieves a 6-dB RF bandwidth (BW) from 25 to 32 GHz. Compared with previously reported receivers at similar frequencies, the highest CG and the lowest $P_{\text {dc}}$ with highly competitive performance in terms of BW, CG tuning range, 1-dB output compression point, and NF have been achieved.

A 10.56-GHz Broadband Transceiver With Integrated T/R Switching via Matching Network Reuse and 0.3–2.1-GHz Baseband in 28-nm CMOS Technology

This paper presents a 10.56-GHz transceiver with ultracompact transformer-based transmit/receive (T/R) switching via matching network reuse. The reused transformer can operate as T/R switch and impedance matching networks for a power amplifier (PA) and a low-noise amplifier (LNA) simultaneously. The T/R switch, PA, and LNA are fully codesigned, and the interstage matching networks of the PA and LNA are comatched with the T/R switch to improve the performance of the front end (FE). A three-coil transformer is introduced in the PA to improve the linearity and bandwidth of the FE in the transmit (TX) mode. A mode selection unit (MSU) is also utilized in LNA to improve the TX/RX isolation and the linearity of the FE in the TX mode. Utilizing the fully codesign technique in the FE, the bandwidth of the FE is extended to over 4.2 GHz in both the TX and RX modes. A novel “gm-cell-based” broadband programmable gain amplifier (PGA) and a third-order transconductance-capacitor (gm-c) low-pass filter (LPF) are used in analog baseband to provide over 24-dB gain and 1.8-GHz bandwidth adjustment range with ultralow dc power consumption. To prove the concept, the new architecture is implemented in 28-nm CMOS technology. Measurement results prove that the insertion loss of the proposed T/R switch introduced in both the TX and RX modes is ~0.5 dB, and benefiting from this, the RX obtained a 4.2-dB noise figure, and TX obtained 9.9- and 14.1-dBm OP1dB and Psat. The measured single sideband bandwidth of the transceiver is wider than 2.1 GHz in both the TX and RX modes.

12-mW 97-GHz Low-Power Downconversion Mixer With 0.7-V Supply Voltage

This letter presents a 97-GHz downconversion mixer in a 130-nm SiGe HBT technology. For achieving the demonstrated ultralow dc power consumption, the mixer was designed with transistors operating in saturation using an accurate compact model. With 0.7-V supply voltage and −5-dBm local oscillator pumping power, this mixer achieves a double-sideband conversion gain (CG) of 6.6 ± 3 dB over the RF frequency range from 91 to 100 GHz, consuming 12-mW static dc power. With the supply voltage further reduced to 0.5 V, this mixer still works with a maximum upper-sideband CG of 5.2 dB from 94 to 100 GHz, with only 8-mW static power consumption.

Comparative performance analysis of silicon nanowire tunnel FETs and MOSFETs on plastic substrates in flexible logic circuit applications

AbstractWe report on the fabrication and electrical comparison between flexible tunnel field‐effect transistors (TFETs) and metal–oxide–semiconductor FETs (MOSFETs) on plastic substrates from device to circuit performance by use of fully CMOS‐compatible silicon nanowires (SiNWs) as the channel material. The SiNW TFETs exhibit ION/IOFF ratio of ∼105, which is about an order of magnitude lower than that of their MOSFET counterparts, viz. ∼106, mainly due to their high turn‐on voltage and low band‐to‐band tunneling (BTBT) efficiency. The SiNW complementary TFET (c‐TFET) inverter shows ultralow DC power consumption (at VDD = 3 V, Ppeak = 11.4 nW and Pstby = 26.8 pW, respectively), which are about three to four orders of magnitude lower than those of the SiNW CMOS inverter, viz. 17.4 µW and 0.39 µW, respectively. Due to the different pros and cons for each of these devices, our top–down approach should open up the opportunity to integrate SiNW TFETs with SiNW MOSFETs on one plastic substrate for flexible hybrid SiNW TFET‐MOSFET integrated circuits, where both high‐performance and low‐power functionality are required.

InP-HEMT X-band Low-Noise Amplifier With Ultralow 0.6-mW Power Consumption

We report a single-stage InP-high-electron-mobility-transistor (HEMT) X-band low-noise amplifier (LNA) featuring an ultralow dc power consumption at room temperature. The LNA was fabricated with the ETH Zürich 100-nm InP-HEMT MMIC coplanar waveguide process. When operated with a dc power consumption of only 0.6 mW, our LNA delivers a gain of 9.0 ± 0.9 dB from 7 to 11 GHz with a minimum noise figure of 1.4 dB at 9.8 GHz. The excellent LNA performance is enabled by the favorable characteristics of our InP HEMTs under low-power-dissipation biases. For example, at a bias of <i xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">V</i> <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">DS</sub> = 0.5 V and <i xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">I</i> <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">DS</sub> = 66.2 mA/mm, our (0.1 × 2 × 50 μm <sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">2</sup> ) InP HEMTs feature cutoff frequencies of <i xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">fT</i> = 183 GHz and <i xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">f</i> <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">MAX</sub> = 230 GHz . The present results demonstrate the excellent capabilities of InP-HEMT technology for high-speed, low-voltage, and room-temperature low-power-consumption applications.

Note: Ultra-high frequency ultra-low dc power consumption HEMT amplifier for quantum measurements in millikelvin temperature range

We have presented theory and experimentally demonstrated an efficient method for drastically reducing the power consumption of the rf/microwave amplifiers based on HEMT in unsaturated dc regime. Conceptual one-stage 10 dB-gain amplifier showed submicrowatt level of the power consumption (0.95 μW at frequency of 0.5 GHz) when cooled down to 300 mK. Proposed technique has a great potential to design the readout amplifiers for ultra-deep-cooled cryoelectronic quantum devices.

Tungsten-Based SOI Microhotplates for Smart Gas Sensors

This paper is concerned with the design, fabrication, and characterization of novel high-temperature silicon on insulator (SOI) microhotplates employing tungsten resistive heaters. Tungsten has a high operating temperature and good mechanical strength and is used as an interconnect in high temperature SOI-CMOS processes. These devices have been fabricated using a commercial SOI-CMOS process followed by a deep reactive ion etching (DRIE) back-etch step, offering low cost and circuit integration. In this paper, we report on the design of microhotplates with different diameters (560 and 300 mum) together with 3-D electrothermal simulation in ANSYS, electrothermal characterization, and analytical analysis. Results show that these devices can operate at high temperatures (600degC ) well beyond the typical junction temperatures of high temperature SOI ICs (225degC), have ultralow dc power consumption (12 mW at 600degC), fast transient time (as low as 2-ms rise time to 600degC), good thermal stability, and, more importantly, a high reproducibility both within a wafer and from wafer to wafer. We also report initial tests on the long-term stability of the tungsten heaters. We believe that this type of SOI microhotplate could be exploited commercially in fully integrated microcalorimetric or resistive gas sensors.

A 0.5–7.5 GHz Ultra Low-Voltage Low-Power Mixer Using Bulk-Injection Method by 0.18-$\mu$m CMOS Technology

A fully differential low-voltage low-power downconversion mixer using a TSMC 0.18-mum CMOS logic process is presented in this letter. The mixer was designed with a four-terminal MOS transistor, the radio-frequency (RF) and local-oscillator signals apply to the gate and bulk of the device, respectively while the intermediate frequency (IF) signals output was from the drain. The mixer features a maximum conversion gain of 5.7dB at 2.4 GHz, an ultra low dc power consumption of 0.48 mW, a noise figure of 15 dB, and an input IP of 5.7 dBm. Moreover, the chip area of the mixer core is only 0.18 times 0.2 mm <sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">2</sup> . The measured 3-dB RF frequency bandwidth is from 0.5 to 7.5 GHz with an IF of 100 MHz, and it is greatly suitable for low-power in wireless communication.

Internally matched, ultralow DC power consumption CMOS amplifier for L-band personal communications

An internally matched, extremely low operation voltage amplifier monolithic microwave integrated circuit (MMIC) has been implemented in a 0.35-/spl mu/m silicon-on-insulator (SOI) complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) technology for L-band personal communications. At 1.6 GHz the MMIC amplifier has a gain of 6.4 dB and a noise figure of 4.8 dB at a drain voltage of 0.6 V and a current of 2 mA. The MMIC amplifier exhibits a Gain/Power quotient as high as 5.33 dB/mW, which we believe is the highest recorded for Si CMOS MMIC technology.

Microwave switching with parallel-resonated GaAs FETS

The use of GaAs FETs as microwave switches is discussed, and the feasibility of such devices for applications requiring ultra low dc power consumption, low insertion loss, and bidirectionality is demonstrated. A discrete SPST switch consisting of two parallel-resonated single-gate GaAs FETs exhibited 0.5 db insertion loss with 25 db isolation at 8.5 GHz. The first monolithic SPDT switch incorporating parallel-resonated GaAs FETs is also reported.