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MTT-S Distinguished Microwave Lecturer Program Last update: April 24, 2008- V.Rosati New DMLs Selected In October, 2007 the Advisory Committee selected and appointed three new Distinguished Microwave Lecturers: Andreas Cangellaris, Spartak Gevorgian, and Paul Tasker
Local chapters are invited and strongly encouraged to take full advantage of this unique resource. Speakers give six to seven talks per year so it is prudent to schedule well in advance. Contact the speaker directly to request a talk. If you are unable to reach the speaker directly, please contact DML speaker coordinator Sridhar Kanamaluru or Larry Whicker (TCC Administrator) for assistance. Distinguished Microwave Lecturers Emeritus Although the terms of some DMLs have been completed, some might still be willing to deliver their lectures. Funding would be on a case-by-case basis. For Emeritus Abstracts click here. A list of past lecture topics and speakers is at the bottom of this page. (Also see MTT-S Speakers Bureau. Click here.) Current Topical Areas (Alphabetical) Applications
of Ferroelectrics in Microwave Devices, Circuits and Systems (Spartak
Gevorgian) Current Status and Future Trends for Si and Compound MMICs in
Millimeter-Wave Regime and Related Issues for System on Chip (SoC) and/or
System in Package (SiP) (Huei Wang) Design of Integrated RF CMOS
Circuits (Georg Boeck) Engineering and Measuring
RF Waveforms — the Unifying Link Between System Performance, Circuit Design
and Transistor Technology (Paul Tasker) Enhancing the
Efficiency of Computer-Aided Analysis and Design through Physics-Based Model
Complexity Reduction (Andreas Cangellaris) Global Stability Analysis and Stabilization of Power Amplifiers (Almudena Suarez) Heterogeneous Wireless Communication
Devices: Present and Future
(Vijay Nair) Highly Flexible Digital Front-End Enhanced CMOS-Based RF Transceivers (Linus Maurer) Nonlinear Analog Behavioral Modeling of Microwave Devices and Circuits (David E. Root) Practical Aspects of Microwave Filter Development (Richard Snyder) Silicon Integrated Circuits for Millimeter Waves (Ali Hajimiri) Through-the-Wall Personnel Detection Technology (Victor M. Lubecke)
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Current Distinguished Microwave Lecturers
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Start Year 2008
M. E. Van Valkenburg Professor Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering 357 Everitt Lab, Urbana,
IL 61801 Phone:
217-333-6037; Fax: 217-333-5962 |
Enhancing the Efficiency of Computer-Aided Analysis and Design through Physics-Based Model Complexity Reduction Key topics that will be addressed are: a) State-space representations of discrete electromagnetic models;
b) Development of state-space models from measured, frequency/time-domain data;
c) Tackling the multi-scale time complexity in the simulation of non-linear microwave components and systems;
d) Complexity challenges in multi-domain physics modelling for microwave component and system design.
Despite their breadth and generality, there is a significant interconnectivity of these topics that can be used to streamline the presentation toward the specific interests of the audience. Andreas would like to keep it broad enough with the understanding that he will be coordinating with the inviting institution for the streamlining of the presentation according to their interests.
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Spartak Gevorgian Start Year 2008 Spartak Gevorgian Department of Microtechnology and Nanoscience, Chalmers University
of Technology and time) Sweden, 412 96 Gothenburg Sweden Tel: +46317721727 spartak.gevorgian@mc2.chalmers.se; spartak.gevorgian@ericsson.com
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Applications of Ferroelectrics in Microwave Devices, Circuits and Systems Synopsis: Application of the ferroelectrics in microwave devices, circuits and systems is gaining momentum. After years of extensive material optimization and development of the laboratory device demonstrators, several companies started commercial developments and marketing of the complex microwave circuits and systems based on the ferroelectric films and varactors. The presentation reviews the current status of the applications of the ferroelectrics in microwave devices, circuit and systems. At present ferroelectric films are used in passive microwave devices and circuits (decoupling capacitors, low impedance and fixed delay time transmission lines, field dielectrics in CMOS devices etc.). A short introduction demonstrates the advantages of the ferroelectrics (varactors) in comparison with the competing technologies (low loss, high speed, small size, low power consumption/low leakage currents, simple fabrication process, cost effective etc.). The presentation covers the applications of ferroelectrics in phase, frequency and amplitude agile systems including: • Ferroelectric-based resonators, tuneable filters and matching networks • Ferroelectric-based mixers and harmonic generators • Phase shifters and delay lines based on ferroelectrics • Voltage controlled oscillators and amplifiers using ferroelectric varactors • Steerable beam antennas and phase arrays • Tuneable metamaterials, frequency selective and impedance surfaces • Thin Film Bulk Acoustic Wave Resonators (TFBAR) and filters
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Paul Tasker Start Year 2008 Prof. Paul Tasker Queen's Buildings The Parade Tel: +44 (0)2920 8 74423 (Direct) +44 (0)2920 8 74930 (Research Office) Tasker@cf.ac.uk
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Engineering and Measuring RF Waveforms — the Unifying Link Between System Performance, Circuit Design and Transistor Technology This talk discusses how appropriately engineered RF waveforms can help meet telecommunication system goals such as power, efficiency, and linearity. It is well known that the performance of transistors in power amplifiers is linked to their mode of operation (Class A, A/B, C, etc.). A number of measurement systems now allow for the direct measurement of RF waveforms, either at RF or in the envelope domain. Coupling such systems with impedance control hardware enables experimental control (engineering) of these terminal RF waveforms. Because these measurement systems operate in the time domain they allow for a more natural integration of measurement and CAD simulation based design approaches. This talk touches on several topics of interest to microwave engineers including modelling and measurement of power amplifier transistors and circuits; design and predistortion correction of nonlinear telecommunication systems; and circuit design methods that incorporate new transistor technology. Examples will demonstrate measurement feedback to support and link both the design of high power amplifier transistor technology (GaAs HBT/HFET, GaN HFET, Si LDMOS) and the circuit environment (harmonic load-pull, linearisation via base-band injection).
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Start Year 2007 Professor of Electrical Engineering Director of Microelectronic Laboratory California Institute of Technology (Caltech) Pasadena,
CA 91125-9300, USA |
Silicon Integrated Circuits for Millimeter Waves Millimeter-waves offer great opportunities and interesting challenges to silicon integrated circuit and system designers. However, he full benefits of silicon integration can only be realized by going beyond the direct transfer of techniques and architectures from conventional compound semiconductor approaches to silicon. The issues to be considered go beyond standard circuit design questions and span a broader range of topics including wave propagation, antenna design, and communication channel capacity limits. It is only meaningful to evaluate the benefits and shortcoming of silicon-based mm-wave integrated circuits in this broader context. As an example, we will discuss the design of a 77-GHz phased array transceiver with on-chip antennas in silicon. We will discuss various architectural choices, and how the trade-offs change once we consider a fully-integrated silicon-based platform. We will show that the "local" LO phase shifting approach can take full advantage of certain properties of integrated circuits and offers benefits beyond those possible by more conventional module-based implementation of such phased array systems. We will also discuss the problem of power generation and review some novel power generation and combining techniques at such high frequencies. Time permitting we talk about some other implementation of array based systems in silicon, such as 24GHz phased array transmitters, 60GHz scalable arrays, and a 6-18GHz multi-band multi-beam phased array receivers in CMOS.
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Start Year 2007 DICE, A-4040 |
Highly Flexible Digital Front-End Enhanced CMOS-Based RF Transceivers State-of-the-art RF transceivers are mainly optimized for a single radio access technology and do rarely employ digital signal processing capabilities on the RFIC. Digital functions are commonly focused on control interfaces (e.g. for PLL programming) and calibration functionality (e.g. for analog filter tuning). Since analog blocks are not well suited for reconfiguration by the nature of their implementation such transceivers will not be able to effectively tackle upcoming challenges in terms of flexibility arising with the need of multi-system/multi-mode/multi-band operation. The lecture will focus on the practical realization of an advancement of the well-known direct conversion receiver and transmitter architectures: digital signal processing functions are incorporated directly onto the RFIC to increase its flexibility. The digital front-end (DFE) closes the gap between traditional base-band processing done at the MODEM-IC and the high data rates at the output of the analog to digital converter (ADC). The proposed DFE implementation realizes traditionally analog functions (e.g. channel selection filtering, DC-offset compensation, etc.) by providing highly configurable filter blocks, which are adapted to the respective standard requirements. Furthermore, the DFE can be used to efficiently optimize the overall signal path, e.g. by correcting analog imperfections in the digital domain. Consequently, the traditionally analog data interface between RFIC and MODEM-IC is replaced by a digital one. With the advent of RF-CMOS the implementation of the DFE locally on the RFIC has become technically feasible and also economically reasonable. Furthermore, Realizing digital signal processing functionality on the RFIC in an advanced CMOS technology for mass market applications has advantages over "pure analog" RFICs in terms of production stability, power consumption and cost.
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Vijay Nair
Start Year 2007
Communication Technology Labs Corporate Technology Group Intel Corporation 503-712-6122
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Heterogeneous Wireless Communication Devices: Present and Future Convergence of communication and computing technologies is rapidly changing the requirement of wireless devices. While wireless wide area network (WWAN) based on cellular radios was evolving, a new set of wireless LAN networks which are fundamentally different from cellular networks emerged. Devices for applications in the wireless LAN networks (WLAN), wireless personal area networks (WPAN) and wireless metro area networks (WMAN) are being deployed in increasing numbers. Bluetooth and Ultra Wideband (UWB) technologies have been introduced for high-bandwidth wireless connectivity in personal area networks. Location identification technologies like GPS are getting integrated with wireless products as well. There is no doubt that tomorrow’s network environment will be extremely heterogeneous. However, network heterogeneity also brings with it enormous challenges, as devices will have to be extremely capable in order to intelligently roam around heterogeneous networks operating under a wide range of protocols. As network diversity increases the important challenges of the future communication devices will be coexistence, interoperability and seamless transfer among networks. The vision for ubiquitous computing sees a computational environment where a computer makes decisions and adapts its behavior without being explicitly asked to do so. This talk will elaborate the vision, the attributes and technical challenges of heterogeneous wireless communication system. In particular advancements of RF component technologies from antennas to baseband ICs will be elucidated. The evolution of different standards and their impact on the mixed network communication will also be discussed.
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Richard Snyder Start Year 2007
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PRACTICAL ASPECTS OF MICROWAVE
FILTER DEVELOPMENT The design and development of microwave filters and networks proceeds from strongtheoretical underpinnings, with readily-available theory (and software) covering suchdiverse areas as circuit topology, electromagnetic radiation and coupling, thermal andmechanical properties of materials, mechanical resonances and finish characteristics. Given all of the available theory, it falls upon the developer to properly apply relevantportions of this wide-ranging chest of knowledge, with an artistic touch (the “black magic”aspect of design), with constant awareness of the situational constraints upon economics thatdifferentiate between science and engineering in the real world. A wonderful tool that has developed over the last decade is the artful use of simulation toolsto substitute for earlier lab-based cut and try. In a development mode, the designer is usuallyfaced with having to achieve performance that is just marginally possible. This is becausethe users of filters and networks are also rather good at simulating what can be done, andconsequently write requirements with almost no margin. It is thus important for designers to be more sophisticated in the use of available tools and to develop ever better models for analysis and prediction, as well as new syntheses not available (yet) to the specification writer. This will save the designer from worrying about performance, after investing days, weeks or months in design of something that really cannot quite do the job, at room ambient conditions or over some range of temperature, altitude, humidity, high power, etc.. In this talk, I will present examples showing how simulation tools have been used to eliminate lab cut-and-try (multiple prototypes) and to squeeze the last gasp of performance out of certain filters. The simulation tools can be applied to mechanical parameters, such as shock and vibration, as well as to the fundamental electrical network design. Examples of high power bandpass, high power notch filters with wide stopbands, and notch filters with wide passbands will be presented. We will present the idea of validating models to ensurethat sufficient model complexity is contained so as to enable accurate predictions. It is hoped that the listener will develop an appreciation for the cost-savings associated with the idea of using well-validated simulation models in lieu of the lathe (and other tools).
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Huei Wang Start Year 2007 Taipei, Taiwan |
Current Status and Future Trends for Si and Compound MMICs in Millimeter-Wave Regime and Related Issues for System on Chip (SoC) and/or System in Package (SiP) The anticipated presentation will cover the current status and future trends of millimeter-wave MMICs, including those using III-V compound (GaAs, InP, GaN, etc.) and Si-based (CMOS, SiGe HBT and BiCMOS) MMIC technologies. Millimeter-wave MMICs used to be applied to military and astronomy systems for long time and started to be utilized for civil applications in the decade, such as communications and automotive radars. The evolution of IC technologies has enabled the performance of Si-based MMICs over 100 GHz, even in standard bulk CMOS processes. This is believed to have a major impact in the future development of millimeter-wave systems. Since low-cost mass-production potential pushes forward the technology, a very high integration of circuit functions on a chip, such as RF, base-band circuitry, automatic-control for a steady operation, and maybe even the antenna, etc. should be included, and thus the system on chip (SOC) issues should be addressed, especially in MMW regime. Moreover, millimeter-wave packaging cost always dominated in the module development. In order to simplify the assembly and reduced cost, the concept of system in package (SIP) has been proposed. This presentation will also survey the current technologies for SOC and SIP and discuss related issues and challenges.
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Georg Beock Start Year 2006 Technische
Universitaet |
The continuous progress of silicon technology has enabled the emergence of digital mobile broadband communication systems for voice, data and multimedia transmission with good quality of service. Data-rate and mobility trade-offs and different standards like 2G, 3G, Bluetooth, WLAN, GPS and digital multimedia broadcasting are leading to multimode requirements and issues relating to coexistence and inter-working of these different technologies must be solved. Single chip integration with digital part, high integration density and excellent RF performance, low power consumption and low cost under mass production aspects are further requirements. First system-on-chip (SoC) demonstrations show that today CMOS technologies seem to be able to fulfil all these requirements. This lecture will review current RF-CMOS technologies, RF-architectures and re-configurability studies, and circuit and system design aspects for mobile communication applications. It will consider special requirements on wafer processes like leakage and analogue and RF capabilities and will look to the world of system-level design. In this context, power-levels, form-factors and cost are key requirements for system-on-chip and system-in-package-solutions. Of course, new challenges for the future will be considered and explored, too.
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Victor Lubecke Start Year 2006 Department of Electrical Engineering
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Through-the-Wall Personnel-Detection Technology Technology that can be used to unobtrusively detect and monitor the presence of human subjects from a distance and through barriers can be a powerful tool for law enforcement, military, and health monitoring applications. Various technologies from passive millimeter-wave imaging to ultra wideband radar have demonstrated potential for identifying silhouettes, detecting gross motion, and even distinguishing illicit materials and biological characteristics through various obstructions. Compact radar solutions have been used to detect and monitor cardiopulmonary activity of hidden stationary subjects, in some cases leveraging the presence of ambient radio signals to provide a virtually passive means to detect, isolate, and physiologically monitor human subjects through walls. Practical applications ranging from counter-terrorism to outpatient monitoring require solutions that are accurate, affordable, easily deployed, and minimally tended. An overview of current research efforts addressing these challenges through radio, signal processing, and sensor networking theory and hardware will be presented.
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David Root Start Year 2006 Principle Research Scientist Worldwide Process and Agilent Technologies
+1 (707) 577-4091 (Phone) +1 (707) 577-4787 (FAX)
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Nonlinear Analog Behavioral Modeling of Microwave Devices and Circuits Modern microwave systems are designed in a top-down hierarchical process, with specifications starting at the system level, propagating down towards the subsystem, module, integrated circuit, and finally to the level of the transistor, resistor, and other fundamental electronic building blocks. A complimentary bottom-up process combines accurate representations of the building blocks at one level of abstraction to create or verify a functional block at the next higher level of design complexity. At a low level in the design hierarchy is the nonlinear device, or transistor. A detailed model, involving the simulation of the many coupled partial differential equations of physics is often needed to design such a device. However, one cannot simulate an entire IC at this physically detailed level. The complexity of the problem is overwhelming in terms of computer resources and time. Instead, for the purpose of integrated circuit design, transistor terminal (behavioral) characteristics can be abstracted into “compact” nonlinear models (SPICE models) and their interaction simulated at the circuit level. Analogously, modern communication systems are sufficiently complex to preclude their complete simulation at the compact transistor model level of description. There are simply too many nonlinear equations to solve to make this practical. Instead, the input-output behavior of the ICs can be abstracted into functional block behavioral models, and the simulations done at the next higher abstraction level. This lecture introduces general concepts and specific techniques for effective (efficient, general, and accurate) nonlinear behavioral modeling of microwave semiconductor devices and functional circuit blocks. A behavioral model is a simplified but accurate model of a lower-level component in the design hierarchy that simulates efficiently at the next higher level of abstraction. A unified treatment at both the device and functional block level is a distinguishing feature of this presentation. So too is the application to behavioral models constructed from real measurements and also from simulations starting from a detailed (complex) model. The emphasis is placed on the combination of nonlinearity and dynamics. Nonlinearity includes harmonic and inter-modulation distortion, clipping, etc. Dynamics includes frequency-dependence and long-term memory effects from a variety of physical origins. In the realm of dynamic nonlinearities, insight from linear analysis cannot always be applied. Superposition is not generally valid, the Fourier domain is less useful, and Green functions don’t exist. No fully general or overarching theories of nonlinear dynamical systems exist that are comparable to what exists for linear systems. Nevertheless, great progress has been made recently in nonlinear behavioral modeling. In fact, this lecture suggests we are at the threshold for full interoperability of large-signal measurement systems, modeling approaches, and simulation algorithms for nonlinear hierarchical behavioral modeling. This means we can begin to do for driven nonlinear microwave systems what small-signal S-parameters enable for linear systems.
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Almudena Suarez Start Year 2006
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Global Stability Analysis and Stabilization of Power Amplifiers Power amplifiers often exhibit instabilities giving rise to frequency division by two or oscillations at incommensurate frequencies. These phenomena, observed from a certain level of input power, cannot be detected through a small-signal stability analysis of the circuit. Instead, a large-signal stability analysis must be performed. Other behaviors, like hysteresis and chaotic solutions, can also be obtained when the input power is varied. The qualitative changes in the output-power spectrum are due to bifurcations or qualitative stability changes in the circuit solution or in the number of solutions when the parameter is varied. The talk introduces the local and global stability concepts and the analysis techniques, based on harmonic balance. The first objective is to allow a good comprehension of the different phenomena. The second objective is to provide practical simulation tools for an efficient prediction and elimination of the undesired behavior. Different approaches for the local-stability analysis of nonlinear regimes will be presented, with emphasis on the pole-zero identification. Then, techniques will be shown for the detection of the most common types of bifurcations in power amplifiers. The final goal will be the stabilization of the circuit and the design corrections in order to suppress the undesired phenomena will also be presented. For illustration, the simulation tools will be applied to two different switching amplifiers developed at California Institute of Technology. These amplifiers have remarkably high efficiency, but in intermediate input-power range they exhibited different undesired phenomena. The first amplifier is a Class-E/F amplifier, which showed oscillations, hysteresis and chaos. The second amplifier is a Class-E amplifier, which showed jumps in the power-transfer curve and sideband noise amplification. After the application of the different techniques, the two amplifiers were globally stabilized for all the expected operating values of the amplifier bias voltage and input power. This was achieved with negligible degradation of the amplifier performance, in terms of output power and drain efficiency. The stable behaviour obtained in simulation was experimentally confirmed.
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Distinguished Microwave Lecturer topics, year last given, and speaker:
Application of MEMs Technology to RF/Microwave Systems, 2004, Gabriel Rebeiz
Wireless Access Using Microwave Photonics , 2004, Alwyn Seeds
Microwave Photonics for Broadband Radio Systems, 2004, Christian Schaffer
Modern Circulators and Isolators for Wireless and Automotive Applications, 2004, L.E. Davis
Microwave Passive Circuit Design Without Hardware Prototyping – How Close it Comes with State-of-Art Electromagnetic Simulation, 2005, Wojciech Gwarek
Flip-Chip for Millimeter-Wave and Broadband Packaging, 2005, Wolfgang Heinrich
Large-Signal Physical Operation of SiC and Nitride-based Microwave Field-Effect Transistors, 2005, Robert Trew
Recent Advances in High Performance Communication Modules and Circuits, 2006, Joy Laskar]
Microwave Applications of Metamaterials and Structures, 2006, Tatsuo Itoh
Calibration and Error Correction Techniques for Network Analysis, 2006, Doug Rytting
Microwave GaN Based Field Effect Transistors, 2006, Michael Shur
Multi-Level Modeling for Complex Microwave/High-Speed Design, 2007, Wolfgang Hoefer
Linear Power Amplifiers for
Maxwell, Life of James Clerk, 2007, James Rautio
Terahertz Technology in Outer and Inner Space, 2007, Peter Siegel
For synopses, go here.