Academic literature on the topic 'On-chip transformer'

Passive components are indispensable in the design and development of microchips for high-frequency applications. Inductors in particular are used frequently in radio frequency (RF) IC's such as low-noise amplifiers and oscillators. High performance inductor has become one of the critical components for voltage controlled oscillator (VCO) design, for its quality factor (Q) value directly affects the VCO phase noise. The optimization of inductor layout can improve its performance, but the improvement is limited by selected technology. Inductor performance is bounded by the thin routing metal and small distance from lossy substrate. On the other hand, the in-accurate inductor modeling further limits the optimization process. The on-chip inductor has been an important research topic since it was first proposed in early 1990's. Significant amount of study has been accomplished and reported in literature; whereas some methods have been used in industry, but not released to public. It is of no doubt that a comprehensive solution is not exist yet. A comprehensive study of previous will be first address. Later author will point out the in-adequacy of skin effect and proximity effect as cause of current crowding in the inductor metal. A model method embedded with new explanation of current crowding is proposed and its applicability in differential inductor and balun is validated. This study leads to a robust optimization routine to improve inductor performance without any addition technology cost and development.<br>Ph.D.<br>School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science<br>Engineering and Computer Science<br>Electrical Engineering

Magnetoelectric (ME) effect is defined as the change in dielectric polarization (P) of a material under an applied magnetic field (H) or an induced magnetization (M) under an external electric field (E). ME materials have attracted number of investigators due to their potential for improving applications such as magnetic field sensors, filters, transformers, memory devices and energy harvesters. It has been shown both experimentally and theoretically that the composite structures consisting of piezoelectric and magnetostrictive phases possess stronger ME coupling in comparison to that of single phase materials. Giant magnetoelectric effect has been reported in variety of composites consisting of bulk-sized ME composites and thin film ME nanostructures. In this dissertation, novel ME composite systems are proposed, synthesized and characterized in both bulk and thin films to address the existing challenges in meeting the needs of practical applications. Two applications were the focused upon in this study, tunable transformer and dual phase energy harvester, where requirements can be summarized as: high ME coefficient under both on-resonance and off-resonance conditions, broad bandwidth, and low applied DC bias. In the first chapter, three challenges related to the conventional ME behavior in bulk ME composites have been addressed (1) The optimized ME coefficient can be achieved without external DC magnetic field by using a self-biased ME composite with a homogenous magnetostrictive material. The mechanism of such effect and its tunability are studied; (2) A near-flat ME response regardless of external magnetic field is obtained in a self-biased ME composite with geometry gradient structure; (3) By optimizing interfacial coupling with co-firing techniques, the ME coefficient can be dramatically enhanced. Theses co-fired ME laminates not only exhibit high coupling coefficient due to direct bonding, but also illustrate a self-biased effect due to the built-in stress during co-sintering process. These results present significant advancement toward the development of multifunctional ME devices since it eliminates the need for DC bias, expands the working bandwidth and enhances the ME voltage coefficient. Next, magnetoelectric nanocomposites were developed for understanding the nature of the growth of anisotropic thin film structures. In this chapter following aspects were addressed: (1) Controlled growth of nanostructures with well-defined morphology was obtained. Microstructure and surface morphology evolution of the piezoelectric BaTiO3 films was systematically analyzed. A growth model was proposed by considering the anisotropy of surface energy and the formation of twin lamellae structure within the frame work of Structure Zone Model (SZM) and Dynamic Scaling Theory (DST). In parallel to BaTiO3 films, well-ordered nanocomposite arrays [Pb1.1(Zr0.6Ti0.4)O3/CoFe2O4] with controlled grain orientation were developed and investigated by a novel hybrid deposition method. The influence of the pre-deposited template film orientation on the growth of ME composite array was studied. (2) PZT/CFO/PZT thick composite film and BTO/CFO thin film were synthesized using sol-gel deposition (SGD) and pulsed laser deposition (PLD) techniques, respectively. The HRTEM analysis revealed local microstructure at the interface of consecutive constituents. The interfacial property variation of these films was found to affect the coupling coefficient of corresponding ME nanocomposites. Subsequently, a novel complex three-dimensional ME composite with highly anisotropic structure was developed using a hybrid synthesis method. The influence of growth condition on the microstructure and property of the grown complex composites was studied. The film with highly anisotropic structure was found to possess tailored ferroelectric response indicating the promise of this synthesis method and microstructure. Based on the laminated ME composites, three types of ME tunable transformer designs were designed and fabricated. The goal was to develop a novel ME transformer with tunable performance (voltage gain and/or working resonance frequency) under applied DC magnetic field. Conventional ME transformers need either winding coil or large external magnetic field to achieve the tunable feature. Considering the high ME coupling of ME laminate, two ME transformers were developed by epoxy bonding Metglas with transversely/longitudinally poled piezoelectric ceramic transformer. The influence of different operation modes toward magnetoelectric tunability was analyzed. In addressing the concern of the epoxy bonding interface, a co-fired ME transformer with unique piezoelectric transformer/magnetostrictive layer/piezoelectric transformer trilayer structure was designed. The design and development strategy of thin film ME transformer was discussed to illustrate the potential for ME transformer miniaturization and on-chip integration. Lastly, motivated by the increasing demand of energy harvesting (EH) systems to support self-powered sensor nodes in structural health monitoring system, a magnetoelectric composite based energy harvester was developed. The development and design concept of the magnetoelectric energy harvester was systematically discussed. In particular, the first dual-phase self-biased ME energy harvester was designed which can simultaneously harness both vibration and stray magnetic field (Hac) in the absence of DC magnetic field. Strain distribution of the EH was simulated using the finite element model (FEM) at the first three resonance frequencies. Additionally, the potential of transferring this simple EH structure into MEMS scalable components was mentioned. These results provide significant advancement toward high energy density multimode energy harvesting system.<br>Ph. D.

In this work the investigation on fully integrated systems providing on-chip galvanic isolation is presented, which exploits a silicon technology by STMicroelectronics. This research is mainly motivated by the higher level of integration that is demanded to the next generation of power converters and general applications featuring galvanic isolation. State-of the art implementations rely on complex post-processed passive devices to implement isolated power transfer within multi-die system in packages. In this work, two silicon implementations are mainly discussed, i.e. a step-up power transfer system and the ASK data receivers of a data/power transfer system. They achieve up to 980 mW output power with 29.6% efficiency and up to 40 Mbps with 5% modulation index, respectively, thus showing enhanced performance with respect to the state-of-the-art. Each system requires only two silicon chips to implement both galvanic isolation and power transfer, thus achieving the highest possible level of integration for a pure silicon technology.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Electrical and Computer Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, 2005.<br>Smith, Mark, Committee Member ; DeWeerth, Steve, Committee Member ; Jackson, Joel, Committee Member ; David Anderson, Committee Member ; Hasler, Paul, Committee Chair. Includes bibliographical references.

CMOS imagers are replacing CCD imagers in many applications and will continue to make new applications possible. CMOS imaging offers lower cost implementations on standard CMOS processes which allow for mixed signal processing on-chip. A system-on-a-chip approach offers the ability to perform complex algorithms faster, in less space, and with lower power and noise. Our transform imager is an implementation of a mixed focal plane and peripheral computation imager which allows high fill factor with high computational rates at low power. However, in order to use the technology effectively a need to verify and further understand the behavior and of the pixel elements in this transform imager was needed. This thesis presents a study of the pixel elements and mismatches and errors in the pixel array of this imager. From there, a discussion about removing offsets and an implementation of a circuit to remove the largest offsets is shown. To further enhance performance, initial work to develop light adaptive readout circuits is presented. Finally, an overview is given of a newly designed one-megapixel transform imager with many design improvements.

Un procédé de dépôt CVD à l’air libre, utilisant une torche micro-onde à injection axiale (TIA), a été développé pour le dépôt de films organosiliciés sur substrats de silicium monocristallins. Les effets et interactions de plusieurs paramètres de réglages de la TIA sur les propriétés physico-chimiques des films ont été déterminés par la mise en oeuvre d’un plan d’expériences de Rechtschaffner. L’analyse des résultats a permis d’établir des modèles expérimentaux ou « fonctions de transfert » liant les variables de dépôt aux propriétés des films. Suite aux analyses mathématique, graphique puis statistique des résultats du plan, complétées par la vérification expérimentale des modèles, plusieurs points d’intérêt particuliers – interactions, corrélation inter-réponses – ont été discutés. Les résultats dégagés ont mis en exergue une influence considérable de la température de surface du substrat. Par la suite, l’effet de cette température de surface sur les propriétés structurales et microstructurales des dépôts a été étudié. Pour ce faire, une analyse minutieuse des bandes associées aux vibrations des liaisons Si-O et –OH a été mis en oeuvre, notamment par un travail de décomposition spectral de FTIR. Ainsi, des informations sur l’organisation atomique dans le volume du matériau, notamment sur la conformation des liaisons Si-O-Si (angle et disparité angulaire) et sur la stoechiométrie ont été extraites. A plus grande échelle, des indications sur la densité, la porosité, et les contraintes au sein des films ont également été obtenues. Les résultats rapportés ont été utilisés pour expliciter les mécanismes de croissance du matériau. La caractérisation du jet plasma par spectroscopie d’émission optique a permis d’extraire des températures de gaz et d’appuyer les hypothèses émises. Enfin, la construction d’un nanocapteur à lecture en fluorescence à partir de nanostructures siliciées auto-organisées sur des substrats de Si(100) et Si(100)/Pt patternés par nanoindentation puis fonctionnalisées par chimie-click a été initiée<br>A new open air CVD process assisted by a microwave axial injection torch (TIA) has been developed for the deposition of organosilicon coatings on monocristalline silicon substrates. Both main effects of deposition parameters and first-order interactions on the physical &amp; chemical properties of the films have been investigated from a Rechtschaffner design of experiments (DOE). “Response equations” relating the responses with the deposition variables have been obtained. After the mathematical, graphical and statistical analysis of the results, several correlations settings/responses and response/response have been discussed and possible mechanisms that contribute to these relations have been suggested. These results have demonstrated that the substrate temperature plays a major role on the responses. Therafter the effects of the substrate temperature on the structural and microstructural properties of the coatings have been studied more in detail. That way, a thorough FTIR spectroscopy study has been performed through the deconvolution of the IR-absorption spectral curves into elementary profiles. This works has allowed to determinate the kind and the contribution of structural components and estimate the structural arrangement of the constituent atoms. In addition, results have been used to explicit growth mechanisms of the coatings. OES characterization of the plasma has corroborated the emitted assumptions. Finally we have reported on the first steps of a lab-on-chip building through the clickchemistry functionalization of self-organized networked SiOxHyCz nano-islands on Si(100) and Pt/Si(100) substrates patterned by nano-indentation

Les travaux portent sur les multiplexeurs optiques fonctionnant à mi-IR pour la source à large bande dans l'application de détection de gaz. Deux configurations ont été étudiées: réseau de guides d'onde (AWG) et réseau concave planaire (PCG). Premièrement, le principe du fonctionnement a été compris afin de développer une solution analytique pour le champ de sortie en utilisant une approximation gaussienne du champ et de l'optique de Fourier. Ensuite, un outil de simulation semi-analytique de la réponse spectrale pour les deux configurations de multiplexeur a été développé dans MATLAB. La distribution normale des erreurs de phase a été introduite dans le modèle semi-analytique AWG, ce qui nous a permis d'étudier la corrélation entre l'écart-type des erreurs de phase et le niveau de diaphonie de la réponse spectrale AWG. AWG à 5,65 μm a été fabriqué à partir de la technologie SiGe / Si à l'aide de l'outil MATLAB pour le calcul des paramètres de conception et de l'outil P.Labeye pour le calcul de la géométrie AWG. Les dispositifs avec des paramètres légèrement variables ont été caractérisés: AWG1 avec guides d'ondes de 4,6 μm et MMI de 9 μm; AWG2 avec guides d'ondes de 4,6 μm et MMI de 11 μm; AWG3 avec guides d'ondes de 4,8 μm et MMI de 9 μm. Des mesures des dispositifs sur la puce 36 (centre de la plaquette) et sur la puce 32 (côté de la plaquette) ont été effectuées et analysées. Les mesures de température de AWG2 et AWG3 (puce 32 et puce 36) aux points cinq points de température ont montré une dépendance linéaire du déplacement spectral avec la température qui a une bonne corrélation avec les prédictions de simulation<br>The work focuses on optical multiplexers operating in mid-IR for broadband source in gas sensing application. Two configurations were studies – arrayed waveguide grating (AWG) and planar concave grating (PCG). First, principle of operation was understood in order to develop analytical solution for output field using Gaussian approximation of the field and Fourier Optics. Then, semi-analytical simulation tool of the spectral response for both multiplexer configurations was developed in MATLAB. Normal distribution of phase errors was introduced to semi-analytical AWG model, which allowed us to study the correlation between standard deviation of phase errors and the level of crosstalk of AWG spectral response. AWG at 5.65 µm was fabricated based on SiGe/Si technology using the MATLAB tool for design parameters calculation and P.Labeye’s tool for AWG geometry calculation. Devices with slightly varying parameters were characterized: AWG1 with 4.6 µm waveguides and 9µm MMI; AWG2 with 4.6 µm waveguides and 11µm MMI; AWG3 with 4.8 µm waveguides and 9µm MMI. Measurements of devices on chip 36 (center of the wafer) and chip 32 (side of the wafer) were performed and analyzed. Temperature measurements of AWG2 and AWG3 (chip 32 and chip 36) at points five temperature points showed linear dependence of spectral shift with the temperature which has a good correlation with simulation predictions

碩士<br>國立臺灣科技大學<br>電子工程系<br>97<br>In the thesis, the proposed RF receiver front-end circuit for ultra-wideband (UWB) systems operating in 3.1-8.0 GHz frequency range is presented. The proposed RF front-end consists of low-noise amplifier (LNA), passive balun and double-balance mixer and is fabricated in a TSMC 0.18-μm CMOS process with 1.8 V supply voltage. The LNA employs three stages. The first stage uses the inverting technique embedding the symmetric planar transformer to achieve the wideband matching and less chip area. The secondary stage uses the cascode structure to eliminate the Miller effect and improve the isolation. The third stage is mostly used to match the following stage. Using the passive balun can reduce the power dissipation. The double-balance mixer uses the current-bleeding to lift the conversion gain and improve the linearity. The measured results show a maximum power gain of 30.32 dB, a minimum noise figure (NF) of 4.79 dB, and an input return loss (S11) less than -15.3 dB over the whole frequency range. This circuit also achieves an input-referred third-order intercept point (IIP3) of -21.4dBm. The isolations of LO to RF and LO to IF are less than -57 dB and -27.8, respectively. The chip area including pads is only 0.984 mm2 and power dissipation of 36.88mW.