LIEN Wee Liang MediaTek Singapore Pte Ltd 01 October 2014
4th VIRTUS Postgraduate Research Workshop RF : From Discrete Devices to Single-Chip Integrated Solutions
AGENDA
Early years of RF Design
Factors leading to Single-Chip Integrated Solutions
How MediaTek overcomes technical challenges
Challenges ahead for RF-IC Design
Conclusion
2014-09-29 Copyright © MediaTek Inc. All rights reserved. 2
AGENDA
Early years of RF Design
Factors leading to Single-Chip Integrated Solutions
How MediaTek overcomes technical challenges
Challenges ahead for RF-IC Design
Conclusion
2014-09-29 Copyright © MediaTek Inc. All rights reserved. 3
HISTORY OF RADIO
2014-09-29 Copyright © MediaTek Inc. All rights reserved. 4
Year Milestone
1860s Scottish physicist, James Clerk Maxwell predicted the existence of radio waves.
1885 Heinrich Hertz proved that electricity can be transmitted in electromagnetic waves. He conducted experiments in sending and receiving these waves during the late 1880s.
1893 Nikola Tesla wirelessly transmitted electromagnetic energy. He made the first public demonstration of radio in St. Louis in 1893.
1918 Edwin Armstrong patented the Super Heterodyne Receiver based on work he did as an officer in the Army Signal Corp.
1930 Regular analog TV broadcasting began in some parts of Europe & North America.
1961 First FM station to broadcast in stereo.
1987 The GPS constellation of satellites was launched
1994 The Bluetooth specification was developed as a cable replacement by Jaap Haartsen and Sven Mattisson, who were working for Ericsson in Lund, Sweden.
1995 The first cellular system using digital CDMA technology was commercially launched.
1997 Original version of the standard IEEE 802.11 was released in 1997.
EARLY DAYS OF RADIO & TELEPHONY
2014-09-29 Copyright © MediaTek Inc. All rights reserved. 5
Lumped and distributed inductors and transformers
– realization of maximum gain
– conjugate matching to tune out reactive parasitics optimal power transfer
– Provides reactive energy in power amplifiers (PA) Optimal impedance match
Maximize power efficiency
“PIONEERS” OF RFIC
2014-09-29 Copyright © MediaTek Inc. All rights reserved. 6
On-chip inductors and transformers : enablers for RFIC technology in GHz range
– Demonstrated in JSSC 1990 by Prof. Meyer and his graduate student Nhat Nguyen.
800MHz LPF
0.7-1.9GHz bandpass amplifier fT=9GHz
Reference : [1]
AGENDA
Early years of RF design
Factors leading to Single-Chip Integrated Solutions
How MediaTek overcomes technical challenges
Challenges ahead in RF-IC Design
Conclusion
2014-09-29 Copyright © MediaTek Inc. All rights reserved. 7
WHY RF INTEGRATED SOLUTIONS?
Consumer trend
Process Technology Improvements
Innovative Circuit Techniques
2014-09-29 Copyright © MediaTek Inc. All rights reserved. 8
WHY RF INTEGRATED SOLUTIONS?
Consumer trend
Process Technology Improvements
Innovative Circuit Techniques
2014-09-29 Copyright © MediaTek Inc. All rights reserved. 9
2014/9/29 Copyright © MediaTek Inc. All rights reserved. 10
CONSUMER TREND
…. Wireless technology will be a key foundation of the smart home and most of the device categories will be connected wirelessly although no single technology will dominate. Gartner expects Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, ZigBee, cellular and various proprietary and mesh networking wireless technologies will all find a place in the smart home. It's therefore likely that a range of gateways and adapters will be necessary to bridge between the many different standards and protocols. Many domestic wireless smart objects will be portable and won't have ready access to a wired power supply, so battery manufacturers will profit from the smart home as will developers of power supply and storage technologies such as wireless charging …
2014/9/29 Copyright © MediaTek Inc. All rights reserved. 11
WIRELESS TECHNOLOGIES
Strong demand from consumers to have portable access to these technologies
- Form factor & cost becomes very important
2014/9/29 Copyright © MediaTek Inc. All rights reserved. 12
1997 Mode: GSM Band: 900MHz PCB size: ~ 90 cm2
Off-chip components (RF): 280
2002 Mode: GSM/ GPRS Band: 900MHz/ 1.9GHz PCB size: ~ 35 cm2
Off-chip components (RF): 60
2013 (Samsung S4) Mode: GSM/ GPRS/ EDGE/ 3.5G/ LTE Band: 800MHz/ 850MHz/ 900MHz/ 1.8GHz/ 1.9GHz/ 2.1GHz/ 2.6GHz Connectivity: WIFI 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, BT, GPS, FM, NFC
EVOLUTION OF WIRELESS SYSTEM
2014-09-29 Copyright © MediaTek Inc. All rights reserved. 13
CELLULAR TRANSCEIVERS TREND
Reference : [2]
On-going trend to reduce form factor and cost as much as possible
WHY RF INTEGRATED SOLUTIONS?
Consumer trend
Process Technology Improvements
Innovative Circuit Techniques
2014-09-29 Copyright © MediaTek Inc. All rights reserved. 14
STANDARD CMOS
2014-09-29 Copyright © MediaTek Inc. All rights reserved. 15
Standard CMOS technologies replacing specialty semiconductor technologies as the process technology of choice for RF circuits
– Increase in fT and fmax as technology scales
– Replace GaAs and Silicon-on-Sapphire (SOS) Lack of digital integration solutions
Costs
Reference : [3]
STANDARD CMOS
2014-09-29 Copyright © MediaTek Inc. All rights reserved. 16
1-5 GHz RF solutions does not require such high fT in advanced processes
– Use lower Ids for similar fT in advance nodes (lower power!)
Reference : [16]
PROCESS FINE-TUNE FOR RF (DNWELL)
2014-09-29 Copyright © MediaTek Inc. All rights reserved. 17
Deep NWELL
– Require extra mask & process steps
– For better isolation (low resistive current sink)
Reference : [16]
PROCESS FINE-TUNE FOR RF (TM)
2014-09-29 Copyright © MediaTek Inc. All rights reserved. 18
Thick Top Metal (TM) to improve inductor Q
Reference : [16]
PROCESS FINE-TUNE FOR RF (LDMOS)
2014-09-29 Copyright © MediaTek Inc. All rights reserved. 19
Laterally diffused MOS (LDMOS)
– Higher breakdown voltage (>10V)
– For high output power PA
2014-09-29 Copyright © MediaTek Inc. All rights reserved. 20
Process HR-SOI BULK CMOS
Leakage Low High
Junction capacitance Low High
Intrinsic Gain Low High
Industry Adoption Low High
Die cost Low High (FinFETs)
ADVANCE PROCESS FOR RF (SOI)
WHY RF INTEGRATED SOLUTIONS?
Consumer trend
Process Technology Improvements
Innovative Circuit Techniques
2014-09-29 Copyright © MediaTek Inc. All rights reserved. 21
DIRECT-CONVERSION ARCHITECTURE
2014-09-29 Copyright © MediaTek Inc. All rights reserved. 22
Popular alternative to heterodyne architecture
Translate desired RF spectrum direct to DC
Advantages – Does not face conventional image problems (remove high-
Q image-reject filters)
– Channel selection with simple analog LPF
– Lower cost, smaller die area, lower power consumption
Disadvantages – I-Q downconversion
– Second-order distortion
– DC-offsets
– 1/f noise
DIGITAL “REPAIRS” RF IMPAIRMENTS
2014-09-29 Copyright © MediaTek Inc. All rights reserved. 23
Digital circuits complement RF circuits for calibration schemes and data processing functions
– DC offset calibration
– IQ calibration
– Analog Filter Bandwidth calibration
– Gain calibration
– VCO LC tank calibration
– PA pre-distortion
– Etc ..
Digital and RF front-end residing within the same chip greatly enhance “system design-in experience”
OTHER CIRCUIT TECHNIQUES
2014-09-29 Copyright © MediaTek Inc. All rights reserved. 24
Receiver
– Multipath approach (noise cancelling topology)
– Blocker tolerant Feedback / Feedforward blocker cancellation
Transmitter
– Analog / digital pre-distortion
– Envelope tracking
– Multipath solutions Doherty etc.
Synthesizer
– Class C & D VCOs for better power efficiency
Reference : [13-15]
AGENDA
Early years of RF Design
Factors leading to Single-Chip Integrated Solutions
How MediaTek overcomes technical challenges
Challenges ahead for RF-IC Design
Conclusion
2014-09-29 Copyright © MediaTek Inc. All rights reserved. 25
MEDIATEK RF PAPERS SHARING
2014-09-29 Copyright © MediaTek Inc. All rights reserved. 26
S/No Topic Reference
1 FM with embedded antenna ASSCC 2013
2 GPS/GALILEO with adaptive in-band blocker cancellation
ISSCC 2011
3 Universal Global Navigation Satellite System ISSCC 2013
4 Multiband Mobile Analog TV Tuner JSSC 2013
5 Universal Silicon TV Tuner ASSCC 2013
6 4-in-1 Connectivity Combo ISSCC 2012
7 4-in-1 Radio-in-a-package with IPD Front-end RFIC 2014
MEDIATEK RF PAPERS SHARING
2014-09-29 Copyright © MediaTek Inc. All rights reserved. 27
S/No Topic Reference
1 FM with embedded antenna ASSCC 2013
2 GPS/GALILEO with adaptive in-band blocker cancellation
ISSCC 2011
3 Universal Global Navigation Satellite System ISSCC 2013
4 Multiband Mobile Analog TV Tuner JSSC 2013
5 Universal Silicon TV Tuner ASSCC 2013
6 4-in-1 Connectivity Combo ISSCC 2012
7 4-in-1 Radio-in-a-package with IPD Front-end RFIC 2014
FM WITH EMBEDDED ANTENNA
Reference : ASSCC 2013 [4]
RF System : FM RX, FM TX
Technology : 65nm CMOS
Background/Challenges :
– FM RX : enhance user experience, target to use embedded antenna on a PCB
– FM TX : emit >120dBmVrms output signal (>2.8Vpp)
– Sharing of embedded antenna for RX and TX
2014-09-29 Copyright © MediaTek Inc. All rights reserved. 28
FM WITH EMBEDDED ANTENNA
Solution
– Embedded on-chip antenna calibration scheme
– Low distortion transmit / receive switch
2014-09-29 Copyright © MediaTek Inc. All rights reserved. 29
PCB antenna
FM WITH EMBEDDED ANTENNA
Solution
– Embedded on-chip antenna calibration scheme
2014-09-29 Copyright © MediaTek Inc. All rights reserved. 30
negative gm
Lext
Cant
Carray
• Oscillator formed with embedded antenna resonance circuits. • Calculation of pulses with an on-chip precision crystal clock
FM WITH EMBEDDED ANTENNA
Solution
– Low distortion low Ron T/R switch
2014-09-29 Copyright © MediaTek Inc. All rights reserved. 31
TX mode: DC 0V AC +/–ve swing
couple TX swing to bulk to prevent CDB from turning on
M2 turns on during TX –ve swing so that M1 gate tracks it’s drain (always off)
Prevents CSB1 from turning on during TX +ve swing
FM WITH EMBEDDED ANTENNA
Results
– TX output level exceeds 120dBmVrms for all channels
– Accurate calibration to within 0.2dB of desired output power
2014-09-29 Copyright © MediaTek Inc. All rights reserved. 32
Power difference between automatic and manual calibrations for each channel
MEDIATEK RF PAPERS SHARING
2014-09-29 Copyright © MediaTek Inc. All rights reserved. 33
S/No Topic Reference
1 FM with embedded antenna ASSCC 2013
2 GPS/GALILEO with adaptive in-band blocker cancellation
ISSCC 2011
3 Universal Global Navigation Satellite System ISSCC 2013
4 Multiband Mobile Analog TV Tuner JSSC 2013
5 Universal Silicon TV Tuner ASSCC 2013
6 4-in-1 Connectivity Combo ISSCC 2012
7 4-in-1 Radio-in-a-package with IPD Front-end RFIC 2014
GPS/GALILEO WITH ADAPTIVE IN-BAND BLOCKER CANCELLATION
Reference : ISSCC 2011 [5]
RF System : GPS/Galileo SoC
Technology : 65nm CMOS
Background/Challenges :
– SoC introduces unwanted in-band blockers (e.g. CPU system clocks, LCD display, PMU, etc.) degrades sensitivity and Time-to-first-fix (TTFF)
2014-09-29 Copyright © MediaTek Inc. All rights reserved. 34
GPS/GALILEO WITH ADAPTIVE IN-BAND BLOCKER CANCELLATION
Solution :
– Adaptive in-band blocker cancellation
2014-09-29 Copyright © MediaTek Inc. All rights reserved. 35
GPS/GALILEO WITH ADAPTIVE IN-BAND BLOCKER CANCELLATION
Solution :
– Adjust the frequency, phase and amplitude of local CW replicas to learn and predict the blocker j(t)
2014-09-29 Copyright © MediaTek Inc. All rights reserved. 36
x(t)=s(t)+n(t)+j(t) y(t)=x(t)-j(t)=s(t)+n(t) E{y(t)}=E{x(t)-j(t)}=E{s(t)+n(t)}=0 s(t) : signal, PSD < noise n(t) : thermal noise, AWGN j(t) : multiple narrow-band CW blocker
GPS/GALILEO WITH ADAPTIVE IN-BAND BLOCKER CANCELLATION
Results :
– Better performance compared to other solutions
2014-09-29 Copyright © MediaTek Inc. All rights reserved. 37
Blocker level when CNR degrade 3dB Comparing CNR degradation versus blocker power
MEDIATEK RF PAPERS SHARING
2014-09-29 Copyright © MediaTek Inc. All rights reserved. 38
S/No Topic Reference
1 FM with embedded antenna ASSCC 2013
2 GPS/GALILEO with adaptive in-band blocker cancellation
ISSCC 2011
3 Universal Global Navigation Satellite System ISSCC 2013
4 Multiband Mobile Analog TV Tuner JSSC 2013
5 Universal Silicon TV Tuner ASSCC 2013
6 4-in-1 Connectivity Combo ISSCC 2012
7 4-in-1 Radio-in-a-package with IPD Front-end RFIC 2014
UNIVERSAL GNSS
Reference : ISSCC 2013 [6]
RF System : GPS, Galileo, Glonass, Beidou
Technology : 40nm CMOS
Background/Challenges :
– Support multi-standard GNSS, dual reception
– Improve time-to-first-lock and location accuracy
2014-09-29 Copyright © MediaTek Inc. All rights reserved. 39
UNIVERSAL GNSS
Solution – Configurable LO
– Single reconfigurable low-IF RX
– Single fractional-N PLL
2014-09-29 Copyright © MediaTek Inc. All rights reserved. 40
fLO LO Frequency (MHz)
System IF Frequency (MHz)
fLO_GG 1588.606 GPS/Galileo + Glonass
13.1
fLO_GB 1568.256 GPS/Galileo + Beidou
7.1
fLO_GPS 1571.328 GPS/Galileo-only 4.092
UNIVERSAL GNSS
Results
2014-09-29 Copyright © MediaTek Inc. All rights reserved. 41
MEDIATEK RF PAPERS SHARING
2014-09-29 Copyright © MediaTek Inc. All rights reserved. 42
S/No Topic Reference
1 FM with embedded antenna ASSCC 2013
2 GPS/GALILEO with adaptive in-band blocker cancellation
ISSCC 2011
3 Universal Global Navigation Satellite System ISSCC 2013
4 Multiband Mobile Analog TV Tuner JSSC 2013
5 Universal Silicon TV Tuner ASSCC 2013
6 4-in-1 Connectivity Combo ISSCC 2012
7 4-in-1 Radio-in-a-package with IPD Front-end RFIC 2014
MULTIBAND MOBILE ANALOG TV TUNER
Reference : JSSC 2013 [7]
RF System : VHF I, VHF III, UHF
Technology : 65nm CMOS
Background/Challenges :
– Achieve highly integrated compact and low-cost tuner design
2014-09-29 Copyright © MediaTek Inc. All rights reserved. 43
MULTIBAND MOBILE ANALOG TV TUNER
Solution
– Direct Conversion Receiver (DCR) Highest form of integration
2014-09-29 Copyright © MediaTek Inc. All rights reserved. 44
DC offset cancellation
76dB high dynamic range ADC
fully differential implementation
MULTIBAND MOBILE ANALOG TV TUNER
Solution
– Broadband harmonic rejection mixer (HRM) Odd LO harmonics suppressed to mitigate harmonic mixing
2014-09-29 Copyright © MediaTek Inc. All rights reserved. 45
MULTIBAND MOBILE ANALOG TV TUNER
Results – Based on 20 samples from 3 different lots including corner wafers
2014-09-29 Copyright © MediaTek Inc. All rights reserved. 46
MEDIATEK RF PAPERS SHARING
2014-09-29 Copyright © MediaTek Inc. All rights reserved. 47
S/No Topic Reference
1 FM with embedded antenna ASSCC 2013
2 GPS/GALILEO with adaptive in-band blocker cancellation
ISSCC 2011
3 Universal Global Navigation Satellite System ISSCC 2013
4 Multiband Mobile Analog TV Tuner JSSC 2013
5 Universal Silicon TV Tuner ASSCC 2013
6 4-in-1 Connectivity Combo ISSCC 2012
7 4-in-1 Radio-in-a-package with IPD Front-end RFIC 2014
UNIVERSAL SILICON TV TUNER
Reference : ASSCC 2013 [8]
RF System : ATV, DTV, EN55020
Technology : 0.18mm CMOS
Background/Challenges :
– Replace CAN tuners
– Integrate multi-TV standard
– Reduce external BOM (e.g. avoid using external LF capacitor)
2014-09-29 Copyright © MediaTek Inc. All rights reserved. 48
Can tuner modules Integrated Si tuners Si tuner SoC
UNIVERSAL SILICON TV TUNER
Solution
– Dual path loop filter in PLL Reduce the effective capacitance value in loop filter
2014-09-29 Copyright © MediaTek Inc. All rights reserved. 49
Reference : [17]
UNIVERSAL SILICON TV TUNER
Solution
2014-09-29 Copyright © MediaTek Inc. All rights reserved. 50
Conventional 3rd order LF Dual path 3rd order LF
(1) (2)
(3) (4)
'3'2'1
'
321 CCC
I
CCC
Icpcp
'2'2
1
22
1
0
0CR
I
VCR
cp
cp
z
)'3'1('2'2
'3'2'1
)31(22
3212
CCCR
CCC
CCCR
CCCp
'1'3'3
'3'1
133
313
CCR
CC
CCR
CCp
C1
R2
C2
R3
C3
V0
ICP
- +
C1'
R3'
C3'VCP'
ICP'
C2'R2'
V0C1
R2
C2
R3
C3
V0
ICP
- +
C1'
R3'
C3'VCP'
ICP'
C2'R2'
V0
UNIVERSAL SILICON TV TUNER
Solution
2014-09-29 Copyright © MediaTek Inc. All rights reserved. 51
Icp CL_BW C1’ C2’ C3’ R2’ R3’
5uA 100K 4.04pF 25.15pF 6pF 60.79K 7.45K
RC value for conventional LF
RC value for Dual-path LF (Vcp0=0.5VDD)
Icp CL_BW C1 C2 C3 R2 R3
25uA 100K 4pF 160pF 12pF 30K 6K 176pF
35pF
UNIVERSAL SILICON TV TUNER
Results
– PLL closed-loop phase-noise Loop filter corner 20kHz
Fractional spur > 70dBc
2014-09-29 Copyright © MediaTek Inc. All rights reserved. 52
MEDIATEK RF PAPERS SHARING
2014-09-29 Copyright © MediaTek Inc. All rights reserved. 53
S/No Topic Reference
1 FM with embedded antenna ASSCC 2013
2 GPS/GALILEO with adaptive in-band blocker cancellation
ISSCC 2011
3 Universal Global Navigation Satellite System ISSCC 2013
4 Multiband Mobile Analog TV Tuner JSSC 2013
5 Universal Silicon TV Tuner ASSCC 2013
6 4-in-1 Connectivity Combo ISSCC 2012
7 4-in-1 Radio-in-a-package with IPD Front-end RFIC 2014
4-IN-1 CONNECTIVITY COMBO
Reference : ISSCC 2012 [9]
RF System : 11a/b/g/n, BT, FM TRX, GPS Combo
Technology : 65nm CMOS
Background/Challenges :
– Integrate multiple radios into single SoC (reduce cost & form factor)
– Concurrent operation radio co-existence issue
– Thermal effects due to embedded PA
2014-09-29 Copyright © MediaTek Inc. All rights reserved. 54
4-IN-1 CONNECTIVITY COMBO
Solution
2014-09-29 Copyright © MediaTek Inc. All rights reserved. 55
4-IN-1 CONNECTIVITY COMBO
Solution
– Detailed planning of non-overlapping VCO frequency ranges for 4 radios
– Offset LO to prevent VCO pulling by PA
– Field cancelling inductors in VCO layout
– Metal shielding structure to critical signal traces
– Power supply RC-filtering techniques (reduce current loop area)
– Adaptive clock frequency selection algorithm
2014-09-29 Copyright © MediaTek Inc. All rights reserved. 56
4-IN-1 CONNECTIVITY COMBO
Solution
2014-09-29 Copyright © MediaTek Inc. All rights reserved. 57
Placed furthest away from WLAN/BT /PMU to minimize impact of clock harmonics
Placed far away from WiFi PA to
minimize thermal effects on GPS
performance
4-IN-1 CONNECTIVITY COMBO
Results
– WiFi/BT PER/BER test Sweep
blocker vs RX signal
Frequency separation 25 MHz
2014-09-29 Copyright © MediaTek Inc. All rights reserved. 58
% error rate
MEDIATEK RF PAPERS SHARING
2014-09-29 Copyright © MediaTek Inc. All rights reserved. 59
S/No Topic Reference
1 FM with embedded antenna ASSCC 2013
2 GPS/GALILEO with adaptive in-band blocker cancellation
ISSCC 2011
3 Universal Global Navigation Satellite System ISSCC 2013
4 Multiband Mobile Analog TV Tuner JSSC 2013
5 Universal Silicon TV Tuner ASSCC 2013
6 4-in-1 Connectivity Combo ISSCC 2012
7 4-in-1 Radio-in-a-package with IPD Front-end RFIC 2014
4-IN-1 RADIO-IN-A-PACKAGE WITH IPD FRONT-END
Reference : RFIC 2014 [10]
RF System : 11b/g/n, BT, FM, GPS Combo
Technology : 55nm CMOS with IPD
2014-09-29 Copyright © MediaTek Inc. All rights reserved. 60
Background/Challenges : – RF transceivers do not
scale with advance process node (inductors, pads, etc)
– Wafer cost increases 30-40% for each new process node.
– Discrete FEM (occupy significant PCB area)
4-IN-1 RADIO-IN-A-PACKAGE WITH IPD FRONT-END
Solution
– Move RF transceiver to a mature process node
– Implement front-end passive components on a low-cost integrated passive device (IPD) process
– House both in the same package
2014-09-29 Copyright © MediaTek Inc. All rights reserved. 61
4-IN-1 RADIO-IN-A-PACKAGE WITH IPD FRONT-END
Solution
2014-09-29 Copyright © MediaTek Inc. All rights reserved. 62
Separate signal from antenna to feed into the ISM band TRX & GPS RX
Balanced BPF for differential to single-ended conversion
Protects GPS from GSM and WCDMA blockers
4-IN-1 RADIO-IN-A-PACKAGE WITH IPD FRONT-END
Results
2014-09-29 Copyright © MediaTek Inc. All rights reserved. 63
4-IN-1 RADIO-IN-A-PACKAGE WITH IPD FRONT-END
Results
2014-09-29 Copyright © MediaTek Inc. All rights reserved. 64
HISTORY OF RF MULTI-IP INTEGRATION
2014-09-29 Copyright © MediaTek Inc. All rights reserved. 65
Year Milestone Notes
< 2000 RF discretes RF discretes + Baseband IC
2001 RF-IC (RF front end) Front-end modules + RF front-end IC + Baseband IC
2006 RF-IC (RF in SoC) Front-end modules + RF & Baseband IC
2008 RF-SiP (multi RF-IC dies in a package)
Front-end modules + different RF-IC functions integrated in a package
2011 RF-IC (multi RF system in single IC)
Front-end modules + multi system RF-IC
2012 RF-SiP (multi RF system with IPD)
Fewer FEMs + IPD + multi system RF-IC
COST OF RFICs IN TYPICAL PHONE
2014-09-29 Copyright © MediaTek Inc. All rights reserved. 66
Source :
AGENDA
Early years of RF Design
Factors leading to Single-Chip Integrated Solutions
How MediaTek overcomes technical challenges
Challenges ahead for RF-IC Design
Conclusion
2014-09-29 Copyright © MediaTek Inc. All rights reserved. 67
WHY RF DESIGNS BECOMES EVEN MORE CHALLENGING
2014-09-29 Copyright © MediaTek Inc. All rights reserved. 68
RF TRX capable of supporting multi-mode and multi-band capabilities – Forces engineers to develop increasingly dense and
complex solutions
– Multi-RF co-existence issues
Develop cost-competitive solutions – Avoid using full suite of RF process recipes (reduce mask /
fabrication / die cost)
– Use low cost packaging options with poorer RF characteristics
– Use lesser silicon area to achieve similar better performance!
DOWNSIDE OF RFIC IN CMOS
2014-09-29 Copyright © MediaTek Inc. All rights reserved. 69
Reduction of VDD as technology scales
Reference : [3] RFIC trends
DOWNSIDE OF RFIC IN CMOS
2014-09-29 Copyright © MediaTek Inc. All rights reserved. 70
Linearity suffers as technology scales
– Need larger bias current to maintain linearity
Reference : [3]
ON-GOING TRENDS
Integration of front-end modules (FEM) into silicon
– RF (transmit-receive) switch
– Antenna tuners
– Low noise amplifiers (LNA) & Power Amplifiers (PAs)
Digitally-assisted RF
– Improve TRX through reduction of analog impairments at system level
– Spur cancellation/reduction
– IIP2 improvements
– Digital Pre-distortion
Co-existence
– Multi bands & Multi standards
2014-09-29 Copyright © MediaTek Inc. All rights reserved. 71
Reference : [13-15]
PROCESS & PACKAGING TRENDS
2014-09-29 Copyright © MediaTek Inc. All rights reserved. 72
RFIC design still have lots of work to do!
AGENDA
Early years of RF Design
Factors leading to Single-Chip Integrated Solutions
How MediaTek overcomes technical challenges
Challenges ahead for RF-IC Design
Conclusion
2014-09-29 Copyright © MediaTek Inc. All rights reserved. 73
CONCLUSION
Consumer demand for wireless connectivity in all domains continue to push strong need for compact high-performing RF-IC solutions
New IC technologies and evolving RF standards continue to push RF-IC system and design engineers for innovative solutions
There’s still lot’s of (challenging)
work to do!
2014-09-29 Copyright © MediaTek Inc. All rights reserved. 74
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
VIRTUS – NTU
– Professor Siek Liter
MediaTek reviewers
– Chee Lee Heng
– Conan Zhan JH
2014-09-29 Copyright © MediaTek Inc. All rights reserved. 75
REFERENCES [1] N.M. Nguyen and R.G. Meyer, “Si IC-compatible inductors and LC passive filters,” IEEE JSSC, vol. 25, no. 4, pp. 1028-
1031, Aug 1990. [2] H. Darabi, “SoC Integration of RF Front-end Passives,” Tutorials, ISSCC, 2010 [3] S. Wong, “Technology Options for RF IC,” Short Courses, ISSCC, 2005 [4] X. Jiang, et al. “A Compact Mobile FM TX with Automatic Embedded Antenna Tuning & Low Spurious Emission in
65nm CMOS,” ASSCC, pp. 201-204, 2013. [5] C.H. Wu, et al. “A GPS/Galileo SoC with Adaptive In-Band Blocker Cancellation in 65nm CMOS,” ISSCC, pp. 462-463,
2011. [6] C.G. Tan, et al. “A Universal GNSS (GPS/Galileo/Glonass/Beidou) SoC with a 0.25mm2 Radio in 40nm CMOS,” ISSCC,
pp. 334-335, 2013. [7] T.Y. Choke, et al. “A Multiband Mobile Analog TV Tuner SoC With 78-dB Harmonic Rejection and GSM Blocker
Detection in 65-nm CMOS,” JSSC, pp 14-27, May 2013. [8] B.H. Ong, et al. “A Universal Silicon TV Tuner with a Compact Synthesizer in 0.18mm CMOS,” ASSCC, pp 337-340,
2013. [9] Y.H. Chung, et al. “A 4-in-1 (WiFi/BT/FM/GPS) Connectivity SoC with Enhanced Co-Existence Performance in 65nm
CMOS,” ISSCC, pp 172-173, 2012. [10] J.H.C Zhan, et al. “A 55nm CMOS 4-in-1 (11b/g/n, BT,FM, and GPS) Radio-In-a-Package with IPD Front-End
Components Directly Connected to Antenna,” IEEE RFIC Symposium, pp 209-212, 2013. [11] A.M. Niknejad, “Inductors and Transformers : Enabling the GHz silicon IC revolution,” IEEE Solid-State Circuits
Magazine Winter, pp. 30-32, 2014. [12]“Future Outlook for the RF & Microwave Industry,” RF Globalnet, May 2007 [13] “ISSCC 2014 trends,” 2013 [14] “ISSCC 2013 trends,” 2012 [15] “ISSCC 2012 trends,” 2011 [16] C.H. Jan, et al.”RF CMOS Technology Scaling in High-K/Metal Gate Era for RF SoC Applications,” IEDM, Dec 2010 [17] C. G. Jones, et al. “Low Noise Filter,” USPTO, US6891412B1, May 2005.
2014-09-29 Copyright © MediaTek Inc. All rights reserved. 76
[4-10] MediaTek papers
AN ANALOGY (RF DESIGN WITH ART)
2014-09-29 Copyright © MediaTek Inc. All rights reserved. 77
RF DISCRETE DESIGN RF-IC DESIGN
TOOLS
SOLUTION