Deep Sub-micron RF-CMOS Design and Applications of Modern UWB and Millimeter-wave Wireless Transceivers

The research activity carried out during this PhD consists on the design of radio-frequency integrated circuits, for ultra-wideband (UWB) and millimeter-wave systems, and covers the following topics: (i) radio-frequency integrated circuits for low-power transceivers for wireless local networks; (ii) fully integrated UWB radar for cardio-pulmonary monitoring in 90nm CMOS technology; (iii) 60-GHz low noise amplifier (LNA) in 65nm CMOS technology. In Chapter 1 a qualitative analysis on the communication range of passive Radio-Frequency Identification Devices (RFID), and the design of a 2.4 GHz fully integrated low-power RF transceiver front-end in a low-cost 0.35 \textmu m SiGe Bi-CMOS technology by Austriamicrosystems are reported. Furthermore, a novel fully integrated 5-6 GHz CMOS LC tank VCO designed in a 0.35 \textmu m standard CMOS technology is presented. Particularly, the LC tanks have been implemented by introducing a new version of the CMOS Boot-Strapped Inductor (BSI) circuit. Finally, in Chapter 1 a new wide-band frequency-independent equivalent circuit single-$\Pi$ model for on-chip spiral inductors is presented. In Chapter 2 the research activity on a new system-on-a-chip radar sensor for next generation wearable wireless interfaces applied to the human health-care and safeguard is described. In detail, the feasibility study, system analysis and the results of system simulation have been reported. The main building blocks of this UWB radar have been realized in 90nm CMOS technology by ST-Microelectronics. The design of the main building blocks of the UWB (3.1-10.6 GHz) radar sensor (the LNA, the monocycle pulse generator and the digitally programmable delay generator) in 90nm CMOS technology by ST-Microelectronics is reported. The test-chips have been realized and their performance have been measured. The measurement results show a good agreement with post-layout simulations. Finally, in Chapter 3, the design of a 60-GHz LNA in 65nm bulk CMOS technology is reported. The LNA exploits a novel topology to obtain the integrated input impedance matching based on an integrated transformer. This technique does not require any inductive source (emitter) degeneration, which decreases the gain at high frequency, especially in the range of the millimeter waves.