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- All Subjects: Electrical Engineering
- Genre: Doctoral Dissertation
- Creators: Bakkaloglu, Bertan
- Member of: ASU Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Description
Complex electronic systems include multiple power domains and drastically varying dynamic power consumption patterns, requiring the use of multiple power conversion and regulation units. High frequency switching converters have been gaining prominence in the DC-DC converter market due to smaller solution size (higher power density) and higher efficiency. As the filter components become smaller in value and size, they are unfortunately also subject to higher process variations and worse degradation profiles jeopardizing stable operation of the power supply. This dissertation presents techniques to track changes in the dynamic loop characteristics of the DC-DC converters without disturbing the normal mode of operation. A digital pseudo-noise (PN) based stimulus is used to excite the DC-DC system at various circuit nodes to calculate the corresponding closed-loop impulse response. The test signal energy is spread over a wide bandwidth and the signal analysis is achieved by correlating the PN input sequence with the disturbed output generated, thereby
accumulating the desired behavior over time. A mixed-signal cross-correlation circuit is used to derive on-chip impulse responses, with smaller memory and lower computational requirement in comparison to a digital correlator approach. Model reference based parametric and non-parametric techniques are discussed to analyze the impulse response results in both time and frequency domain. The proposed techniques can extract open-loop phase margin and closed-loop unity-gain frequency within 5.2% and 4.1% error, respectively, for the load current range of 30-200mA. Converter parameters such as natural frequency (ω_n ), quality factor (Q), and center frequency (ω_c ) can be estimated within 3.6%, 4.7%, and 3.8% error respectively, over load inductance of 4.7-10.3µH, and filter capacitance of 200-400nF. A 5-MHz switching frequency, 5-8.125V input voltage range, voltage-mode controlled DC-DC buck converter is designed for the proposed built-in self-test (BIST) analysis. The converter output voltage range is 3.3-5V and the supported maximum
load current is 450mA. The peak efficiency of the converter is 87.93%. The proposed converter is fabricated on a 0.6µm 6-layer-metal Silicon-On-Insulator (SOI) technology with a die area of 9mm^2 . The area impact due to the system identification blocks including related I/O structures is 3.8% and they consume 530µA quiescent current during operation.
accumulating the desired behavior over time. A mixed-signal cross-correlation circuit is used to derive on-chip impulse responses, with smaller memory and lower computational requirement in comparison to a digital correlator approach. Model reference based parametric and non-parametric techniques are discussed to analyze the impulse response results in both time and frequency domain. The proposed techniques can extract open-loop phase margin and closed-loop unity-gain frequency within 5.2% and 4.1% error, respectively, for the load current range of 30-200mA. Converter parameters such as natural frequency (ω_n ), quality factor (Q), and center frequency (ω_c ) can be estimated within 3.6%, 4.7%, and 3.8% error respectively, over load inductance of 4.7-10.3µH, and filter capacitance of 200-400nF. A 5-MHz switching frequency, 5-8.125V input voltage range, voltage-mode controlled DC-DC buck converter is designed for the proposed built-in self-test (BIST) analysis. The converter output voltage range is 3.3-5V and the supported maximum
load current is 450mA. The peak efficiency of the converter is 87.93%. The proposed converter is fabricated on a 0.6µm 6-layer-metal Silicon-On-Insulator (SOI) technology with a die area of 9mm^2 . The area impact due to the system identification blocks including related I/O structures is 3.8% and they consume 530µA quiescent current during operation.
ContributorsBeohar, Navankur (Author) / Bakkaloglu, Bertan (Thesis advisor) / Ozev, Sule (Committee member) / Ayyanar, Raja (Committee member) / Seo, Jae-Sun (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2017
Description
Portable devices often require multiple power management IC (PMIC) to power different sub-modules, Li-ion batteries are well suited for portable devices because of its small size, high energy density and long life cycle. Since Li-ion battery is the major power source for portable device, fast and high-efficiency battery charging solution has become a major requirement in portable device application.
In the first part of dissertation, a high performance Li-ion switching battery charger is proposed. Cascaded two loop (CTL) control architecture is used for seamless CC-CV transition, time based technique is utilized to minimize controller area and power consumption. Time domain controller is implemented by using voltage controlled oscillator (VCO) and voltage controlled delay line (VCDL). Several efficiency improvement techniques such as segmented power-FET, quasi-zero voltage switching (QZVS) and switching frequency reduction are proposed. The proposed switching battery charger is able to provide maximum 2 A charging current and has an peak efficiency of 93.3%. By configure the charger as boost converter, the charger is able to provide maximum 1.5 A charging current while achieving 96.3% peak efficiency.
The second part of dissertation presents a digital low dropout regulator (DLDO) for system on a chip (SoC) in portable devices application. The proposed DLDO achieve fast transient settling time, lower undershoot/overshoot and higher PSR performance compared to state of the art. By having a good PSR performance, the proposed DLDO is able to power mixed signal load. To achieve a fast load transient response, a load transient detector (LTD) enables boost mode operation of the digital PI controller. The boost mode operation achieves sub microsecond settling time, and reduces the settling time by 50% to 250 ns, undershoot/overshoot by 35% to 250 mV and 17% to 125 mV without compromising the system stability.
In the first part of dissertation, a high performance Li-ion switching battery charger is proposed. Cascaded two loop (CTL) control architecture is used for seamless CC-CV transition, time based technique is utilized to minimize controller area and power consumption. Time domain controller is implemented by using voltage controlled oscillator (VCO) and voltage controlled delay line (VCDL). Several efficiency improvement techniques such as segmented power-FET, quasi-zero voltage switching (QZVS) and switching frequency reduction are proposed. The proposed switching battery charger is able to provide maximum 2 A charging current and has an peak efficiency of 93.3%. By configure the charger as boost converter, the charger is able to provide maximum 1.5 A charging current while achieving 96.3% peak efficiency.
The second part of dissertation presents a digital low dropout regulator (DLDO) for system on a chip (SoC) in portable devices application. The proposed DLDO achieve fast transient settling time, lower undershoot/overshoot and higher PSR performance compared to state of the art. By having a good PSR performance, the proposed DLDO is able to power mixed signal load. To achieve a fast load transient response, a load transient detector (LTD) enables boost mode operation of the digital PI controller. The boost mode operation achieves sub microsecond settling time, and reduces the settling time by 50% to 250 ns, undershoot/overshoot by 35% to 250 mV and 17% to 125 mV without compromising the system stability.
ContributorsLim, Chai Yong (Author) / Kiaei, Sayfe (Thesis advisor) / Bakkaloglu, Bertan (Committee member) / Ogras, Umit Y. (Committee member) / Seo, Jae-Sun (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2018
Description
The increase in computing power has simultaneously increased the demand for input/output (I/O) bandwidth. Unfortunately, the speed of I/O and memory interconnects have not kept pace. Thus, processor-based systems are I/O and interconnect limited. The memory aggregated bandwidth is not scaling fast enough to keep up with increasing bandwidth demands. The term "memory wall" has been coined to describe this phenomenon.
A new memory bus concept that has the potential to push double data rate (DDR) memory speed to 30 Gbit/s is presented. We propose to map the conventional DDR bus to a microwave link using a multicarrier frequency division multiplexing scheme. The memory bus is formed using a microwave signal carried within a waveguide. We call this approach multicarrier memory channel architecture (MCMCA). In MCMCA, each memory signal is modulated onto an RF carrier using 64-QAM format or higher. The carriers are then routed using substrate integrated waveguide (SIW) interconnects. At the receiver, the memory signals are demodulated and then delivered to SDRAM devices. We pioneered the usage of SIW as memory channel interconnects and demonstrated that it alleviates the memory bandwidth bottleneck. We demonstrated SIW performance superiority over conventional transmission line in immunity to cross-talk and electromagnetic interference. We developed a methodology based on design of experiment (DOE) and response surface method techniques that optimizes the design of SIW interconnects and minimizes its performance fluctuations under material and manufacturing variations. Along with using SIW, we implemented a multicarrier architecture which enabled the aggregated DDR bandwidth to reach 30 Gbit/s. We developed an end-to-end system model in Simulink and demonstrated the MCMCA performance for ultra-high throughput memory channel.
Experimental characterization of the new channel shows that by using judicious frequency division multiplexing, as few as one SIW interconnect is sufficient to transmit the 64 DDR bits. Overall aggregated bus data rate achieves 240 GBytes/s data transfer with EVM not exceeding 2.26% and phase error of 1.07 degree or less.
A new memory bus concept that has the potential to push double data rate (DDR) memory speed to 30 Gbit/s is presented. We propose to map the conventional DDR bus to a microwave link using a multicarrier frequency division multiplexing scheme. The memory bus is formed using a microwave signal carried within a waveguide. We call this approach multicarrier memory channel architecture (MCMCA). In MCMCA, each memory signal is modulated onto an RF carrier using 64-QAM format or higher. The carriers are then routed using substrate integrated waveguide (SIW) interconnects. At the receiver, the memory signals are demodulated and then delivered to SDRAM devices. We pioneered the usage of SIW as memory channel interconnects and demonstrated that it alleviates the memory bandwidth bottleneck. We demonstrated SIW performance superiority over conventional transmission line in immunity to cross-talk and electromagnetic interference. We developed a methodology based on design of experiment (DOE) and response surface method techniques that optimizes the design of SIW interconnects and minimizes its performance fluctuations under material and manufacturing variations. Along with using SIW, we implemented a multicarrier architecture which enabled the aggregated DDR bandwidth to reach 30 Gbit/s. We developed an end-to-end system model in Simulink and demonstrated the MCMCA performance for ultra-high throughput memory channel.
Experimental characterization of the new channel shows that by using judicious frequency division multiplexing, as few as one SIW interconnect is sufficient to transmit the 64 DDR bits. Overall aggregated bus data rate achieves 240 GBytes/s data transfer with EVM not exceeding 2.26% and phase error of 1.07 degree or less.
ContributorsBensalem, Brahim (Author) / Aberle, James T. (Thesis advisor) / Bakkaloglu, Bertan (Committee member) / Tirkas, Panayiotis A. (Committee member) / Kitchen, Jennifer (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2018
Description
The increased adoption of Internet-of-Things (IoT) for various applications like smart home, industrial automation, connected vehicles, medical instrumentation, etc. has resulted in a large scale distributed network of sensors, accompanied by their power supply regulator modules, control and data transfer circuitry. Depending on the application, the sensor location can be virtually anywhere and therefore they are typically powered by a localized battery. To ensure long battery-life without replacement, the power consumption of the sensor nodes, the supply regulator and, control and data transmission unit, needs to be very low. Reduction in power consumption in the sensor, control and data transmission is typically done by duty-cycled operation such that they are on periodically only for short bursts of time or turn on only based on a trigger event and are otherwise powered down. These approaches reduce their power consumption significantly and therefore the overall system power is dominated by the consumption in the always-on supply regulator.
Besides having low power consumption, supply regulators for such IoT systems also need to have fast transient response to load current changes during a duty-cycled operation. Supply regulation using low quiescent current low dropout (LDO) regulators helps in extending the battery life of such power aware always-on applications with very long standby time. To serve as a supply regulator for such applications, a 1.24 µA quiescent current NMOS low dropout (LDO) is presented in this dissertation. This LDO uses a hybrid bias current generator (HBCG) to boost its bias current and improve the transient response. A scalable bias-current error amplifier with an on-demand buffer drives the NMOS pass device. The error amplifier is powered with an integrated dynamic frequency charge pump to ensure low dropout voltage. A low-power relaxation oscillator (LPRO) generates the charge pump clocks. Switched-capacitor pole tracking (SCPT) compensation scheme is proposed to ensure stability up to maximum load current of 150 mA for a low-ESR output capacitor range of 1 - 47µF. Designed in a 0.25 µm CMOS process, the LDO has an output voltage range of 1V – 3V, a dropout voltage of 240 mV, and a core area of 0.11 mm2.
Besides having low power consumption, supply regulators for such IoT systems also need to have fast transient response to load current changes during a duty-cycled operation. Supply regulation using low quiescent current low dropout (LDO) regulators helps in extending the battery life of such power aware always-on applications with very long standby time. To serve as a supply regulator for such applications, a 1.24 µA quiescent current NMOS low dropout (LDO) is presented in this dissertation. This LDO uses a hybrid bias current generator (HBCG) to boost its bias current and improve the transient response. A scalable bias-current error amplifier with an on-demand buffer drives the NMOS pass device. The error amplifier is powered with an integrated dynamic frequency charge pump to ensure low dropout voltage. A low-power relaxation oscillator (LPRO) generates the charge pump clocks. Switched-capacitor pole tracking (SCPT) compensation scheme is proposed to ensure stability up to maximum load current of 150 mA for a low-ESR output capacitor range of 1 - 47µF. Designed in a 0.25 µm CMOS process, the LDO has an output voltage range of 1V – 3V, a dropout voltage of 240 mV, and a core area of 0.11 mm2.
ContributorsMagod Ramakrishna, Raveesh (Author) / Bakkaloglu, Bertan (Thesis advisor) / Garrity, Douglas (Committee member) / Kitchen, Jennifer (Committee member) / Seo, Jae-Sun (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2018
Description
As integrated technologies are scaling down, there is an increasing trend in the
process,voltage and temperature (PVT) variations of highly integrated RF systems.
Accounting for these variations during the design phase requires tremendous amount
of time for prediction of RF performance and optimizing it accordingly. Thus, there
is an increasing gap between the need to relax the RF performance requirements at
the design phase for rapid development and the need to provide high performance
and low cost RF circuits that function with PVT variations. No matter how care-
fully designed, RF integrated circuits (ICs) manufactured with advanced technology
nodes necessitate lengthy post-production calibration and test cycles with expensive
RF test instruments. Hence design-for-test (DFT) is proposed for low-cost and fast
measurement of performance parameters during both post-production and in-eld op-
eration. For example, built-in self-test (BIST) is a DFT solution for low-cost on-chip
measurement of RF performance parameters. In this dissertation, three aspects of
automated test and calibration, including DFT mathematical model, BIST hardware
and built-in calibration are covered for RF front-end blocks.
First, the theoretical foundation of a post-production test of RF integrated phased
array antennas is proposed by developing the mathematical model to measure gain
and phase mismatches between antenna elements without any electrical contact. The
proposed technique is fast, cost-efficient and uses near-field measurement of radiated
power from antennas hence, it requires single test setup, it has easy implementation
and it is short in time which makes it viable for industrialized high volume integrated
IC production test.
Second, a BIST model intended for the characterization of I/Q offset, gain and
phase mismatch of IQ transmitters without relying on external equipment is intro-
duced. The proposed BIST method is based on on-chip amplitude measurement as
in prior works however,here the variations in the BIST circuit do not affect the target
parameter estimation accuracy since measurements are designed to be relative. The
BIST circuit is implemented in 130nm technology and can be used for post-production
and in-field calibration.
Third, a programmable low noise amplifier (LNA) is proposed which is adaptable
to different application scenarios depending on the specification requirements. Its
performance is optimized with regards to required specifications e.g. distance, power
consumption, BER, data rate, etc.The statistical modeling is used to capture the
correlations among measured performance parameters and calibration modes for fast
adaptation. Machine learning technique is used to capture these non-linear correlations and build the probability distribution of a target parameter based on measurement results of the correlated parameters. The proposed concept is demonstrated by
embedding built-in tuning knobs in LNA design in 130nm technology. The tuning
knobs are carefully designed to provide independent combinations of important per-
formance parameters such as gain and linearity. Minimum number of switches are
used to provide the desired tuning range without a need for an external analog input.
process,voltage and temperature (PVT) variations of highly integrated RF systems.
Accounting for these variations during the design phase requires tremendous amount
of time for prediction of RF performance and optimizing it accordingly. Thus, there
is an increasing gap between the need to relax the RF performance requirements at
the design phase for rapid development and the need to provide high performance
and low cost RF circuits that function with PVT variations. No matter how care-
fully designed, RF integrated circuits (ICs) manufactured with advanced technology
nodes necessitate lengthy post-production calibration and test cycles with expensive
RF test instruments. Hence design-for-test (DFT) is proposed for low-cost and fast
measurement of performance parameters during both post-production and in-eld op-
eration. For example, built-in self-test (BIST) is a DFT solution for low-cost on-chip
measurement of RF performance parameters. In this dissertation, three aspects of
automated test and calibration, including DFT mathematical model, BIST hardware
and built-in calibration are covered for RF front-end blocks.
First, the theoretical foundation of a post-production test of RF integrated phased
array antennas is proposed by developing the mathematical model to measure gain
and phase mismatches between antenna elements without any electrical contact. The
proposed technique is fast, cost-efficient and uses near-field measurement of radiated
power from antennas hence, it requires single test setup, it has easy implementation
and it is short in time which makes it viable for industrialized high volume integrated
IC production test.
Second, a BIST model intended for the characterization of I/Q offset, gain and
phase mismatch of IQ transmitters without relying on external equipment is intro-
duced. The proposed BIST method is based on on-chip amplitude measurement as
in prior works however,here the variations in the BIST circuit do not affect the target
parameter estimation accuracy since measurements are designed to be relative. The
BIST circuit is implemented in 130nm technology and can be used for post-production
and in-field calibration.
Third, a programmable low noise amplifier (LNA) is proposed which is adaptable
to different application scenarios depending on the specification requirements. Its
performance is optimized with regards to required specifications e.g. distance, power
consumption, BER, data rate, etc.The statistical modeling is used to capture the
correlations among measured performance parameters and calibration modes for fast
adaptation. Machine learning technique is used to capture these non-linear correlations and build the probability distribution of a target parameter based on measurement results of the correlated parameters. The proposed concept is demonstrated by
embedding built-in tuning knobs in LNA design in 130nm technology. The tuning
knobs are carefully designed to provide independent combinations of important per-
formance parameters such as gain and linearity. Minimum number of switches are
used to provide the desired tuning range without a need for an external analog input.
ContributorsShafiee, Maryam (Author) / Ozev, Sule (Thesis advisor) / Diaz, Rodolfo (Committee member) / Ogras, Umit Y. (Committee member) / Bakkaloglu, Bertan (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2018
Description
There is an increasing demand for fully integrated point-of-load (POL) isolated DC-DC converters that can provide an isolation barrier between the primary and the secondary side, while delivering a low ripple, low noise regulated voltage at their isolated sides to a high dynamic range, sensitive mixed signal devices, such as sensors, current-shunt-monitors and ADCs. For these applications, smaller system size and integration level is important because the whole system may need to fit to limited space. Traditional methods for providing isolated power are discrete solutions using bulky transformers. Miniaturization of isolated POL regulators is becoming highly desirable for low power applications.
A fully integrated, low noise isolated point-of-load DC-DC converter for supply regulation of high dynamic range analog and mixed signal sensor signal-chains is presented. The isolated DC-DC converter utilizes an integrated planar air-core micro-transformer as a coupled resonator and isolation barrier and enables direct connection of low-voltage mixed signal circuits to higher supply rails. The air core transformer is driven at its primary resonant frequency of 100 MHz to achieve maximum power transfer. A mixed-signal perturb-and-observe based frequency search algorithm is developed to improve maximum power transfer efficiency by 60% across the isolation barrier compared to fixed driving frequency method. The isolated converter’s output ripple is reduced by utilizing spread spectrum clocking in the driver. An isolated PMOS LDO in the secondary side is used to suppress switching noise and ripple by 21dB. Conducted and radiated EMI distribution on the IC is measured by a set of integrated ring oscillator based noise sensors with -68dBm noise sensitivity. The proposed isolated converter achieves highest level of integration with respect to earlier reported integrated isolated converters, while providing 50V on-chip junction isolation without the need for extra silicon post-processing steps.
A fully integrated, low noise isolated point-of-load DC-DC converter for supply regulation of high dynamic range analog and mixed signal sensor signal-chains is presented. The isolated DC-DC converter utilizes an integrated planar air-core micro-transformer as a coupled resonator and isolation barrier and enables direct connection of low-voltage mixed signal circuits to higher supply rails. The air core transformer is driven at its primary resonant frequency of 100 MHz to achieve maximum power transfer. A mixed-signal perturb-and-observe based frequency search algorithm is developed to improve maximum power transfer efficiency by 60% across the isolation barrier compared to fixed driving frequency method. The isolated converter’s output ripple is reduced by utilizing spread spectrum clocking in the driver. An isolated PMOS LDO in the secondary side is used to suppress switching noise and ripple by 21dB. Conducted and radiated EMI distribution on the IC is measured by a set of integrated ring oscillator based noise sensors with -68dBm noise sensitivity. The proposed isolated converter achieves highest level of integration with respect to earlier reported integrated isolated converters, while providing 50V on-chip junction isolation without the need for extra silicon post-processing steps.
ContributorsLiu, Chengxi (Author) / Bakkaloglu, Bertan (Thesis advisor) / Kiaei, Sayfe (Committee member) / Song, Hongjiang (Committee member) / Kitchen, Jennifer (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2018
Description
The continuing advancement of modulation standards with newer generations of cellular technology, promises ever increasing data rate and bandwidth efficiency. However, these modulation schemes present high peak to average power ratio (PAPR) even after applying crest factor reduction. Being the most power-hungry component in the radio frequency (RF) transmitter, power amplifiers (PA) for infrastructure applications, need to operate efficiently at the presence of these high PAPR signals while maintaining reasonable linearity performance which could be improved by moderate digital pre-distortion (DPD) techniques. This strict requirement of operating efficiently at average power level while being capable of delivering the peak power, made the load modulated PAs such as Doherty PA, Outphasing PA, various Envelope Tracking PAs, Polar transmitters and most recently the load modulated balanced PA, the prime candidates for such application. However, due to its simpler architecture and ability to deliver RF power efficiently with good linearity performance has made Doherty PA (DPA) the most popular solution and has been deployed almost exclusively for wireless infrastructure application all over the world.
Although DPAs has been very successful at amplifying the high PAPR signals, most recent advancements in cellular technology has opted for higher PAPR based signals at wider bandwidth. This lead to increased research and development work to innovate advanced Doherty architectures which are more efficient at back-off (BO) power levels compared to traditional DPAs. In this dissertation, three such advanced Doherty architectures and/or techniques are proposed to achieve high efficiency at further BO power level compared to traditional architecture using symmetrical devices for carrier and peaking PAs. Gallium Nitride (GaN) based high-electron-mobility (HEMT) technology has been used to design and fabricate the DPAs to validate the proposed advanced techniques for higher efficiency with good linearity performance at BO power levels.
Although DPAs has been very successful at amplifying the high PAPR signals, most recent advancements in cellular technology has opted for higher PAPR based signals at wider bandwidth. This lead to increased research and development work to innovate advanced Doherty architectures which are more efficient at back-off (BO) power levels compared to traditional DPAs. In this dissertation, three such advanced Doherty architectures and/or techniques are proposed to achieve high efficiency at further BO power level compared to traditional architecture using symmetrical devices for carrier and peaking PAs. Gallium Nitride (GaN) based high-electron-mobility (HEMT) technology has been used to design and fabricate the DPAs to validate the proposed advanced techniques for higher efficiency with good linearity performance at BO power levels.
ContributorsRuhul Hasin, Muhammad (Author) / Kitchen, Jennifer (Thesis advisor) / Aberle, James T., 1961- (Committee member) / Bakkaloglu, Bertan (Committee member) / Kiaei, Sayfe (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2018
Description
There is an ever-increasing demand for higher bandwidth and data rate ensuing from exploding number of radio frequency integrated systems and devices. As stated in the Shannon-Hartley theorem, the maximum achievable data rate of a communication channel is linearly proportional to the system bandwidth. This is the main driving force behind pushing wireless systems towards millimeter-wave frequency range, where larger bandwidth is available at a higher carrier frequency. Observing the Moor’s law, highly scaled complementary metal–oxide–semiconductor (CMOS) technologies provide fast transistors with a high unity power gain frequency which enables operating at millimeter-wave frequency range. CMOS is the compelling choice for digital and signal processing modules which concurrently offers high computation speed, low power consumption, and mass integration at a high manufacturing yield. One of the main shortcomings of the sub-micron CMOS technologies is the low breakdown voltage of the transistors that limits the dynamic range of the radio frequency (RF) power blocks, especially with the power amplifiers. Low voltage swing restricts the achievable output power which translates into low signal to noise ratio and degraded linearity. Extensive research has been done on proposing new design and IC fabrication techniques with the goal of generating higher output power in CMOS technology. The prominent drawbacks of these solutions are an increased die area, higher cost per design, and lower overall efficiency due to lossy passive components. In this dissertation, CMOS compatible metal–semiconductor field-effect transistor (MESFETs) are utilized to put forward a new solution to enhance the power amplifier’s breakdown voltage, gain and maximum output power. Requiring no change to the conventional CMOS process flow, this low cost approach allows direct incorporation of high voltage power MESFETs into silicon. High voltage MESFETs were employed in a cascode structure to push the amplifier’s cutoff frequency and unity power gain frequency to the 5G and K-band frequency range. This dissertation begins with CMOS compatible MESFET modeling and fabrication steps, and culminates in the discussion of amplifier design and optimization methodology, parasitic de-embedding steps, simulation and measurement results, and high resistivity RF substrate characterization.
ContributorsHabibiMehr, Payam (Author) / Thornton, Trevor John (Thesis advisor) / Bakkaloglu, Bertan (Committee member) / Formicone, Gabriele (Committee member) / Kitchen, Jennifer (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2019
Description
Buck converters are electronic devices that changes a voltage from one level to a lower one and are present in many everyday applications. However, due to factors like aging, degradation or failures, these devices require a system identification process to track and diagnose their parameters. The system identification process should be performed on-line to not affect the normal operation of the device. Identifying the parameters of the system is essential to design and tune an adaptive proportional-integral-derivative (PID) controller.
Three techniques were used to design the PID controller. Phase and gain margin still prevails as one of the easiest methods to design controllers. Pole-zero cancellation is another technique which is based on pole-placement. However, although these controllers can be easily designed, they did not provide the best response compared to the Frequency Loop Shaping (FLS) technique. Therefore, since FLS showed to have a better frequency and time responses compared to the other two controllers, it was selected to perform the adaptation of the system.
An on-line system identification process was performed for the buck converter using indirect adaptation and the least square algorithm. The estimation error and the parameter error were computed to determine the rate of convergence of the system. The indirect adaptation required about 2000 points to converge to the true parameters prior designing the controller. These results were compared to the adaptation executed using robust stability condition (RSC) and a switching controller. Two different scenarios were studied consisting of five plants that defined the percentage of deterioration of the capacitor and inductor within the buck converter. The switching logic did not always select the optimal controller for the first scenario because the frequency response of the different plants was not significantly different. However, the second scenario consisted of plants with more noticeable different frequency responses and the switching logic selected the optimal controller all the time in about 500 points. Additionally, a disturbance was introduced at the plant input to observe its effect in the switching controller. However, for reasonable low disturbances no change was detected in the proper selection of controllers.
Three techniques were used to design the PID controller. Phase and gain margin still prevails as one of the easiest methods to design controllers. Pole-zero cancellation is another technique which is based on pole-placement. However, although these controllers can be easily designed, they did not provide the best response compared to the Frequency Loop Shaping (FLS) technique. Therefore, since FLS showed to have a better frequency and time responses compared to the other two controllers, it was selected to perform the adaptation of the system.
An on-line system identification process was performed for the buck converter using indirect adaptation and the least square algorithm. The estimation error and the parameter error were computed to determine the rate of convergence of the system. The indirect adaptation required about 2000 points to converge to the true parameters prior designing the controller. These results were compared to the adaptation executed using robust stability condition (RSC) and a switching controller. Two different scenarios were studied consisting of five plants that defined the percentage of deterioration of the capacitor and inductor within the buck converter. The switching logic did not always select the optimal controller for the first scenario because the frequency response of the different plants was not significantly different. However, the second scenario consisted of plants with more noticeable different frequency responses and the switching logic selected the optimal controller all the time in about 500 points. Additionally, a disturbance was introduced at the plant input to observe its effect in the switching controller. However, for reasonable low disturbances no change was detected in the proper selection of controllers.
ContributorsSerrano Rodriguez, Victoria Melissa (Author) / Tsakalis, Konstantinos (Thesis advisor) / Bakkaloglu, Bertan (Thesis advisor) / Rodriguez, Armando (Committee member) / Spanias, Andreas (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2016
Description
Digital architectures for data encryption, processing, clock synthesis, data transfer, etc. are susceptible to radiation induced soft errors due to charge collection in complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) integrated circuits (ICs). Radiation hardening by design (RHBD) techniques such as double modular redundancy (DMR) and triple modular redundancy (TMR) are used for error detection and correction respectively in such architectures. Multiple node charge collection (MNCC) causes domain crossing errors (DCE) which can render the redundancy ineffectual. This dissertation describes techniques to ensure DCE mitigation with statistical confidence for various designs. Both sequential and combinatorial logic are separated using these custom and computer aided design (CAD) methodologies.
Radiation vulnerability and design overhead are studied on VLSI sub-systems including an advanced encryption standard (AES) which is DCE mitigated using module level coarse separation on a 90-nm process with 99.999% DCE mitigation. A radiation hardened microprocessor (HERMES2) is implemented in both 90-nm and 55-nm technologies with an interleaved separation methodology with 99.99% DCE mitigation while achieving 4.9% increased cell density, 28.5 % reduced routing and 5.6% reduced power dissipation over the module fences implementation. A DMR register-file (RF) is implemented in 55 nm process and used in the HERMES2 microprocessor. The RF array custom design and the decoders APR designed are explored with a focus on design cycle time. Quality of results (QOR) is studied from power, performance, area and reliability (PPAR) perspective to ascertain the improvement over other design techniques.
A radiation hardened all-digital multiplying pulsed digital delay line (DDL) is designed for double data rate (DDR2/3) applications for data eye centering during high speed off-chip data transfer. The effect of noise, radiation particle strikes and statistical variation on the designed DDL are studied in detail. The design achieves the best in class 22.4 ps peak-to-peak jitter, 100-850 MHz range at 14 pJ/cycle energy consumption. Vulnerability of the non-hardened design is characterized and portions of the redundant DDL are separated in custom and auto-place and route (APR). Thus, a range of designs for mission critical applications are implemented using methodologies proposed in this work and their potential PPAR benefits explored in detail.
Radiation vulnerability and design overhead are studied on VLSI sub-systems including an advanced encryption standard (AES) which is DCE mitigated using module level coarse separation on a 90-nm process with 99.999% DCE mitigation. A radiation hardened microprocessor (HERMES2) is implemented in both 90-nm and 55-nm technologies with an interleaved separation methodology with 99.99% DCE mitigation while achieving 4.9% increased cell density, 28.5 % reduced routing and 5.6% reduced power dissipation over the module fences implementation. A DMR register-file (RF) is implemented in 55 nm process and used in the HERMES2 microprocessor. The RF array custom design and the decoders APR designed are explored with a focus on design cycle time. Quality of results (QOR) is studied from power, performance, area and reliability (PPAR) perspective to ascertain the improvement over other design techniques.
A radiation hardened all-digital multiplying pulsed digital delay line (DDL) is designed for double data rate (DDR2/3) applications for data eye centering during high speed off-chip data transfer. The effect of noise, radiation particle strikes and statistical variation on the designed DDL are studied in detail. The design achieves the best in class 22.4 ps peak-to-peak jitter, 100-850 MHz range at 14 pJ/cycle energy consumption. Vulnerability of the non-hardened design is characterized and portions of the redundant DDL are separated in custom and auto-place and route (APR). Thus, a range of designs for mission critical applications are implemented using methodologies proposed in this work and their potential PPAR benefits explored in detail.
ContributorsRamamurthy, Chandarasekaran (Author) / Clark, Lawrence T (Thesis advisor) / Allee, David (Committee member) / Bakkaloglu, Bertan (Committee member) / Holbert, Keith E. (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2017