Stability Analysis and Considerations of Millimeter Wave Power Amplifiers
In the last years, the Radio Frequency Integrated Circuit (RFIC) market has grown significantly, being part of an RFIC Innovation Cycle. Due to the two main application drivers of communication and sensing, the market is pushing to have circuits operating at higher and higher frequencies, making the...
| Autor: | |
|---|---|
| Tipo de recurso: | tesis de maestría |
| Fecha de publicación: | 2022 |
| País: | España |
| Institución: | Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC) |
| Repositorio: | UPCommons. Portal del coneixement obert de la UPC |
| Idioma: | inglés |
| OAI Identifier: | oai:upcommons.upc.edu:2117/378117 |
| Acceso en línea: | https://hdl.handle.net/2117/378117 |
| Access Level: | acceso abierto |
| Palabra clave: | Microwave amplifiers Power amplifiers Transistor audio amplifiers loop gain neutralization capacitor power amplifier pole-zero identification stability Amplificadors de microones Amplificadors de potència Amplificadors de transistors Àrees temàtiques de la UPC::Enginyeria electrònica::Components electrònics |
| id |
ES_b51f4bceb3a8d4e1174f3f6de7424639 |
|---|---|
| oai_identifier_str |
oai:upcommons.upc.edu:2117/378117 |
| network_acronym_str |
ES |
| network_name_str |
España |
| repository_id_str |
|
| spelling |
Stability Analysis and Considerations of Millimeter Wave Power AmplifiersAcosta Delgado, MarioMicrowave amplifiersPower amplifiersTransistor audio amplifiersloop gainneutralization capacitorpower amplifierpole-zero identificationstabilityAmplificadors de microonesAmplificadors de potènciaAmplificadors de transistorsÀrees temàtiques de la UPC::Enginyeria electrònica::Components electrònicsIn the last years, the Radio Frequency Integrated Circuit (RFIC) market has grown significantly, being part of an RFIC Innovation Cycle. Due to the two main application drivers of communication and sensing, the market is pushing to have circuits operating at higher and higher frequencies, making the role of millimeter wave (mmWave) devices more and more important. In this band, many applications such as mmWave 5G, automotive radars and imaging unfold. However, circuit design at such high frequencies brings new challenges that must be faced. One of the main challenges is the design for power amplifier (PA) stability. The need of high gain in operating frequencies together with the fact that PA designs are becoming more integrated, with higher density, more potential feedback loops, easier resonances due to smaller wavelengths and less accessibility after fabrication, results in an increased risk of instability. On top of that, very often, designs that appear to be stable in simulations are not in measurements. This thesis aims to study the stability of mmWave PAs, providing a set of techniques that can be used by PA designers during design and layout to analyze and improve the stability of the design. With that goal, an extensive review of literature covering the main stability verification techniques is presented, showing their advantages and drawbacks and outlining the use of pole-zero identification together with loop gain as the most rigorous and insightful techniques. A stability analysis framework based on MATLAB and combined with Keysight ADS is described. The framework includes parametric and multiple nodes simulation, identification of critical nodes, improvements in selection of order of transfer function and modifications for computational efficiency. The framework is tested with three different designs, showing the expected results. The framework, together with complementary techniques, is applied to the use case of a 28-GHz Gallium Nitride (GaN) multistage PA that showed to be unstable in measurements but stable in simulations. Multiple parametric analyses are performed including bias, neutralization, CGD and thermal sweeps at different nodes. From them, the instability of the design due to process variations associated with the neutralization capacitance (CN) in the driver stage is concluded. Moreover, techniques to stabilize the 28-GHz PA and applicable to other mmWave PA designs are proposed. Finally, further improvements in stability analysis based on parametric residue and bifurcation analysis are presented.Universitat Politècnica de CatalunyaAragonès Cervera, Xavier20222022-07-1220222022-12-14master thesishttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_bdccNAhttp://purl.org/coar/version/c_be7fb7dd8ff6fe43info:eu-repo/semantics/masterThesisapplication/ziphttps://hdl.handle.net/2117/378117reponame:UPCommons. Portal del coneixement obert de la UPCinstname:Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC)Inglésengopen accesshttp://purl.org/coar/access_right/c_abf2info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccessoai:upcommons.upc.edu:2117/3781172026-05-27T15:37:01Z |
| dc.title.none.fl_str_mv |
Stability Analysis and Considerations of Millimeter Wave Power Amplifiers |
| title |
Stability Analysis and Considerations of Millimeter Wave Power Amplifiers |
| spellingShingle |
Stability Analysis and Considerations of Millimeter Wave Power Amplifiers Acosta Delgado, Mario Microwave amplifiers Power amplifiers Transistor audio amplifiers loop gain neutralization capacitor power amplifier pole-zero identification stability Amplificadors de microones Amplificadors de potència Amplificadors de transistors Àrees temàtiques de la UPC::Enginyeria electrònica::Components electrònics |
| title_short |
Stability Analysis and Considerations of Millimeter Wave Power Amplifiers |
| title_full |
Stability Analysis and Considerations of Millimeter Wave Power Amplifiers |
| title_fullStr |
Stability Analysis and Considerations of Millimeter Wave Power Amplifiers |
| title_full_unstemmed |
Stability Analysis and Considerations of Millimeter Wave Power Amplifiers |
| title_sort |
Stability Analysis and Considerations of Millimeter Wave Power Amplifiers |
| dc.creator.none.fl_str_mv |
Acosta Delgado, Mario |
| author |
Acosta Delgado, Mario |
| author_facet |
Acosta Delgado, Mario |
| author_role |
author |
| dc.contributor.none.fl_str_mv |
Aragonès Cervera, Xavier |
| dc.subject.none.fl_str_mv |
Microwave amplifiers Power amplifiers Transistor audio amplifiers loop gain neutralization capacitor power amplifier pole-zero identification stability Amplificadors de microones Amplificadors de potència Amplificadors de transistors Àrees temàtiques de la UPC::Enginyeria electrònica::Components electrònics |
| topic |
Microwave amplifiers Power amplifiers Transistor audio amplifiers loop gain neutralization capacitor power amplifier pole-zero identification stability Amplificadors de microones Amplificadors de potència Amplificadors de transistors Àrees temàtiques de la UPC::Enginyeria electrònica::Components electrònics |
| description |
In the last years, the Radio Frequency Integrated Circuit (RFIC) market has grown significantly, being part of an RFIC Innovation Cycle. Due to the two main application drivers of communication and sensing, the market is pushing to have circuits operating at higher and higher frequencies, making the role of millimeter wave (mmWave) devices more and more important. In this band, many applications such as mmWave 5G, automotive radars and imaging unfold. However, circuit design at such high frequencies brings new challenges that must be faced. One of the main challenges is the design for power amplifier (PA) stability. The need of high gain in operating frequencies together with the fact that PA designs are becoming more integrated, with higher density, more potential feedback loops, easier resonances due to smaller wavelengths and less accessibility after fabrication, results in an increased risk of instability. On top of that, very often, designs that appear to be stable in simulations are not in measurements. This thesis aims to study the stability of mmWave PAs, providing a set of techniques that can be used by PA designers during design and layout to analyze and improve the stability of the design. With that goal, an extensive review of literature covering the main stability verification techniques is presented, showing their advantages and drawbacks and outlining the use of pole-zero identification together with loop gain as the most rigorous and insightful techniques. A stability analysis framework based on MATLAB and combined with Keysight ADS is described. The framework includes parametric and multiple nodes simulation, identification of critical nodes, improvements in selection of order of transfer function and modifications for computational efficiency. The framework is tested with three different designs, showing the expected results. The framework, together with complementary techniques, is applied to the use case of a 28-GHz Gallium Nitride (GaN) multistage PA that showed to be unstable in measurements but stable in simulations. Multiple parametric analyses are performed including bias, neutralization, CGD and thermal sweeps at different nodes. From them, the instability of the design due to process variations associated with the neutralization capacitance (CN) in the driver stage is concluded. Moreover, techniques to stabilize the 28-GHz PA and applicable to other mmWave PA designs are proposed. Finally, further improvements in stability analysis based on parametric residue and bifurcation analysis are presented. |
| publishDate |
2022 |
| dc.date.none.fl_str_mv |
2022 2022-07-12 2022 2022-12-14 |
| dc.type.none.fl_str_mv |
master thesis http://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_bdcc NA http://purl.org/coar/version/c_be7fb7dd8ff6fe43 |
| dc.type.openaire.fl_str_mv |
info:eu-repo/semantics/masterThesis |
| format |
masterThesis |
| dc.identifier.none.fl_str_mv |
https://hdl.handle.net/2117/378117 |
| url |
https://hdl.handle.net/2117/378117 |
| dc.language.none.fl_str_mv |
Inglés eng |
| language_invalid_str_mv |
Inglés |
| language |
eng |
| dc.rights.none.fl_str_mv |
open access http://purl.org/coar/access_right/c_abf2 |
| dc.rights.openaire.fl_str_mv |
info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
| rights_invalid_str_mv |
open access http://purl.org/coar/access_right/c_abf2 |
| eu_rights_str_mv |
openAccess |
| dc.format.none.fl_str_mv |
application/zip |
| dc.publisher.none.fl_str_mv |
Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya |
| publisher.none.fl_str_mv |
Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya |
| dc.source.none.fl_str_mv |
reponame:UPCommons. Portal del coneixement obert de la UPC instname:Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC) |
| instname_str |
Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC) |
| reponame_str |
UPCommons. Portal del coneixement obert de la UPC |
| collection |
UPCommons. Portal del coneixement obert de la UPC |
| repository.name.fl_str_mv |
|
| repository.mail.fl_str_mv |
|
| _version_ |
1869417317396381696 |
| score |
15,300719 |