Topics

• WP 2.2.A.1 (Technology Evaluation Maps) has ended
• WP 2.2.B.2.2 (Thermal measurement techniques II) has started
• WP 2.2.C.1 (Modelling Overview) has started
• WP 2.2.D.2 (PA characterisation criteria) has started


• New TARGET core member: Jan Verspecht bvba
• New TARGET core member: HELIC S.A.


• TARGET Workshop at the IEEE MTT-S International Microwave Symposium 2005 - a Review
• TARGET Workshop - a Review (RF Power Amplifiers; Orvieto)

TOPICS

WP 2.2.A.1 (Technology Evaluation Maps) has ended

The main semiconductor technologies for RF devices - including the actual and the forthcoming - are reviewed by the partners. The result of this work is the preparation of over 20 tutorial papers, covering the following topics:

• Basics of RF devices
• Semiconductor materials: properties, preparation, characterisation
• CMOS, LDMOS and SiGe devices
• GaAs- and InP-based HBTs
• GaN- and SiC-based microwave power devices
• Diamond semiconductor technology
• Merits and drawbacks on RF devices - new device concepts.

These tutorials have been presented on several TARGET schools and are uploaded on the TARGET (internal) homepage. Please contact Wolfgang Richter (richter@pinet.uni-jena.de) for access conditions.

The state of the art and the prospectivs for RF devices in different applications are combined in new evaluation papers, which have been prepared for publication in a highly cooperative work with the following topics:

• Power microwave devices
• Mixed signal devices
• Two-terminal devices.

In the next step the partners have decided to prepare a technology roadmap for RF devices during the forthcoming 18 months project period. The first results will be presented at the second TARGET Winter School “Semiconductor materials and devices“ February 19th – 25th, 2006 in Jena, Germany.

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>WP 2.2.B.2.2 (Thermal measurement techniques II) has started

A new work package devoted to thermal measurement and thermal modelling of microwave transistors is launched the first of July 2005. In fact, this new WP is an extension of the previous WP 2.2.B.2 (the previous thermal measurement WP has been renumbered WP 2.2.B.2.1 in order to keep consistency).

This new WP has been approved by the EC reviewers, due to the fact thermal issues are a key point in power amplifiers designs, and much work in this area is still to be done. In addition to the previous work, devoted to comparison of various thermal measurements techniques and modelling, we will enlarge the number of devices and measurement techniques, we will also propose the thermal mapping of circuits and we have to launch a thermal measurement service.

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WP 2.2.C.1 (Modelling Overview) has started

Introduction and main Goals

There exists a large amount of European research laboratories (inside and outside TARGET) working on very different large signal device modelling activities: Physical models, empirical models, behavioural models, black-box models, noise models ,…, associated to different measurement-characterisation techniques: S parameters, Load-Pull, Pulsed measurements, temporal waveforms, large signal measurements, high order derivatives, etc.

The main objective of this activity is to put in clear the current ability of these device-level approaches to describe significant effects such as output power content, efficiency, AM/PM distortion, multicarrier spectral regrowth, unwanted IMD generation, very large signal stability issues associated to multidevice architectures, thermal and dispersion aspects, LF noise generation, optical interaction, etc. Another important objective is to pre-identify the actual and future measurement/characterisation needs for nonlinear model development associated to the different technologies: SiGe InP HBT, GaN, GaAs, CMOS to give fundamental inputs to the two next associated workpackages WP2.2.C.2 and WP2.2.C.3 as well as CLASSIC-E. Finally, an on-going monitoring of required industrial amplifier performances for European applications is considered.

A necessary final objective is to disseminate in a useful format (TARGET INTEGRATION and DISSEMINATION) these knowledges to provide a framework for short term and future collaborations between laboratories who performs modelling and active device characterization activities in order to create an efficient support to the Power Amplifier world. This dissemination can be done through the elaboration of complete and useful public reports, the creation of dedicated workshops under the well stablished TARGET summer schools and Special Events.

Task Structure

Task 1.- Deep identification of actual device modelling ability/resources of the european labs (inside and outside TARGET) in terms of Device model architectures (Electrical Equivalent Circuits, Black box, behavioural, ...), concerned technologies (SiGe InP HBT, GaN, GaAs, CMOS ...) and measurement basis (S parameters, Load-Pull, pulsed measurements, temporal waveforms, large signal measurements...).

Task 2.- Identification, in close cooperation with TARGET POOLS, of actual device modelling ability/resources of TARGET partners in terms of CAD implementation (Internal CAD, commercially available simulators, C++ code link, ...) and model abilities to describe significant effects such as output power content, efficiency, AM/PM distortion, multicarrier spectral regrowth, unwanted IMD generation, very large signal stability issues associated to multidevice architectures, thermal and dispersion aspects, LF noise generation, optical interaction, etc

Task 3.- Definition and consolidation of necessary interfaces with present and past related WP activities: QUICK SHOT, POOLS, LAB-SETUP, CLASSIC C-D-E and INTEGRATION/DISSEMINATION in order to extract useful bidirectional information for the short term and future modelling needs. Mapping of the existing modelling facilities to the measurement and amplifier development needs.

Task 4.- Identification of short term and future needs in terms of device model structures, Technologies and useful measurement/characterisation support in close collaboration with QUICK SHOT, POOLS and CLASSIC programs. Here the intended industrial trends have to be considered in order to prepare TARGET for the future needs

Task 5.- Dissemination (TARGET INTEGRATION and DISSEMINATION) of these research conclusions to provide a framework for short term and future collaborations between laboratories who performs modelling and active device characterization activities.

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WP 2.2.D.2 (PA characterisation criteria) has started

The aim of WP 2.2.D.2 is to combine the current PA characterization activities in order to optimize a joint characterization approach. Also a crosslink towards PA or device models shall be investigated. One focus is the analysis of nonlinearities and memory effects using device or power amplifier models under e.g. multitone excitation with power and envelope frequency sweeps. Such analysis approach can be used in cooperation with WP 2.2.E.2 for optimizing amplifier models and thus PA design strategies. This WP starts in July 2005 with a period of 18 months.

Among the activities are the following tasks:

• Collection of existing PA design / characterization knowledge.
  In this field the WP will deploy of results achieved by WP 2.2.D.1 and 1.3.1 to get an overview of existing PA characterization potential of the partners.


• Identification of necessary input for existing models and parameterization; Analysis of models, according to applications.
  In this topic a crosslink towards WP 2.2.E.2 and WP 1.2 shall be drawn to identify and to relate actual characterization data with corresponding models.


• Define criteria describing the quality of PA characterization systems allowing a grouping among them.



• Define future characterization needs.
  In order to improve PA characterization capabilities, future needs are to be discussed (like e.g. the introduction of specific test signals) and implemented in the characterization systems.


• Organization of a workshop, in which the PA characterization and modeling capabilities and research results are presented.
  

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New TARGET core member: Jan Verspecht bvba

Introduction of the company

Jan Verspecht bvba is a high-tech company based in Steenhuffel, Belgium. The company recently joined TARGET. It was established in January 2003 by Dr. Jan Verspecht, who has more than 14 years of R&D experience in the RF and microwave instrumentation industry. The company specializes in education, consulting and creation of IP related to the measurement and modeling of active microwave components and systems. Example applications and topics are: nonlinear vector network analyzers, nonlinear distortion, fundamental and harmonic loadpull, "Hot-S22", large-signal network analysis, spectral regrowth, black-box frequency domain modeling, harmonic phase calibration, current and voltage waveform measurements, high-speed digital signal integrity, broadband oscilloscope calibration,... More information as well as many publications are available on the company web-site (www.janverspecht.com).

Founder biography

Jan Verspecht received the electrical engineering and Ph.D. degrees from the ELEC department (headed by Prof. Alain Barel) at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB), Belgium, in 1990 and 1995, respectively. From 1990 until 1999 he was a Research Engineer with the Hewlett-Packard Company. From 1999 until 2002 he was a Technical Lead with Agilent Technologies. In 2003 he became Director and Chief Consultant with Jan Verspecht bvba. Jan holds two patents. He has authored over 30 conference papers, 11 refereed publications, a book chapter and the TARGET Winter School tutorial on “Nonlinear Vector Network Analysis.” Jan is the recipient of the 2002 ARFTG Technology Award.

Contribution to TARGET

As a newly entered partner Jan Verspecht bvba made a modest contribution to the recently ended WP 1.3.1 (Lab Setup). The software package "XMLTools.m" was developed. The package is compatible with the commercial LSNA software. It enables the conversion of LSNA data into well-formed XML files. The package is available at no cost for all TARGET partners that are non-profit organisations upon a simple request (contact@janverspecht.com). "Jan Verspecht bvba" also contributes to WP 1.2 (Pools) and WP 1.3.2 (Lab Extension) by assisting TARGET in the development of new large-signal instrumentation architectures and in the effort to ensure consistency of large-signal measurement results among TARGET partners.

Jan Verspecht

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New TARGET core member: HELIC S.A.

Profile

Helic S.A. specialises in the development of disruptive EDA technologies and multi-standard silicon RF IP for wireless applications. Helic uniquely combines design tools and reconfigurable RF intellectual property (IP) to revolutionize the development of highly-integrated ICs and modules for multi-standard wireless applications. VeloceRF™ is a design tool that enables rapid, whole-chip RF modelling for RFICs and systems-in-package, introducing a radically new inductance-aware design flow. PolyRadio™ is a mix of novel RF IP blocks, enabling the integration of multiple wireless transceivers on a single piece of silicon.
In August 2000 Helic raised its Series A financing from a consortium of European investors, to develop core technologies and establish alliances in the industry and in January 2003 closed its second round of funding. Helic is based in Athens, Greece and currently employs 18 people.

VeloceRF™: Whole-chip RF modelling platform

VeloceRF is a powerful EDA toolset enabling whole-chip RF modelling for RFICs and systems-in-package. With VeloceRF the design of inductor-heavy chips becomes a systematic design process instead of an exotic art. Featuring a rapid modeler that supports RLCk extraction for spiral inductors, transformers and RF interconnects, VeloceRF offers unprecedented speed and scalability in the modelling of complex passive devices on silicon and on advanced packaging substrates such as LTCC.

Features:

• Models spiral-type inductive elements and RF interconnects.
• Supports multi-layer inductors and stacked spirals.
• Achieves accurate inductance & quality factor prediction, tested on more than 10 silicon processes!
• Supports RLCk parasitics extraction and LVS with spiral inductors.
• Generates constraint-driven inductor layouts (Spiral Wizard).
• Supports unrestricted magnetic coupling modelling.
• Does not require parameter fitting against measurements.
• Supports substrate noise analysis.
• Applicable to SiP, on LTCC and other substrates.
• Applicable to RF MEMS and SOI.

PolyRadio™ IP Blocks

Helic offers most of the blocks of its PolyRadio™ architecture in the form of hard and semi-hard IP. Following are some of the IP blocks comprising Helic’s PolyRadio™ IP Portfolio:

• Triple-mode 2.5G/3G/Wi-Fi SiGe BiCMOS LNA, T/R switch and PA.
• CMOS LNA and PA for 2.5GHz wireless applications.
• 1.8/2.5/5GHz SiGe BiCMOS & CMOS VCO, prescaler and PLL circuitry for WLAN applications.
• CMOS broadband 2.5/3G-WiFi Up-Down Conversion I/Q Mixers.
• CMOS multi-mode baseband LPFs and VGAs for wireless applications.

Nikolas Provatas

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TARGET Workshop at the IEEE MTT-S International Microwave Symposium 2005

Organized by the TARGET Liaison Officer Prof. Thomas J. Brazil together with Prof. José Carlos Pedro and Dr. Dominique Schreurs, a highly-successful and well-attended TARGET workshop on “Advances in RF Power Amplifiers: Modeling, Design and Linearization” took place on the world’s leading microwave conference, the IEEE MTT-S International Microwave Symposium 2005, in Long Beach, CA, USA on 13th June 2005. This full-day workshop was co-sponsored by the IEEE MTT-1 “Computer-Aided Design” Committee and MTT-11 “Microwave Measurements” Committee.

In promoting the Workshop to the 4,000 delegates at the conference, it was emphasized that broadband wireless access will play a dominant role in the development of a mobile information society in the immediate future. Both in the uplink and in the downlink of a wireless access scheme the power amplifier plays a crucial role: it is responsible for leaving the highly dynamic output signal undistorted while converting the battery power to microwave power at an efficiency as close to 100% as possible. The conflicting demands of linearity, efficiency, cost and performance create enormous technical challenges. Of course these challenges form the background to and rationale for TARGET. The Workshop provided an excellent opportunity to promote world-wide awareness of TARGET as well as bringing together a variety of perspectives on this challenging theme including device technology, characterization and measurement, circuit/system level modeling and design, architecture and linearization techniques.

At the opening, Prof. Thomas J. Brazil gave a brief introduction of TARGET including the basic concept of a ‘Network of Excellence’ for an audience with strong representation from the US and Asia. Then six speakers from TARGET together with three invited distinguished international researchers presented their work at the Workshop. There were lively questions-and-answers and discussion sessions from the floor as would be expected at a successful and topical event of this kind. The contributions were as follows:

• Construction and Validation of Black-Box Behavioral Models of RF Amplifiers, John Wood, Agilent Technologies


• Time Domain Characterization of Nonlinearity and Memory in Power Amplifiers, Peter Asbeck, University of California, San Diego


• Separation, Identification, and Compensation of PA Memory Effects at the Circuit and Device Level, Steve Kenney, Georgia Institute of Technology


• Advanced Techniques for PA IMD Control at the Active Device Level, José Carlos Pedro, University of Aveiro


• Linearization Issues and Some New Challenges in Microwave Amplifiers, Máirtín O Droma University of Limerick/ Thomas J. Brazil, University College Dublin


• Methodology to Validate and Inter-compare RF Device and Circuit Models, Dominique Schreurs, K. U. Leuven


• Advances in GaAs pHEMT Power Amplifier Design and Manufacture, Wolfgang Bosch, Filtronic Ltd.


• SiGe Power Amplifier Design for Wireless Applications, Luca Roselli, University of Perugia


• Advances in Active Harmonic Load Pull Systems, Markus Mayer, T. U. Wien

In conclusion, this Workshop attracted a remarkable degree of interest from the international microwave society. The number of the attendees was over 300, excluding a large number of attendees patiently standing in the back of a very large conference room. The general impression based on size of the audience, reaction to the talks and informal feedback afterwards, was that this Workshop was one of most successful workshops at the IMS2005. During the coffee break, several US colleagues were overheard to ask: “Why don’t we have a TARGET network in the US?”

Undoubtedly a great success story for TARGET!

Thomas J. Brazil

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TARGET Workshop - a Review (RF Power Amplifiers; Orvieto)

© S. Raab; M. Mayer

The first TARGET Workshop on RF Power Amplifiers held in Orvieto, Italy, Thursday, April 14 through Friday, April 15, 2005.

This special event, organised in the historical location, named Palazzo del Capitano del Popolo, in Orvieto, aimed to support the integration, the knowledge and the world class research activities inside our Network of Excellence TARGET, in the field of microwave amplifier research. The Workshop has been organised joined with a National Italian Events on Electronic and Electromagnetic Technologies for Space Applications.

21 oral contributions have been selected to be presented in two days, organised in single sessions to allow fruitfully interaction and discussion among researchers here present.
The sessions organised were

• Transmitter Design for Broadband Wireless Access
• Power Amplifier Design
• Non Linear Device Characterisation and Modelling

And the technical papers have been collected in a Book of Proceedings. The number of registered attendees was 90.

Paolo Colantonio

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published by: ftw. Forschungszentrum Telekommunikation Wien Betriebs-GmbH, Donau-City-Straße 1, 1220 Vienna, Austria, Phone +43/1/5052830-0

responsible for content: Prof. Dr. Gottfried Magerl, Mag. Sue Raab