This book presents design methods and considerations for digitally-assisted wideband millimeter-wave transmitters. It addresses comprehensively both RF design and digital implementation simultaneously, in order to design energy- and cost-efficient high-performance transmitters for mm-wave high-speed communications. It covers the complete design flow, from link budget assessment to the transistor-level design of different RF front-end blocks, such as mixers and power amplifiers, presenting different alternatives and discussing the existing trade-offs. The authors also analyze the effect of the imperfections of these blocks in the overall performance, while describing techniques to correct and compensate for them digitally. Well-known techniques are revisited, and some new ones are described, giving examples of their applications and proving them in real integrated circuits.

A 68-82 GHz highly integrated, wideband linear receiver is demonstrated. The receiver achieves a maximum gain of 28.1 dB, a NF of 8 dB, and an input-referred 1 dB gain compression point (IP1dB) of -23.6 dBm at 77 GHz while dissipating 413 mW. The receiver enables applications within the band to share and reuse the same front-end chip. To further explore the opportunity at higher frequency, an 81-92.6 GHz low-noise amplifier is demonstrated with a gain of 21 dB, a NF of 9 dB, and an IP1dB of -18.8 dBm. On the other hand, critical transmitter building blocks, such as an up-conversion mixer has also been investigated. A highly linear double-balanced active up-conversion mixer based upon multi-tanh triplet technique has been validated to show a single sideband (SSB) power conversion gain of 5.1 dB and an output-referred 1 dB gain compression point (OP1dB) of -5.8 dBm at 77 GHz. Finally, a high-power signal generation at submillimeter-wave is demonstrated and fabricated in InGaAs/InP D-HBT technology. The second harmonic push-push oscillator shows an output power of 0 dBm at 200 GHz, which opens a new frontier for applications, such as weather observation radar, chemical, and tumor detections, and next-generation optical systems. By using an even higher order harmonic generation, THz signal sources can be expected in the very near future.

Millimeter-wave and sub-terahertz frequency bands are available for wideband applications such as high data-rate communication systems. As the respective wavelength is on the order of a millimeter, a compact on-chip antenna can be designed, thereby reducing the overall form factor and obviating expensive off-chip packaging. However, the channel propagation loss increases significantly with the frequency. Although CMOS technology is prevalent in digital processing and data communication, CMOS devices are lossy and inefficient at such high frequencies. Thus, it is challenging to implement an efficient and wideband transceiver at sub-terahertz frequencies using CMOS technology. The aim of this dissertation is to demonstrate sub-terahertz wireless links for high-speed chip-to-chip communication in CMOS. First, transceiver architectures and building blocks are discussed to address the challenges and limitations of the CMOS process. Two fully integrated CMOS transceivers, a 260 GHz OOK transceiver and a 240 GHz QPSK/BPSK transceiver, are then demonstrated using on-chip antennas. Frequency multiplication and mixer-first design are employed to operate beyond the cut-off frequency. In the QPSK modulation, a maximum data rate of 16 Gbps is realized with an energy efficiency of 30 pJ/bit. These demonstrations show that millimeter-wave/sub-terahertz wireless communication can be a promising solution for high-speed chip-to-chip communication. Improvements in the energy efficiency and silicon area of these wireless links can result in replacing or complementing existing wired links.

With fast growing consumer demand for high speed mobile data capacity, wireless spectrum has become increasingly precious. This drives the evolution of the personal wireless communication, with new standards developed to improve the spectral efficiency. However, the available spectrum below 10GHz is very limited and packing more bits per second into the same bandwidth requires larger energy consumption as well as more stringent radio and MODEM performance. As a result, such an approach is not sustainable for meeting the future demand. A natural path is to move into higher frequency bands which have larger spectrum bandwidth but less commercial usage. Recent years have witnessed vast technology development on V-band (60GHz) Wireless Personal Area Networks (WPAN) and E-band (80GHz) point-to-point cellular backhauls. Meanwhile, the advancement of low-cost CMOS technologies enables researchers to significantly improve the integration level of high speed mm-wave radios with traditional analog and digital circuitry. However, current mm-wave radio transmitters suffer from short communication distance and low energy efficiency. This is mainly caused by the reduced performance of the CMOS transmitters employing traditional Power Amplifiers (PAs) that suffer from low transistor breakdown voltage, low power gain and poor back-off characteristics. This dissertation investigates the challenges of designing efficient mm-wave transmitters for both long range and short range applications, and proposes concepts and techniques that can potentially break the barriers imposed by the low cost digital CMOS process. The scope of investigation and proposal extends from the architecture level down to the transistor level. Specifically, on-chip and spatial power combining techniques are analyzed and implemented to achieve larger transmitter Equivalent Isotropically Radiated Power (EIRP). To enhance the average efficiency for modulated signals with high Peak-to-Average-Power-Ratio (PAPR), a direct digital-to-RF conversion architecture is proposed and implemented, enabling dynamic DC power scaling. Finally, a Quadrature Spatial Combining concept is introduced to eliminate the tradeoff between low insertion loss and high isolation present in a traditional Cartesian architecture with on-chip signal combiners. Prototype chips are fabricated and tested in 65nm CMOS technology to verify the proposed architectures and techniques.

The Definitive, Comprehensive Guide to Cutting-Edge Millimeter Wave Wireless Design “This is a great book on mmWave systems that covers many aspects of the technology targeted for beginners all the way to the advanced users. The authors are some of the most credible scholars I know of who are well respected by the industry. I highly recommend studying this book in detail.” —Ali Sadri, Ph.D., Sr. Director, Intel Corporation, MCG mmWave Standards and Advanced Technologies Millimeter wave (mmWave) is today's breakthrough frontier for emerging wireless mobile cellular networks, wireless local area networks, personal area networks, and vehicular communications. In the near future, mmWave products, systems, theories, and devices will come together to deliver mobile data rates thousands of times faster than today's existing cellular and WiFi networks. In Millimeter Wave Wireless Communications, four of the field's pioneers draw on their immense experience as researchers, entrepreneurs, inventors, and consultants, empowering engineers at all levels to succeed with mmWave. They deliver exceptionally clear and useful guidance for newcomers, as well as the first complete desk reference for design experts. The authors explain mmWave signal propagation, mmWave circuit design, antenna designs, communication theory, and current standards (including IEEE 802.15.3c, Wireless HD, and ECMA/WiMedia). They cover comprehensive mmWave wireless design issues, for 60 GHz and other mmWave bands, from channel to antenna to receiver, introducing emerging design techniques that will be invaluable for research engineers in both industry and academia. Topics include Fundamentals: communication theory, channel propagation, circuits, antennas, architectures, capabilities, and applications Digital communication: baseband signal/channel models, modulation, equalization, error control coding, multiple input multiple output (MIMO) principles, and hardware architectures Radio wave propagation characteristics: indoor and outdoor applications Antennas/antenna arrays, including on-chip and in-package antennas, fabrication, and packaging Analog circuit design: mmWave transistors, fabrication, and transceiver design approaches Baseband circuit design: multi–gigabit-per-second, high-fidelity DAC and ADC converters Physical layer: algorithmic choices, design considerations, and impairment solutions; and how to overcome clipping, quantization, and nonlinearity Higher-layer design: beam adaptation protocols, relaying, multimedia transmission, and multiband considerations 60 GHz standardization: IEEE 802.15.3c for WPAN, Wireless HD, ECMA-387, IEEE 802.11ad, Wireless Gigabit Alliance (WiGig)

This book compiles and presents the research results from the past five years in mm-wave Silicon circuits. This area has received a great deal of interest from the research community including several university and research groups. The book covers device modeling, circuit building blocks, phased array systems, and antennas and packaging. It focuses on the techniques that uniquely take advantage of the scale and integration offered by silicon based technologies.

mmWave Massive MIMO: A Paradigm for 5G is the first book of its kind to hinge together related discussions on mmWave and Massive MIMO under the umbrella of 5G networks. New networking scenarios are identified, along with fundamental design requirements for mmWave Massive MIMO networks from an architectural and practical perspective. Working towards final deployment, this book updates the research community on the current mmWave Massive MIMO roadmap, taking into account the future emerging technologies emanating from 3GPP/IEEE. The book's editors draw on their vast experience in international research on the forefront of the mmWave Massive MIMO research arena and standardization. This book aims to talk openly about the topic, and will serve as a useful reference not only for postgraduates students to learn more on this evolving field, but also as inspiration for mobile communication researchers who want to make further innovative strides in the field to mark their legacy in the 5G arena. Contains tutorials on the basics of mmWave and Massive MIMO Identifies new 5G networking scenarios, along with design requirements from an architectural and practical perspective Details the latest updates on the evolution of the mmWave Massive MIMO roadmap, considering future emerging technologies emanating from 3GPP/IEEE Includes contributions from leading experts in the field in modeling and prototype design for mmWave Massive MIMO design Presents an ideal reference that not only helps postgraduate students learn more in this evolving field, but also inspires mobile communication researchers towards further innovation