Introduction to RFIC Design and Application
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Wireless systems, including communication, networking and sensing systems, play a vital role in our information age society in many areas such as public services and security, consumer, industrial, sports, gaming and entertainment, asset and inventory management, medicine, banking, government and military operations. The key to achieving effective wireless communication, sensing and networking is the radio-frequency (RF) integrated circuit (IC).
Radio Frequency Integrated Circuit (RFIC) generally refers to RF monolithic ICs fabricated on silicon (Si) substrates using complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) or BiCMOS technology. However, from a general perspective, RFICs are not and should not be limited to Si-based CMOS and BiCMOS circuits; other microwave monolithic integrated circuits (MMICs) like using III-V semiconductors such as GaAs MMICs can also be classified as RFICs. However, in this article as well as the ones that follow, in order to emphasize our main purpose and distinguish Si-based RFICs from other non-Si-based RFICs, we will use the term RFIC to refer to Si-based CMOS/BiCMOS RFICs. However, the reader should keep in mind that the presented materials are not limited to Si-based RFICs; they are also applicable to non-Si-based RFICs such as GaAs MMICs.
Frequencies used to indicate the RF range in general, and for RFIC in particular, are not strictly defined in practice. To some extent, and especially in the past, frequencies in the RF range have been referred to as ranging from a few kilohertz to a few gigahertz, and thus, RF was clearly distinct from microwaves. Since radio wave frequencies are often referred to as ranging from 3 kilohertz to 300 GHz, in a broader sense, frequencies in the RF range can be considered to be from 3 kilohertz to 300 GHz. However, as the term RF implies, these frequencies should not be limited to frequencies below 300 GHz. In this book, we will consider all RF in the electromagnetic (EM) spectrum, up to terahertz (THz), to be RF—in other words, we will consider the RF range to include all frequencies from 3 kilohertz to microwave, millimeter wave, and sub-millimeter wave frequencies. Therefore, there is no distinction between RF and microwave, millimeter wave, and sub-millimeter wave frequencies as they are practiced or should be implemented now. The boundaries between RF and microwave, millimeter wave and sub-millimeter wave, do not really exist anymore or do not exist. As RFIC technology moves toward the terahertz region of the radio frequency spectrum, it is expected that RFIC will find many useful applications in the commercial and defense fields of terahertz - for example, in the medical field for medical imaging or personal health monitoring and in the extremely wide bandwidth and ultra-high data rate for wireless communications.
在过去的几十年中，微波，毫米波和亚毫米波范围内的射频元件和系统一直由采用III-V族化合物半导体器件的电路主导，例如GaAs金属半导体场效应晶体管（MESFET，metal semiconductor field effect transistor），高电子迁移率晶体管（HEMT，high electron mobility transistor），InP HEMT，GaAs异质结双极晶体管（HBT，heterojunction bipolar transistor）和InP HBT等由于其与Si基技术相比具有优越的性能。然而，基于III-V半导体的RFIC价格昂贵，并且其单舰系统（single-ship systems）的集成能力有限。对低成本，低功耗，紧凑和高集成能力的需求远远超过III-V半导体技术提供的需求，这促使无线行业专注于能够在RF范围内工作的更好的基于Si的技术。基于硅的RF技术在过去几十年中取得了显著进步，并且由于其低成本，低功耗和出色的集成能力（尤其是CMOS）而在无线通信，传感和网络方面变得越来越重要，这有助于各种应用需要微型，具有高产量的低成本，低功率系统。目前，基于硅的技术可以提供高达毫米波状态的良好性能，与非硅基对应物相比，成本更低，集成能力更强，因此在无线通信，传感和网络方面开辟了许多应用机会。
图1.1
FIG1.1 Schematic (a) and micrograph (b) of a monolithic 0.18 μm SiGe BiCMOS millimeter-wave transmitter operating simultaneously at 24.5 and 35 GHz. IRF: image rejection filter; BPF: bandpass filter; PA: power amplifier; TX: transmitter; RX: receiver; PRF: pulse repetition frequency; Clk: clock.
Various RFICs, both individual components and single-chip subsystems and systems, have been successfully developed with good performance up to millimeter-wave frequencies, demonstrating the potential capabilities of RFICs and their possible applications at the higher end of the RF spectrum. For example, Figure 1.1 shows a schematic and micrograph of a single-chip millimeter-wave RFIC transmitter operating simultaneously in two bands, 24.5±0.5 GHz and 35±0.5 GHz, using a 0.18μm SiGe BiCMOS process, which shows the integration of several RF components. RFICs have played an important role in advancing the technology of RF circuits and systems for a variety of applications, from sensing and imaging to communications from a few hundred MHz to millimeter-wave frequencies, and possibly even beyond this range. It is foreseeable that RFICs and systems with 3D (vertical and horizontal) integration will be able to perform at very high frequencies in the RF range in the future. RFICs are now inevitable in RF systems, and it is expected that they will dominate the RF field, especially for commercial applications, just as MMICs based on III-V semiconductors have done, but with lower costs and better capabilities for direct integration with digital ICs. Although the performance of many Si-based RFICs currently still does not match that of RFICs implemented using III-V compound semiconductor devices, especially at the higher frequency end of the RF spectrum, such as millimeter-wave frequencies, current CMOS/BiCMOS devices have higher substrate losses, higher noise, etc. due to lower fT and fmax, but they have lower cost and better ability to integrate directly with digital ICs (thus better realizing complete on-chip systems). RFICs are also small and low-power, suitable for use in battery-powered wireless communication, sensing and networking devices and systems. Therefore, RFICs are attractive for systems and, in fact, are the main choice in the commercial wireless market.
基于传统模拟设计方法的典型RFIC设计不太适用于当前实践的RF范围的高频。随着RF频谱向多GHz领域发展，将微波设计技术融入模拟电路和系统的需求变得越来越重要，事实上这是不可避免的。因此，EM和微波工程的知识对于RFIC工程师来说非常重要，以便正确理解和设计RFIC。这是学术界和工业界的RF研究人员和工程师都认可的事实。 RF范围内的高频率，特别是那些接近CMOS / BiCMOS技术频率限制的频率，使RFIC设计具有挑战性。随着电路和器件变得非常小并且电路内的元件之间或集成系统中的电路之间的相互作用变得如此巨大，高频RFIC的设计变得更具挑战性。典型的RFIC，尤其是低频率的RFIC，仅使用集总元件。虽然集总元件对RF电路有用，并且在某些情况下是强制性的（例如，电阻终端，偏置旁路电容器），但由于与地相关的显著寄生效应，很难在高频率的有损硅衬底中实现真正的集总元件。 Si衬底和高频EM效应。在这些频率下，除了集总元件和（低频）模拟设计技术之外，还需要将传输线，分布式元件（例如，传输线部件）和微波设计技术结合到RFIC中。此外，除了电路仿真之外，还需要有效地利用EM仿真来精确地模拟在这些高频下发生的所有影响。鉴于这些，必须从微波设计的角度来理解RFIC的设计。
The design of Si-based RFICs is generally similar to that of GaAs MMICs; the primary difference being the use of Si instead of GaAs as the processing means. In other words, the design of RFICs is essentially performed using microwave design principles in a Si-based "analog" environment.
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Good stuff, thanks for sharing.