Integrated Circuits and Systems Group

Prof. Peter Kinget
Columbia University
Thursday, May 20, 3:00pm, ACES 5.336

Enhancing RF Receivers using Interference Cancellation and Digital Assistance

As IC technology feature sizes scale, the functional density of system-on-chip ICs increases and they often include multiple analog and RF interfaces. At the same time, nanoscale CMOS devices can only operate from lower supply voltages and can have poorer analog characteristics. This makes the design of analog and RF interfaces in nanoscale CMOS technologies particularly challenging.

In this talk we present our recent research in using digital gates to enhance the performance of RF circuits, more specifically of RF receivers. We review where digital gates can help to improve the RF performance. We discuss in detail two specific receiver circuits. The first example uses digital calibration to enhance the IIP2 performance of a direct conversion receiver for full duplex cellular systems. Thanks to digital calibration, the receiver design can be simplified while the performance can be drastically improved.

In the second example we will discuss the design of an ultra-low voltage direct-conversion receiver for cellular applications. So far the performance level of ULV receivers had been limited to wireless personal-area network applications due a degraded trade-off between the noise figure and the linearity caused by the supply voltage reduction. We show that this limit can be overcome by using an in-band feed-forward cancellation receiver architecture. It relies on digital calibration to achieve a robust, high performance across process and environmental variations.

Carl Anderson
IBM Fellow
Tuesday May 11, 8:00pm, ACES 2.402

Beyond Innovation – Dealing with the Risks and Complexity of Processor Design

The most important aspect of a successful design team is its culture and discipline. Innovation plays a part in the design of complex processor chips but does not determine if a project gets completed or is successful. Technical leaders not only need to innovate but manage resources and risk. This talk describes the discipline, risk management, resource management and problem identification and solving that needs to be in the culture of a successful design team.

Dr. Gangadhar Burra
Texas Instruments
Friday, April 30, 2:30pm, ACES 2.302

Challenges in Next Generation Wireless and Connectivity

This talk is intended to highlight key market trends and new applications from low frequency upto sub-THz bands where wireless transceivers and systems are needed and make a difference. Various use-cases, standards under discussion and ratification will be looked at.

Technical challenges associated with implementing these systems in nano-meter digital CMOS technologies will be discussed. The economics of going to these advanced processes for new capabilities will force certain architecture choices for RF systems to optimize unit cost and power consumption. This presentation will highlight some of these choices.