Radio-Frequency Digital-to-Analog Converters. Implementation in Nanoscale CMOS

288 Pages·2016·16.16 MB·English

by  Morteza S. Alavi

Radio-Frequency
Digital-to-Analog
Converters
Radio-Frequency
Digital-to-Analog
Converters
Implementation in Nanoscale
CMOS
Morteza S. Alavi
Jaimin Mehta
Robert Bogdan Staszewski
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Preface
The work on this RFDAC idea can be traced all the way back to 2001 when our
small group at Texas Instruments (TI) was busy inventing new digital methods of
realizing the traditional analog-intensive RF transceiver functions. The design of
our first digital RF processor (DRP) for Bluetooth in 130nm CMOS was coming
to an end but we still needed to obtain some form of RF power regulation so that
the transmitter (TX) would not produce too little or too much RF power. Hence,
we added a few other transistors parallel to the main transistor of the switched-
mode (thus, digital!) power amplifier operating in class-E mode (theoretically, up
to 100% efficient!). Little did we know that those extra transistors would become
extremely handy when another group from TI-Israel asked us to add amplitude
modulation(AM)totheoriginalfrequency-modulated(FM)Bluetoothsignalforthe
new extended data rate mode. The fully digital vector modulation (AM combined
with FM) could not be made any much simpler: We just expanded the number of
transistors from 8 to 256 to get the sufficient AM resolution in addition to the fine
frequency resolution from an all-digital phase-locked loop (ADPLL), which was
invented a couple of years earlier in the same DRP group as part of my part-time
PhD research. That SoC went into high-volume production in 90nm and then in
45nm CMOS, while we got busy at applying these newly invented techniques to
cellularstandards.EnterJaiminMehta,whojoinedmyTXDRPgrouptoworkout
preciselyallthesystem,architectural,andcircuitsissuesaswellasthoserelatedto
calibration and compensation for high-volume production of cellular radios. Given
the pioneering work and enormous amount of research issues solved throughout
this cycle, Jaimin was able to turn his full-time industrial work into a PhD thesis
guidedbymyoldadvisorfromnearbyUniversityofTexasatDallas,ProfessorPoras
T.Balsara.Chapters2–5andAppendixAaretheoutcomeofthatindustrialwork.
AfterIlefttheUSindustryforacademiainEuropein2009,Ihadplentyoftime
tothinkaboutfutureapplicationsofRFDACs.Andthefuturelookedunmistakably
broadband.Itwasclearthatthepolartopologywouldcometoacrashinghaltdueto
its>10×bandwidthexpansion.EnterMortezaAlavi,hewasthenanewbright-eyed
PhDstudentatDelftUniversityofTechnology,extremelyhungryfornewknowledge
and eager to prove himself with almost impossible tasks. He took upon himself to
adapt the polar RFDAC approach to the in-phase/quadrature (I/Q) topology, which
wouldentirelyavoidthatpeskybandwidthexpansion.InthenextfourPhDyears,he
workedfuriouslyatsolvingalltheissuesandthenetresultisthatwecannowdirectly
gofrom2×13I/Qbitsofthedigitalbasebandsignalto150MHzwideband23dBm
ofoutputRFpowerwith1024-QAMconstellation.Chapters6–12andAppendixB
aretheoutcomeofhisresearchwork.
My coauthors and I strongly believe in the huge potential of RFDACs not only
incommercialapplicationsbutalsoasanavenueforfurtheracademicresearch.Our
belief seems to be shared with our collaborators and industrial partners. We would
like to sincerely thank all our collaborators and supporters, as well as critics, at
xi
xii Preface
TI and Delft University of Technology who have helped to turn the idea of digital
RFmodulationintoareality.Iwouldliketoconcludewithastatementfrommydear
TImentor,Dr.BillKrenik:“Thebestisyettocome.”
RobertBogdanStaszewski
(onbehalfofcoauthors,MortezaS.AlaviandJaiminMehta)
Dublin
October2016
Acknowledgment
TheauthorsacknowledgehelpfromthefollowingPhDstudentsinfindingtyposand
minormistakesduringfinalproofreading:MiladPiri,FeifeiZhang,andKaiXu.
xiii
Acronyms
1D one-dimensional
2D two-dimensional
ADC analog-to-digitalconverter
ADPLL all-digitalPLL
AM amplitudemodulation
balun balanced-unbalanced
BER biterrorrate
CML current-modelogic
CMOS complementarymetal-oxide-semiconductor
CORDIC coordinaterotationdigitalcomputer
DAC digital-to-analogconverter
DAT distributedactivetransformer
DC directcurrent
DCO digitallycontrolledoscillator
DNL differentialnonlinearity
DPA digitallycontrolledpoweramplifier
DPD digitalpredistortion
DRAC digital-to-RF-amplitudeconverter
DSP digitalsignalprocessing
EDGE enhanceddataratesforGSMevolution
ESD electrostaticdischarge
EVM errorvectormagnitude
FFT fastFouriertransform
FIR finiteimpulseresponse
GSM globalsystemformobilecommunications
I in-phase
IC integratedcircuit
IQ I/Qvector
ISI intersymbolinterference
LO localoscillator
LPF low-passfilter
LSB leastsignificantbit
LTE long-termevolution
MSB mostsignificantbit
NF noisefigure
OFDM orthogonalfrequency-divisionmultiplexing
OSR oversamplingratio
PA poweramplifier
PAPR peak-to-averagepowerratio
PLL phase-lockedloop
PM phasemodulation
xv
xvi Acronyms
PSD powerspectraldensity
PVT process,voltage,andtemperature
Q quadrature-phase
QAM quadratureamplitudemodulation
QPSK quadraturephase-shiftkeying
RF radiofrequency
RF-DAC RFdigital-to-analogconverter
RMS rootmeansquare
RRC rootraisedcosine
RX receiver
SAW surfaceacousticwave
SDT software-defined-transmitter
SNR signal-to-noiseratio
SRAM staticrandomaccessmemory
SRC sample-rateconverter
TDD time-divisionduplexing
TX transmitter
UART universalasynchronousreceiver/transmitter
VCO voltagecontrolledoscillator
VSA vectorsignalanalyzer
VSWR voltagestandingwaveratio
WCDMA widebandcodedivisionmultipleaccess
WLAN wirelesslocalareanetwork
ZOH zero-order-hold
CHAPTER
1
Introduction
CHAPTER OUTLINE
1.1 TheConventionalRFRadio................................................................. 2
1.2 Motivation..................................................................................... 4
1.3 TheBookObjectives......................................................................... 6
1.3.1 SystemSimulationofWCDMABasebandData........................... 6
1.3.2 SomeImportantFigures-of-MeritinRFTransmitters.................... 8
1.4 AnalogVersusDigitalRFTransmitters.................................................... 9
1.5 Analog-IntensiveRFTransmitters.......................................................... 9
1.6 DigitallyIntensiveRFTransmitters........................................................ 12
1.7 NewParadigmofRFDesigninNanometer-ScaleCMOS............................... 13
1.8 All-DigitalPolarTransmitter................................................................ 14
1.9 All-DigitalI/QTransmitter................................................................... 16
1.10 Conclusion..................................................................................... 18
1.11 BookOutline................................................................................... 19
Consumerelectronicdevicessuchassmartphones,tablets,andlaptopsareconstantly
evaluated against three key criteria: low-cost, high-power efficiency, and support
of multimode/multiband communication standards such as Wi-Fi or wireless LAN
(IEEE 802.11) [1], Bluetooth [2], GNSS,1 second-generation (2G) cellular using
GSM,third-generation(3G)cellularusingWCDMA[3],andfourth-generation(4G)
cellularusingeitherofWiMAXor3GPPLTE[4,5].Thesegadgetdevicescomprise
a myriad of IC chips to perform an extensive number of distinct functions such
as multimedia streaming and gaming as well as supporting the aforementioned
communicationstandards.Asanexampleofcontemporarygadgetdevices,Fig.1.1
illustrates the mainboard of a smartphone, for example, the iPhone 5. It consists of
anapplicationprocessor(AP)unit,subscriberidentificationmodule(SIM)cardslot,
1GNSSistheabbreviationofglobalnavigationsatellitesystem.ItincludesAmerican’sGPS,Russian’s
GLONASS,EuropeanUnion’sGalileo,andChina’sBeidounavigationsystem.
Radio-FrequencyDigital-to-AnalogConverters.http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-802263-4.00001-5 1
©2017ElsevierLtd.Allrightsreserved.
2 CHAPTER 1 Introduction
Multiband/ LTE modem/ SIM card
Mode RF TR. GPS slot Apple A6 AP Sensors
GSM/GPRS/EDGE PA Memory/ Audio
RF ANT. SW. LTE P.M. NAND flash Class-D PA
WCDMA PA/ CDMA PA LTE PA/ Power Combo chip :
Duplexer LTE-13-PA Duplexer management Wi-Fi/
Bluetooth/FM
FIG.1.1
ThefrontandrearmainboardofiPhone-5.
CourtesyofAppleInc.
NAND flash memory, power management unit, Class-D audio amplifier, and, most
significantly, a number of RF transceiver modules that support today’s universal
communication standards such as GSM, CDMA, Wi-Fi/Bluetooth/FM, GPS, and
LTE in combination with its power management unit. Over the past two decades,
therehavebeentremendouseffortstodesignRFradiosthatwillaffordanopportunity
toaddressthelow-power,low-cost,andextremelypower-efficientdemandsand,yet,
theyhavealsoemployedinventivetransceiverarchitectures.
1.1 THE CONVENTIONAL RF RADIO
AsdepictedinFig.1.2A,aconventionalRFtransceiverconsistsofabasebandDSP
unit,TX,andRX[6,7].Thetransmitterperformsinthefollowingmanner:Thean-
ticipatedtransmittedinformationsuchasvoice,video,ordigitaldataliketext/images
areinitiallydigitallyprocessed,thenencoded,andsubsequentlyappliedtoaDACin
order to convert the digital data to their corresponding analog counterparts. Due to
the fact that these analog signals comprise unwelcome noise and spectral replicas,
the transmitter utilizes a low-pass filter (LPF) to reduce those undesirable artifacts.
The filtered analog signals are subsequently mixed with an RF LO utilizing an