RF/Microwave detectors for embedded IC test

2005·6.1 MB·English

by  Zhang, Tao

RF/MICROWAVEDETECTORSFOREMBEDDEDICTEST
By
TAOZHANG
ADISSERTATIONPRESENTEDTOTHEGRADUATESCHOOL
OFTHEUNIVERSITYOFFLORIDAINPARTIALFULFILLMENT
OFTHEREQUIREMENTSFORTHEDEGREEOF
DOCTOROFPHILOSOPHY
UNIVERSITYOFFLORIDA
2005
RF/MicroeaveDetectorforEmbeddedICTest
TaoZhang
[phone],[email protected]
DepartmentofElectricalandComputerEngineering
Chair: WilliamR.Eisenstadt
Degree: DoctorofPhilosophy
GraduationDate: December2005
Thisdissertationisfocusedondevelopingembedded RFICtestcircuitsusing
the IBM SiGe processes. First, the detection theory on bipolar power detectors
isanalyzedinaclosed-form. Then, severalkindsofRFpowerdetectorsincluding
peak detector, RMS detector and differential detector are developed. Next, two
practicalembeddedtestcircuitsforon-chipapplicationsaredemonstrated. Oneis
aLNAmonitoringcircuit usingtwoRFpowerdetectorstomeasure LNAvoltage
gainandinputmatching. Theotherisamonolithicsix-portreflectometerforon-
chipreflectioncoefficient measurement. Finally, acalibration-freesingle-transistor
detectorisproposed. AllaboveworkshowsthatembeddedRFICtestisrealizablein
practicalapplicationandcanbeacost-effectivealternativefortraditionaltest.
Copyright2005
by
TaoZhang
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Iwouldliketoexpressmysincereappreciationtomyadvisor,ProfessorWilliam
R. Eisenstadt, forhisconstantencouragementandguidance. Withouthissupport
andguidance,myexplorationintheresearchcouldnotcometosuccess. Ialsowould
liketothankProfessorsRobertM. Fox, KennethK. 0andLocVu-Quocfortheir
adviceonthisworkandtheirwillingserviceonmycommittee.
IwouldliketothanktheSemiconductorResearchCorporation(SRC)andNa-
tionalScienceFoundation(NSF)forthesponsorshipofthiswork. Ialsowouldlike
tothankIBMforthechipfabrication.
IwouldliketothankmycolleaguesSanghoonChoi,MingHe,QizhangYin,Jang-
SupYoon,ChoongeolCho,YuseokKo,XiaoqingZhou,XueqingWang,Duchen,Xin
Qi,ZhenbiaoLi,XiaolingGuo, HaifengXu, ChikuangYu,RanLi,ChanghuaCao,
YuSu,YangpingDing,DongminXu,XuigeYang,YangmingXiaoandXuegeWang
fortheirhelpfuldiscussions, advice,andfriendship. Theirsupportandadvicehave
contributedimmenselytomywork.
Finally, Iamgratefultomywife, PingHe. Herloveanddedicationhavebeen
essentialtothefulfillmentofthiswork. Also,Iwouldliketothankmyparents,my
brotherandmysisterfortheirloveandencouragementthroughouttheyears.
iii
TABLEOFCONTENTS
page
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
iii
LISTOFTABLES vii
LISTOFFIGURES viii
ABSTRACT xii
1 INTRODUCTION 1
1.1 WhyEmbeddedICTest 1
1.2 ChallengesinEmbeddedRFICTest 3
1.3 ApproachesinEmbeddedRFICTest 5
1.3.1 DirectMeasurementofSpecifications 6
1.3.2 AlternateTest 7
1.4 ResearchGoals 9
1.5 OverviewofTheDissertation 10
2 ON-CHIPRFPOWER(PEAK)DETECTORS 12
2.1 Overview 12
2.2 DetectionTheory 13
2.3 RFPowerDetectorwithVoltageDividerEnhancement 17
2.4 CircuitImplementation 19
2.5 SimulationandExperimentalResults 20
2.6 Discussion 24
2.7 Conclusion 27
3 RFRMSDETECTORS 28
3.1 Overview 28
3.2 RMSDetectionAnalysis 30
3.3 ProposedRMSDetectorDesign 32
3.4 SimulationandExperimentalResults 35
3.5 Conclusion 41
IV
4 RFDIFFERENTIALDETECTORS 42
4.1 Overview 42
4.2 DifferentialDetectorDesign 43
4.3 Simulation 46
4.4 ExperimentalResults 48
4.5 Conclusion 49
5 EMBEDDEDSELF-TESTFORLNA 51
5.1 Overview 51
5.2 EmbeddedSelf-TestCircuit 51
5.3 IntegrationofLNAandDetectors 52
5.4 ExtractionAlgorithms 53
5.4.1 TransducerVoltageGain(Gy)andVoltageGain(Gy) 54
5.4.2 InputImpedance 56
5.5 ExperimentalResults 57
5.6 TestSet-up 61
5.7 Conclusion 63
6 SIX-PORTREFLECTOMETER 64
6.1 Overview 64
6.2 TheoryofSix-PortReflectometer 66
6.3 Six-PortCalibration 70
6.4 Six-PortImplementation 72
6.5 TestSet-upandMeasurementResults 79
6.6 Conclusion 85
7 FUTURECALIBRATION-FREEDETECTORS 87
7.1 Overview 87
7.2 ErrorAnalysis 88
7.3 Single-TransistorDetector 91
7.4 MeasurementResults 94
7.5 Conclusion 94
8 SUMMARYANDSUGGESTIONSFORFUTUREWORKS 96
8.1 Summary 96
8.2 SuggestionsforFutureWork 97
APPENDICES
v
A CALIBRATIONINONE-PORTMEASUREMENTSYSTEM 100
A.l DeterminationofTheInputSignalLevel 100
A.2 ErrorModelforOne-PortMeasurementSystem 101
B BasicsofTwo-PortNetworks 104
C TheMeasurementofImpedance 107
C.0.1 TheSlottedLine 109
C.0.2 TheVectorNetworkAnalyzer 110
D Six-PortCalibration 113
D.0.3 Six-ToFour-PortReduction 113
D.0.4 Bilinear“ErrorBox” Transformation 116
D.0.5 InitialEstimation 116
D.0.6 CharacterizationofDetectors 117
REFERENCES 120
BIOGRAPHICALSKETCH 126
vi
LISTOFTABLES
Table page
3-1 Thesimulatedresponseofasingledetectortovariouswaveforms. ... 41
6-1 Themaximumdeviationofreflectioncoefficientsfromthecorneranaly-
sisofthesix-portreflectometer. (|AT| = |Tspp—T/vivaI, A|T| =
\Fspr\—|Tjvw/t|) 79
vii
LISTOFFIGURES
Figure page
1-
1-1 Theevolutionfromconventionaltest(a)toembeddedtest(b) 2
2-
1-2 Variationinprocessorcircuitparameteranditseffectoncircuitspec-
ificationandtest 8
3 Variationinprocessorcircuitparameteranditseffectoncircuitspec-
ificationandtest. 9
1 Meyerpowerdetector(TypeI)circuit 13
22-2 Voltage-dividerenhancedRFpowerdetector(TypeII)circuit .... 18
2 3 Chdieptepchtootros(7o2f0(xa)55T0yppemI2)detector(600x550fim2)and(b)TypeII 20
23--4 Testset-upforthecharacterizationofRFpowerdetector 21
2-5 FrequencyresponseofRFpowerdetector 22
2-6 ComparisonofTypeIandTypeIIdetectortransfercharacteristics. . 23
7 Thedeviation in theextrapolationofthetransfer characteristicsof
TypeIandTypeIIdetectors 24
2 8 ComparisonoftherelativeerrorsfortheTypeIandTypeIIdetectors. 25
2 9 Comparison ofthetemperature effects forthe Type I and Type II
detectors 26
1 BlockdiagramofproposedRMSdetector 32
3-2 Theconfigurationof(a)7r-typeattenuatorand(b)50flL-typetermi-
nator 33
3-3 EstimationofinputRMSpower 35
3-4 ChipphotoofRFpeak/RMSpowerdetector(700x550/mi2) 36
viii
3-5 Meyerpowerdetectorwithmodifiedbiases 37
3-6 Squarelawdetectionofasingledetector 38
3-
3-7 Measuredtransfercharacteristicsofasingledetector 39
4-
3-8 MeasuredtransfercharacteristicsofthenewRMSdetector 40
9 MeasuredS21oftheattenuatorusinganetworkanalyzer 40
1 Diodedifferentialdetectorcircuit 44
4 2 Bipolardifferentialdetectorcircuit 45
4 3 Symmetricbipolardifferentialdetectorcircuit 46
4-
45--4 Thesimulatedtransfercharacteristicsofthesymmetricandnonsym-
metricbipolardifferentialdetectors 47
4-5 Chipphotoofanonsymmetricbipolardifferentialdetector. (670x400
,ttm2) 48
4-6 Thedetector’sresponsestosingle-endedacinputs(5.2GHz)into(a)
thebaseor(b)theemitterofthebipolartransistor 49
7 Thedetector’sresponsetodifferentialinputacsignals(5.2GHz). . . 50
1 BlockdiagramoftheembeddedRFself-testcircuit 52
5 2 Schematicofcascodelownoiseamplifier 53
5-3 ChuispinpghoItBoM(7760WLx8p0r0o/ciesms2)of5.2GHzLNAwithembeddeddetectors 54
5-4 Blockdiagramfromthesignalsourcetothelownoiseamplifier. ... 56
5-5 MeasuredS-parametersofa5.2GHzlownoiseamplifier 57
5-6 ThemeasuredS2i andextractedtransducervoltagegain (Glnat)of
thelownoiseamplifier 58
5-7 ThemeasuredLNAvoltagegainfromtherespectiveNWAanddetec-
tors 59
5 8 Themeasured LNAinput impedancefromtherespective NWAand
detectors 60
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