Dominique Lesenechal

Analysis of broadband power combiners and coupled antennas with stochastic load matching in a random field for mm-wave applications

In this paper, we present design and experimental verification of integrated power combiners and closely coupled antennas. Several design variants are proposed for assessing effects of stochastic matching on antenna correlations as function of frequency up to 110GHz. Broadband equivalent circuit models accounting for radiation effects are extracted for proper random EM-Fields-Circuit Co-Design and Co-Analysis. Perspectives for Cognitive Built-In-Self-Test implementing real-time tuning of stochastic matching with EM-Thermal energy harvesting are drawn for mm-Wave MIMO and Phased-Array applications.

Bonding-Wire-Geometric-Profile-Dependent Model for Mutual Coupling Between Two Bonding Wires on a Glass Substrate

The dependence of self-inductance and mutual inductance on bonding wire (BW) geometric profile has been studied in several papers. This paper will present a method using a BW-geometric-profile-dependent term to include this dependence in a simple model of BWs. The model element values will be calculated only from geometric dimensions. An experimental structure of two BWs in parallel planes has been fabricated based upon glass substrate technique for verification. A good agreement was obtained up to 8 GHz in comparison to electromagnetic simulation and measurement.

Modelling of an inductor on SiGe: From the measurement to the equivalent scheme

We propose a methodology to extract models for inductors from measurements. The methodology is applied to a one-turn solenoid and to spiral inductor.

Model of mutual coupling between two bonding wires on glass substrate

This paper presents a simple model of mutual coupling between 2 bonding wires. The model has been compared to 3D full wave electromagnetic simulation up to 20 GHz. A good accordance was obtained.

Improved noise parameters measurement for high frequency devices

In this paper, we present the conventional noise parameters measurement methods that use a complicate and expensive set-up. They use a noise receiver, an impedance tuner, a calibrated noise source and a vector network analyzer. All this is controlled by heavy software. We show a more synthetic representation of the noise leading to a new measurement process where no impedance tuner is used. At the end, we detail how a transistor (an HBT) can be simply characterized by simple correlation matrices transformation. Then, we give some perspectives toward a method using only a modern vector network analyzer without receiver, noise source nor tuner.

Calibration for noise parameters measurement with a VNA and without a hot noise source

The noise parameter measurement needs to be faster and faster. So, we need to use a simple and reliable method. The method that we propose here uses only a network analyzer and few passive impedances placed at the input of the DUT. We describe only the determination of the receiver gain. The determination of the other parameters is more conventional.

Reliability analysis of low noise amplifiers for wireless applications under high RF power stressing

A reliability study under high RF power stressing was conducted on two SiGe cascode Low Noise Amplifiers (LNA) using an in-house reliability tool. The first LNA was stressed at 19 dBm of RF power during 600 hours. Obtained results (relative degradation values in dB) showed a decrease of 11% in the small-signal gain (S21), while the second was stressed at 20 dBm of RF power during non-stop 600 hours. The results, under these conditions, showed a decrease of 12% in the S21 and an increase of 13.8% in the Noise Figure (NF). All predictive degradation simulations were compared to measurements demonstrating a satisfactory agreement.

Experimental characterization of packaged switch devices for RF and millimeter-Wave applications

In this paper we present experimental characterization of packaged switch devices in terms of their RF attributes: isolation, insertion loss, power consumption, and linearity. Packaging and Board assembly significantly reduce their RF and mm-Wave performances. A broadband experimental setup is developed for the qualification of packaged switch devices accounting for deembedding effects both with on-board/on-package and on-chip probing. Module-based switch devices have been measured then, plastic molding, Si cap, and bonding wires have been sequentially removed to investigate their influences. Different challenges with packaged switch devices are identified and effective solutions are proposed for their qualification.

Characterization of anisotropic substrates from RF, mm-Wave to THz: Design of 3D conformal antenna for connected objects

Anisotropic Liquid Crystal Polymer (LCP) substrates are used to design 3D conformal antenna elements and filtering structures in Laser Direct Structuring technology (LDS) for applications including 5G connected objects and massive Internet of Things (IoT): e.g., wearable (smart watches/rings), mobile (smartphones/tablets), home (appliances/lighting) devices. Based on the experimentally extracted optical absorption and refraction properties, identification of chemical and/or morphologic composition of the characterized samples (solid and liquid materials) are targeted. Perspectives for macro-modeling of composite materials and nano-Particles using homogeneization techniques are drawn.

Reducing substrate noise coupling in a 3D-PICS integrated passive device by localized P+ guard rings

This paper presents an original concept of a P+ guard ring realized in a 300μm depth High Resistivity Silicon Substrate (HRS) in order to reduce the substrate noise coupling in a 3D-PICS Integrated Passive Device technology. Guard rings have been designed to be a reliable and efficient protection against noise signals propagation. Case study presented in this work illustrates its significant role. In this paper, a 3D-PICS IPD test chip was studied as a first passive part prototype of a System-In-Package chip in combination with RF transceiver operating in the ISM band (863-870 MHz). Various configurations of the passive chip layout (including implementation of guard rings) have been characterized by Direct Power Injection. 3D-PICS electrical performances deduced from two-ports S-parameters are reported, as well as the guard rings efficiency measurements extracted from these S-parameters. Coupling isolation performances of the new integrated PICS components are found satisfactory.