Peter H. R. Popplewell

A 6.3 GHz BFSK Transmitter with On-Chip Antenna for Self-Powered Medical Sensor Applications

This paper presents a completely integrated, low-power 6.3 GHz oscillator transmitter which includes an on-chip antenna suitable for short-range medical sensor applications. The transmitter, implemented in a 1.2 V 0.13 mum CMOS process, utilizes open-loop direct VCO modulation for BFSK data at a rate of 300 kbps. For communicating a 1 kbit packet once per second, an average power consumption of 14 muW is achieved. During a packet transmission, the power consumption of the transmitter is 4.25 mW, enabling a self-powered design using integrated ultracapacitors for an SoC solution. With a radiated power of 0 dBm, the transmitter has a communication range of 2 m.

Silicon Differential Antenna/Inductor for Short Range Wireless Communication Applications

The on-chip antenna concept is a practical solution to compact, small size and low cost transceivers for short range wireless applications like RFID tags and biomedical sensor data transmitters. Here we present a miniature on-chip antenna design in a 0.13 mum CMOS process which also serves as the inductor. The optimized on-chip inductor/antenna has a Q of 9.2, inductance of 2.0 nH and an omni-directional radiation pattern with a gain of -22 dB on a lossy silicon substrate. The same inductor/antenna design is used in both the transmitter and the receiver circuits, leading to a communication range of 25 cm in air. This paper also presents a simple lumped model extraction technique for the on-chip differential inductors

A CMOS active antenna/inductor for System on a Chip (SoC) applications

A miniature on-chip antenna/inductor is presented which can radiate effectively while providing the required L and Q for the resonant tank of a VCO. Antenna gain and radiation pattern measurements demonstrate a maximum gain of -22 dBi at 45deg off boresight. With 0 dBm of radiated power, the on-chip antenna supports a 2 m communication link with an off-chip patch antenna connected to a low noise receiver. The results indicate a promising future for this design in short range communication applications.

An Injection-Locked 5.2 GHz SoC Transceiver with On-Chip Antenna for Self-Powered RFID and Medical Sensor Applications

A completely integrated 5.2 GHz BFSK transceiver, including on-chip antenna, suitable for self-powered RFID and medical sensor applications is presented. Averaged transmit and receive power consumptions are less than 1 mW, enabling on-chip ultracapacitors to serve as the power source. The solution has a 1.75 m communication range at 5 kb/s, which can be increased at the expense of the bit-rate, power consumption in the receiver, or by using off-chip antennas.

Analysis and measurements of EM and substrate coupling effects in common RF integrated circuits

An investigation of coupling between inductors and resonators fabricated in Si substrates is presented and the effects on RF systems and components is discussed. EM simulators (e.g., Agilent Momentum) provide accurate near field analysis of coupling in lossy and complex silicon substrates. Measurements verify theory and a novel experimental technique to measure inductor and resonator coupling makes use of injection-lockable bipolar oscillators. The experiment is fast, accurate, and unique in that no matching, probe de-embedding, or calibration is necessary as the ratio of two on-chip signals is measured to yield the results. As an example, accounting for inductor coupling in a 4.7 GHz LNA reduces the amplifiers gain from 22 dB to 18 dB.

5.2 GHz On-Chip Antenna/ Inductor for Short Range Wireless Communication Applications

This paper presents the design of a 5.2 GHz on-chip inductor employing a standard 13.5 Ω-cm bulk silicon substrate in a 0.13µm CMOS process. This inductor is optimized to radiate efficiently and therefore serves as an on-chip antenna as well. Two different geometries are compared in terms of their inductive and radiation characteristics and their various tradeoffs are discussed. The optimized on-chip inductor/ antenna has a Q of 9.2, L of 2.0 nH and an omni-directional radiation pattern with a gain of -22 dB on a lossy silicon substrate. This paper also illustrates a transmission link utilizing an injection locked oscillator and on-chip inductors/antennas which can communicate successfully up to 25 cm. The antenna demonstrates strong potential for integration into VLSI technology to implement single-chip wireless systems for low cost, low power and short range communication applications.

Calibration-free on-chip inductor coupling experiment with injection-lockable VCOs

A novel experiment is presented which makes use of injection-lockable bipolar oscillators to measure on-chip coupling between integrated inductors. The experiment is fast, accurate and unique In that no matching, probe de-embedding or calibration is necessary as the ratio of two on-chip signals is measured to yield the results. Theoretical and simulated models of injectionlocked oscillators and inductor coupling are discussed and compared to results measured using the test chip to Validate the experiment. Results indicate about -55 dB of Coupling between two inductors spaced 175 pm apart. K e p m d Coupling Circuits, Electromagnetic Coupling, Inductors, Injection Locked Oscillators.

A 5.2 GHz BFSK Receiver with On-Chip Antenna for Self-Powered RFID Tags and Medical Sensors

A completely integrated receiver design suitable for short range wireless applications is presented. The circuit represents one half of an SoC solution that makes use of an on-chip antenna, and consumes 5.5 mW while receiving. A thin film ultracapacitor and a solar cell can be stacked on top of the chip to supply power to the radio; yielding a completely integrated solution. The receiver makes use of a PLL to initially lock an RF VCO which is then allowed to be injection-locked to an incoming FM signal. An integrated antenna provides adequate gain given the short range radios intended applications. The solution has a communication range of 1.75 m which can be increased at the expense of the bit-rate, increased power consumption in the receiver, or by using off-chip antennas.