Injection Locking Techniques for CMOS-Based mm-Wave Frequency Synthesis

194 Pages·2015·3.44 MB·English

FaculteitIngenieurswetenschappen
DepartmentofElectronicsandInformatics(ETRO)
Department of Fundamental Electricity and Instrumentation
(ELEC)
Injection Locking Techniques for
CMOS-Based mm-Wave Frequency Synthesis
Proefschriftvoorgelegdvoorhetbehalenvan
DoctorindeIngenieurswetenschappendoor
Giovanni Mangraviti
Promotoren: Prof. Dr. ir. PietWambacq
Prof. Dr. ir. GerdVandersteen
Jury: Prof. Dr. ir. H.Ottevaere,voorzitter,VUB
Prof. Dr. ir. R.Pintelon,vice-voorzitter,VUB
Prof. Dr. ir. Y.Rolain,secretaris,VUB
Dr. ir. J.Craninckx,imec
Prof. Dr. ir. M.Kuijk,VUB
Prof. Dr. ir. S.Levantino,PolitecnicodiMilano
Insamenwerkingmet imecvzw,
Kapeldreef75
B-3001Leuven,Belgie¨
Onderzoek gefinancierd met een specialisatiebeurs van
het Instituut voor de Aanmoediging van Innovatie
door Wetenschap en Technologie in Vlaanderen (IWT-
Vlaanderen)
Januari2015

Preface
Dearreader,
with gladness I present you my Ph.D. thesis. It deals with Injection Locking Tech-
niques for CMOS-Based mm-Wave Frequency Synthesis. Thanks to injection locking,
high frequencies such as millimeter waves can be handled on a standard digital CMOS
technology.Thefascinatingchallengeofinjectionlockingresidesinthefactthatwewant
tosynchronize,withanexternalreferencesignal,theoscillatoryresponseofanunstable
system such as an oscillator. This duality between synchronization and oscillatory re-
sponsehasbeeninspiringmealongthewholePh.D.research. IthinkIcansaythatthis
duality has been translated into another one, typical of so many Ph.D. students: giving
structuretoapassionateresearch.
i

Acknowledgments
AsPh.D.studentandasyoungman,Ifeelgratefultosomanypeople,whohaveaccom-
paniedmeduringthisjourneytowardsthePh.D.degree.
I am now writing on board of a ship, sailing from Salerno to Messina. I see the many
people, whom I acknowledge, as members of a crew: each one with a particular con-
tribution to the journey of my Ph.D. research. Sometimes the sea was sweet and calm.
Sometimesitwasstormyandscaring.Well,thiscrewhasneverleftmealone,eventhough
Imayhavenotalwaysrealizedit.
The list of crew members, which I am going through, will for sure be incomplete. I
saythisbecauseIknowmyself... Andsincethecrewmembersknowme,Iamalsopretty
surethattheywill,incase,forgiveme.
My family and my friends have constantly embraced me with love. My mother, my
father, my grandfather and - I believe - my grandparents from heaven, follow me. My
spiritual guide in Messina, padre Michele, keeps in his good work on me. My younger
brotherMichele,evenwhenondutyonashipatfardistances(America,Australia,etc.),
keepssupportingme,alsowiththewisdomacquiredfromthesealife.
The University of Messina has built solid foundations for me as a scientist and as an
engineer. Eventhoughthisuniversitymaynotbewellrecognized,manyofitsstudents-
suchasmyself-feelwellequippedthankstotheengineeringstudies. Mygratefulnessto
theprofessors,mentioningProf. GalliandProf. Ciofiasmypromotersformybachelor
thesisandmasterthesisrespectively.
Prof. Ciofi proposed and supported me for an internship at imec. My first time out of
Italy! For a shy and insecure young man as I was, this internship may have not come
to completeness and satisfactory results without the help of Ivan, Domenica, Gianluca
andDaniela. TomandMarcgavemetechnicalandmoralsupportduringmyworkinthe
Amsimec lab of imec. My ex-supervisor - and now good friend - Ivan has been a great
mentor,technicallyandforlife.
iii
When approaching the end of my internship, I wished so strongly to start a Ph.D. in
collaboration with imec. I can say I fell in love with a topic on millimeter-wave CMOS
circuits.Istillrememberthefirstinterviewwiththescientificresponsible,PietWambacq.
IwasshybutthankstohiskindnessIcouldanswertohisquestionsandexpressmyinter-
estforthetopic.
Piet has opened to me the doors to a Ph.D. at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB, Free
University of Brussels in English), whose more recent slogan is Redelijk eigenzinning,
which translates into English as Reasonably opinionated. And I have experienced it at
VUB and at imec: science brings so many people together, overcoming differences of
origin,gender,believes,etc. ThatisoneofthemainreasonswhyIfeelproudinbeinga
scientist.
Together with being a scientist, I am a believer. In this context I tell that I have felt
theSpiritinmanygoodpeoplewhosupportedme,regardlesstheirbelieves. TheEnglish-
speakingChristiancommunityislikeafamilyforme. IgratefullymentionFr. Reimund,
Fr. Peter,Beatrice,MaryanaandYuriy,Pieter,Malou,Paul,Stefaan,Billy,Fr. John,Fr.
Stanis,Fr. Antonio,Vika,Jeremiah,Cecilia,Claire,Maria...
Verygoodfriendsconstantlyhonormewiththeirfriendship. RobinandGift,Sashaand
Alena,StefanoandCaterina,Gabriella,Dommi,VadimandLisa,ChiaraandGigi,Steven,
BarendandCatalina,Benedetta,Andrey...
MariaElena,withwhomIsharebadandgoodmomentsofmyPh.D.life,
Wagdy,theamicomio(myfriend),supportingeachotherasbrothers.
Eachofyoukeepsaspecialplaceinmyheart,togetherwithmyfriendsfromMessina,as
Paolo,Giuseppe,Valentina,Alessio...
Great people at VUB and at imec... I feel honored by their fellowship. Piet, Vojkan
and Bertrand have tutored me along my first crawling steps in my Ph.D. research. My
passionate work at imec has found many other companions as well: Viki, Bob, Vito,
Charlotte, Khaled, Badr, Oscar, Sebastien, Steven, Davide, Kristof, Wim, Alaa, Qixian,
Joris, Bjorn, Ben, Mark, Jorge, Nereo, Ewout, Pedro, Luc, Hans, Zhang, Ariumi, Andy,
Andre´, ... Liesbeth and Filip. Very inspiring and kind professors at VUB, such as Piet,
Gerd, Yves, Johan, Rik... and patient secretaries such as Karin, Annemie, Myriam and
Marion. AndmylabadventureswithMike...
I feel grateful to the Ph.D. jury members: Prof. Heidi.Ottevaere, Prof. Rik Pintelon,
Prof. YvesRolain, Dr. JanCraninckx, Prof. MaartenKuijk, Prof. SalvatoreLevantino.
Their interest in my work and their kind feedback completed this Ph.D. text, making it
moreclear.
I feel more than grateful to my team manager. Charlotte, you keep supporting the team
members,forworkandmorally.Ihopethatallofus-teammembers-areabletogiveyou
back at least one third of the energies and passion you spend for us every day. Further-
more,Ithankyouforconvincingmetoentertheworldofdancing. Icantellthatthanks
todanceIamovercomingmanyoccasionsoftemporarydiscouragementandloneliness.
Forthis,IfeelverygratefultothedancingcommunityofLeuvenaswell.
Ifeelmorethangratefultomypromoters: PietandGerd.
Gerd, you keep inspiring me with your energy, passion and competence. From the
firstmeetingthatwehadatVUBtillnow... Youmayhavenotrealizedit,butyouradvises
have helped me in overcoming some moments in which I felt discouraged, technically
andmorally.
Piet,youhavepromoted,inspired,supported,taught,guidedandcomfortedmeinliv-
ingmyroleasaPh.D.student. IdaretosaythatIfeelinspiredandguidedbyyoualsoin
mylifeasayoungman. AndIdaretosaythat,alsothankstoyou,thisPh.D.seemstobe
inmypersonallifethebeginningofaspecialjourney,whichisgoingtotakequitesome
time...
muchmorethantheeighthoursofthisseatripfromSalernotoMessina...
ajourneyfromknowledgetowisdom!
Afterall,Ph.DstaysforDoctorofPhilosophy!
GiovanniMangraviti,
onthesearoute
fromSalernotoMessina,
5January2015
v

Abstract
Mm-wavefrequenciesofferopportunitiesformanywirelessapplicationslikehigh-datarate
wirelesscommunication(e.g.60GHzdatalinkswithdatarateshigherthan1Gbit/s),auto-
motiveradars(e.g. 79GHzcarradars)andimagesensors(e.g. 94GHz). ModernCMOS
enablestherealizationofmm-wavetransceiversthankstoitsspeedincreaseand(relative)
lowcost.
Oneofthemainchallengesinmm-waveCMOStransceiversisthesynthesisofthe
local oscillator (LO) signal. Traditionally, phase-locked loops (PLLs) are used for this
task. Mm-wavePLLsrequiremm-wavefrequencydividers. Traditionally,staticcurrent-
mode logic (CML) latches are used as frequency dividers, but they require large power
consumption at mm-wave. For this reason, alternative approaches are needed, such as
low-power inductor-less mm-wave injection-locked frequency dividers (ILFDs) and LO
synthesisbasedonsubharmonicinjectionlockingtechniques.
Inductorless mm-wave ILFDs can work at high frequency, consume a small amount
of power, can be tuned over a wide frequency range and are compact. The drawback
is that they are sensitive to supply disturbances. This Ph.D. has devised an inductorless
injection-locked60-15GHzILFD,withalowsupplysensitivity,in40nmCMOS.
Amm-waveLOfrequencysynthesizer,forinstanceat60GHz,basedonsubharmonic
injectionlockingconsistsofthreemainparts:alower-frequencyPLLrunningatasubhar-
monicfrequency60/nGHz(withninteger,oddfordifferentialcircuits),a60/nGHzLO
distribution and a 60GHz subharmonically injection-locked oscillator (SHILO). Apart
from the absence of 60GHz dividers, another advantage is that the phase noise of the
60GHzSHILOisshaped andthuslowered bytheinjected60/nGHzsignal.
ThisPh.D.hasinvestigatedandproventheapplicationofsubharmonicinjectionlock-
ingtechniquefor60GHzLOgeneration. First,a60GHzLOsystemhasbeendesigned
in90nmCMOS.Here, themainchallengesforarobustLOoperationhavebeenrecog-
nized: thenarrowlockingrangeofthe60GHzsubharmonicallyinjection-lockedQVCO
(SHIL-QVCO)andtheneedforlockdetection. Secondly,anovel60GHzSHIL-QVCO
hasbeendevisedandrealizedin40nmCMOS.Theuseofcoupled-LCtanksallowsfor
a large locking range (more than 8GHz, tunable over 52-66GHz), thus enhancing the
robustness of the system. At last, an improved 60GHz SHIL-QVCO with calibration
circuitry and lock detection has been realized in 40nm CMOS. The SHIL-QVCO uses
vii
coupled-LC tanks, achieving more than 2GHz locking range tunable over 55-63GHz.
WithrespecttothepreviousSHIL-QVCOdesign,theoscillationamplitudeismoreuni-
formoverthelockingrangeandcalibrationisfacilitatedwithanenvelopedetector. The
lockdetectorisconstructedaroundasimpleharmoniclock-inamplifier. Thelargelock-
ingrange,thelargetunabilityandthecombinationofenvelopedetectorandlockdetector
offerasimpleapproachforrobustmm-wavefrequencysynthesisbasedonsubharmonic
injectionlocking.