Date of Graduation

2002

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Type

MS

Committee Chair

Biswajit A. Das

Abstract

In the last few years, multiple wireless networking standards have evolved. Standards such has Bluetooth and IEEE 802.11 have emerged to provide high-speed wireless interconnectivity. Along with advances in the wireless technology, there has also been a significant development in Silicon Radio Frequency Integration. New technologies such as the SiGe BiCMOS have been developed which have exhibited superior RF performance. The CMOS technology, which has proven itself in the entrenched digital arena, has been questioned for its performance at radio frequencies. In the recent past, various enhancements have been made to the standard digital CMOS process for use in RF and mixed-signal applications. Majority of the wireless networking standards makes use of the 2.4 GHz and the 5 GHz frequency spectrum. The objective of this thesis is to compare CMOS and SiGe technologies for their RF performance in the 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz bands.The low noise amplifier (LNA) which is one of the most critical components of the receiver chain was chosen to compare the two technologies. CMOS and SiGe LNAs were designed and implemented in the 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz frequencies. Simulation results showed that CMOS is better suited for applications in the crowded 2.4 GHz band whereas at higher frequencies (5 GHz), SiGe shows lesser power consumption for RF performance comparable to CMOS. On-chip spiral inductors play a significant role in realizing fully integrated transceivers. However they exhibit poor performance in terms of their quality factor (Q-factor). A technique to improve the quality factor – the use of porous silicon in the substrate is also investigated. The inductors designed using porous silicon showed an improvement of almost 100 % as compared to the inductors formed on the conventional silicon substrate.

Download

Share

COinS