Analog/Mixed-Signal, RF, Microwaves

Analog-mixed signal lab

Overview

This research cluster emphasizes synergistic cooperation and innovation amongst faculty members whose research focuses on various aspects of communication systems. The faculty in this research cluster are involved in system level protocols, system architecture and analysis, and implementation of communication systems as integrated circuits (ICs). IC technology is a key enabler in shrinking large systems into hand-held devices.

Faculty expertise includes analog, digital, and RF/microwave circuit design and devices, on-chip interconnect design and modeling, and package modeling including package-level antenna design. An effective top-down simulation and modeling methodology of communication systems is also being emphasized. Our research forms the basis for personal portable communication devices of today and of the future (such as the Dick Tracy watch!)

Research Thrusts

Data Converters: Analog to Digital, Digital to Analog
Filters
IO Links
RF Circuits
Power Management and Energy Harvesting
Signal Integrity

Related Courses

ECE 4/522, 4/523 CMOS Integrated Circuits I & II
ECE 520 Analog Integrated Circuits
ECE 521 Analog Circuit Simulation
ECE 621 RF IC Design
ECE 627 Data Converters
ECE 626 Switched-Capacitor Circuits
ECE 599 Phase-Locked Loops I & II
ECE 699 Interconnects
ECE 4/571 Energy Efficient VLSI Design
ECE 4/574 VLSI System Design
ECE 669 Digital Communication Systems

Faculty

Patrick Chiang
Energy-efficient VLSI interconnect (on-chip and off-chip); energy-constrained, wireless medical electronics

Pavan Hanumolu
Analog/mixed-signal integrated circuit design and high-speed signalling

Karti Mayaram
Simulation, modeling, and design of analog/RF CMOS circuits

Arun Natarajan
mm-wave and sub-mmwave integrated circuits and systems for high-speed wireless communication and imaging

Andreas Weisshaar
Computer-aided design of passive RF & microwave circuits and components; embedded passives; interconnects and electronic packaging; signal integrity

Terri Fiez
Analog/mixed-signal integrated circuit design and data converters

Huaping Liu
Performance analysis of MIMO systems; ultra-wideband technologies; channel modeling; coding and adaptive power control; low-power wireless sensor system design; capacity studies for CDMA systems with multimedia traffic

Un-Ku Moon
Low-voltage and high-performance analog CMOS integrated circuits; data converters; filters; PLLs; timing recovery

Gabor Temes
Data converters; switched-capacitor circuits; analog and mixed-mode integrated circuits

Research Facilities

Collaborative Research in Microelectronics (CRiME) Laboratory

The Collaborative Research in Microelectronics (CRiME) Laboratory is a fully equipped laboratory at Oregon State University for Communications/RF/mixed-signal research. It is housed in a 1,000 square feet facility. This laboratory is shared among faculty working in the simulation and design of RF/analog mixed-signal communication circuits and systems. The lab has a characterization facility that consists of computer-controlled instrumentation including DC to RF cascade probe stations, device characterization equipment (semiconductor parameter analyzer), mixed-signal circuit characterization equipment (oscilloscopes, RF signal sources, data acquisition, arbitrary waveform generator, logic analyzer), RF devices and circuit characterization equipment (26 GHz spectrum analyzer, 20 GHz network analyzer), and communications test equipment capable of generating almost all digital baseband and RF modulation schemes and performing bit-error-rate and communication channel measurements up to 26GHz. Additionally, the lab is equipped with a set of DSP development boards and core modules, microprocessor development boards and core modules, and a number of radio modules and antennas. All graduate students working in the mixed-signal and communication system area have Sun workstations at their desks. These facilities are sufficient for the faculty and students to fulfill the desired circuit and system-level research tasks.