Presentation:
RF Circuit Reconfiguration Using Phase-Change Switches
Professor Jeyanandh Paramesh, Carnegie-Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA.
Abstract
With the burgeoning number of wireless standards occupying
increasingly scarce spectrum, there is an urgent need to
develop agile, wideband, interference-robust transceivers.
The long-sought goal of such a "universally software
reconfigurable" radio remains unfulfilled due to the lack
of a CMOS-compatible RF switch of sufficiently high quality.
Recently, a new class of reconfigurable RF circuits has emerged
based on a new CMOS-compatible RF switch that uses "phase-change
(PC)" materials. These materials can be reversibly transformed
between low and high resistance states, have low parasitic
capacitance. PC-based RF switches can therefore serve as a
"more-than-Moore" element that can augment the capabilities
of standard CMOS since they can be fabricated in the back-end
of line of such technologies.
This talk describes recent advances in RF circuit reconfiguration
using PC switches. A background into material choices and
switch design considerations is provided, and is followed
by a description of the design, fabrication and characterization
of several CMOS+PC demonstration circuits that showcase
this approach for RF reconfiguration.
Biography
Jeyanandh Paramesh received the B. Tech degree from IIT,
Madras, the M.S degree from Oregon State University and the
Ph.D. degrees from the University of Washington, Seattle,
all in Electrical Engineering. He is currently Associate
Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at
Carnegie Mellon University. He previously held product
development and research positions with AKM Semiconductor
(Analog Devices), Motorola and Intel. He has served on as
Associate Editor for TCAS-II and on the RFIC Symposium
(2012-present) and VLSI Circuit Symposium (2011-2015)
technical program committees. His research broadly addresses
design and technological challenges related to RF and
mixed-signal integrated circuits and systems for emerging
applications.