On-Chip Stimulus Generator for Gain, Linearity, and Blocking Profile Test of Wideband RF Front Ends
2010 (English)In: IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INSTRUMENTATION AND MEASUREMENT, ISSN 0018-9456, Vol. 59, no 11, p. 2870-2876Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]
This paper presents the design and measurement of a stimulus generator suitable for on-chip RF test aimed at gain, 1-dB compression point (CP), and the blocking profile measurement. Implemented in a 90-nm complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS), the generator consists of two low-noise voltage-controlled ring oscillators (VCOs) and an adder. It can generate a single-or two-tone signal in a range of 0.9-5.6 GHz with a tone spacing of 3 MHz to 4.5 GHz and adjustable output power. The VCOs are based on symmetrically loaded double-differential delay line architecture. The measured phase noise is -80 dBc/Hz at an offset frequency of 1 MHz for the oscillation frequency of 2.4 GHz. A single VCO consumes 26 mW at 1 GHz while providing -10-dBm power into a 50-Omega load. The silicon area of the complete test circuit including coupling capacitors is only 0.03 mm(2), while a single VCO occupies 0.012 mm(2). The measured gain, 1-dB CP, and blocking profile of the wideband receiver using the on-chip stimulus generator are within +/- 8%, +/- 10%, and +/- 18% of their actual values, respectively. These error values are acceptable for making a pass or fail decision during production testing.
Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
IEEE Institute of Electrical and Electronics , 2010. Vol. 59, no 11, p. 2870-2876
Keywords [en]
On-chip RF testing, RF design for testability (DfT), RF test, stimulus generator, voltage-controlled oscillator (VCO)
National Category
Engineering and Technology
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:liu:diva-61314DOI: 10.1109/TIM.2009.2036454ISI: 000283440200011OAI: oai:DiVA.org:liu-61314DiVA, id: diva2:369814
Note
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Rashad Ramzan, Naveed Ahsan and Jerzy Dabrowski, On-Chip Stimulus Generator for Gain, Linearity, and Blocking Profile Test of Wideband RF Front Ends, 2010, IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INSTRUMENTATION AND MEASUREMENT, (59), 11, 2870-2876.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1109/TIM.2009.2036454
2010-11-122010-11-122010-11-16