Sharif Digital Repository

This paper presents a broad-band bandpass filter (BPF) designed as a channel-select filter for wireless applications. It is implemented as a low-pass filter (LPF) in series with a high-pass filter (HPF) for lower power consumption compared to true BPF. Semiscaling of the filter nodes is superior in the wireless receiver over traditional full scaling. The HPF is built with low-pass feedback of an amplifier. The bandwidth is selectable from 625 kHz, 2.5 MHz, or 10 MHz. The filter stopband loss is more than 50 dB extending beyond 100 MHz, and passband ripple less than 2.5 dB. Fabricated in a 0.6-μm CMOS process, it provides a minimum input noise of 16 nV/√Hz noise with 22.5-dBm out-of-band... 

With the emerging nanoscale CMOS technology, Multiple Event Transients (METs) originated from radiation strikes are expected to become more frequent than Single Event Transients (SETs). In this paper, a fast and accurate layout- based Soft Error Rate (SER) estimation technique with consideration of both SET and MET fault models is pro- posed. Unlike previous techniques in which the adjacent MET sites are obtained from logic-level netlist, we perform a comprehensive layout analysis to extract MET adjacent cells. It is shown that layout-based technique is the only effective solution for identification of adjacent cells as netlist-based techniques significantly underestimate the overall SER.... 

Cell search is a crucial process in the synchronization procedure for the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) Long Term Evolution (LTE) system. In this paper, a high-speed, low-complexity and reliable architecture is proposed for both steps of cell search: sector ID and cell ID group detection. For the sector ID detection, two novel methods, sign-bit reduction and wise resource sharing, are proposed. In addition, for the cell ID group detection, we proposed an algorithm based on the Maximum Likelihood Sequence Detection (MLSD) called 'sign-bit MLSD'. Simulations show that the proposed methods result in more than 90% reduction in area compared to the state-of-the-art. We designed and... 

A new low-power current reuse topology is proposed for the GPS receiver's RF front-end that combines the higher conversion gain and suppressed noise figure characteristics of cascade structures with the low power consumption of stacked architectures. The presented circuit, called 1.5-stage LMV cell, consists of LNA, Mixer and VCO (LMV) in such a formation that boosts LNA gain and suppresses mixer's noise figure by cascading the two stages while reusing their currents in the two stacked quadrature VCOs and placing the mixer's upper tree switches at the vicinity of on-off regions. The circuit is designed and its layout is generated in TSMC 0.18μm CMOS technology. Post-layout simulations using... 

New techniques for Class-AB Operational Transconductance Amplifiers (OTAs) are presented. These new techniques are two topologies based on current boosting in class-AB stage which achieve considerable improvement of Slew Rate and Gain-Bandwidth while maintaining the same power consumption as the conventional design. Circuit level analysis and simulation results of proposed circuits in 0.18μm CMOS technology for gain, GBW, slew rate, and settling time are presented to prove the effectiveness of the proposed design method  

Downscaling trend in CMOS technology on the one hand and reducing supply voltage of the circuits on the other hand, make devices more susceptive to soft errors such as SEU. Latch circuits are prone to be affected by SEUs. In this article, we propose a new circuit design of latch using redundancy with the aim of immunity against SEUs. According to simulation results, our design not only guaranties full immunity, but also has the advantage of occupying less area and consuming much less power and performance penalty in comparison with other SEU immune latches. The simulation results show that our solution has 65.76% reduction in power and about 50.65% reduction in propagation delay in... 

In nano-scaled CMOS technology, the reduction of soft error rate and leakage current are the most important challenges in designing Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGA). To overcome these challenges, based on the observations that most configuration bit-streams of FPGA are zeros across different designs and that configuration memory cells are not directly involved with signal propagation delays in FPGA, this paper presents three new low-leakage and hardened configuration memory cells for nano-scaled CMOS technology. These cells are completely hardened when zeros are stored in the cells and cannot flip from particle strikes at the sensitive cell nodes. These cells retain their data with... 

This paper presents the design of a 6-bit active digital phase shifter in 0.18-μm CMOS technology. The active phase shifter synthesizes the required phase using a phase interpolation process by adding quadrature phased input signals. It uses a new quadrature all-pass filter for quadrature signaling with a wide bandwidth and low phase error. The phase shifter has simulated RMS phase error of <0.85° at 2.4-5 GHz. The average voltage gain ranges from 1.7 dB at 2.4GHz to -0.14 dB at 5 GHz. Input P1 dB is typically 1.3±0.9 dBm at 3.5 GHz for overall phase states  

Advance Encryption Standard (AES), has received significant interest over the past decade due to its performance and security level. In this paper, we propose a compact 8-bit AES crypto-processor for area constrained and low power applications where both encryption and decryption is needed. The cycle count of the design is the least among previously reported 8-bit AES architectures and the throughput is 203 Mbps. The AES core consumes 5.6k gates in 0.18 μm standard-cell CMOS technology. The power consumption of the core is 49 μW/MHz at 128 MHz which is the minimum power reported thus far  

This paper presents the design and implementation of a low power, low voltage, continuous time delta sigma modulator for audio band in 90 nm CMOS technology. A VCO-based integrator and quantizer are used. Inherent dynamic element matching (DEM) of the quantizer eliminates the need for explicit DEM logic which results in a short excess-delay and power saving. Simulation results show that the modulator achieves 78 dB SNDR and 87 dB SNR in a 20 kHz input bandwidth and dissipates 106 μW from 1 V supply. The power consumption for different parts is discussed  

A recent computational result suggests that highly confined modes can be realized by all-dielectric metamaterials. This substantially decreases crosstalk between dielectric waveguides, paving the way for high-density photonic circuits. Here, we experimentally demonstrate, on a standard silicon-on-insulator platform, that using a simple metamaterial between two silicon strip waveguides results in about a tenfold increase in coupling length. The proposed structure may lead to significant reduction in the size of devices in silicon photonics  

This paper used a 4-level frequency shift keying (4-FSK) modulation scheme to enhance the density of wireless data transfer from implantable biomedical microsystems to the outside world. Modeling and simulation of the wireless channel for 4-FSK modulation in the case of a neural recording implant has been done. To realize the 4-FSK scheme, the modulator and demodulator circuits are proposed, designed and simulated in a 0.18-μm CMOS process, and in the 174-216 MHz frequency band at a data rate of 13.5 Mbps. Operated using a 1.8 V supply voltage, the modulator circuit consumes a power of 7.8 μW  

Reduction of Time to Digital Converter (TDC) quantization related phase noise is one of the most important challenges in all digital frequency synthesizer design. In this paper, a new structure is proposed to shape the quantization noise of flash TDCs. To verify effectiveness of the proposed general noise shaping technique, it is employed on a single delay chain flash TDC. To compensate the process variation effects on the implemented circuits, a calibration technique is also proposed. The design is implemented in 0.18μm CMOS technology. Simulations show effective noise shaping of output quantization noise  

In this paper, a new method to achieve very small current reference levels on integrated circuits with immunity to temperature variations using peaking current source with MOSFETs operating in subthreshold region is proposed. By adding a source degeneration resistor to the conventional peaking current source architecture, a zero temperature coefficient current can be generated. The proposed low-power circuit operating in the weak inversion region is designed, simulated, and fabricated in a 0.18-μm standard CMOS process. Measurement results verify the circuit operation with about 5% variation over the span of -40° C to +100° C (industrial temperature grade). The supplied current is designed... 

In this paper the design of a digital step attenuator with simultaneous low phase and gain error characteristics is investigated. First, the loading effect of the consecutive blocks of an N-bit attenuator on the precision of the attenuation levels is analyzed. Then a modified structure to decrease the loading effect as well as the phase error of the attenuator blocks is presented. A comprehensive analysis of the circuit is performed and some design guidelines have described. Finally, a 6-bit attenuator with attenuation range of 0.5–31.5 dB and resolution of 0.5 dB is implemented in 0.18 µm complementary metal–oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) technology. The root mean square (RMS) gain error and... 

This paper presents the design and implementation of a bidirectional distributed amplifier (BDDA) in a 0.18- boldsymbol mu ext{m} CMOS process. The performance of the BDDA is theoretically analyzed, and the optimum number of gain stages ( n-{ ext {opt}} ), maximum achievable power gain ( G-{P} ), and circuit bandwidth are formulated. In addition, a new formula for proper choice of the number of DA stages (i.e., n ) is offered where dc-power consumption of the circuit ( P-{ ext {dc}} ) is also considered. This formula optimizes G-{P}/P-{ ext {dc}} , and it is preferred over the conventional n-{ ext {opt}} formula. To validate the theoretical analyses, a 2-12-GHz BDDA with high output 1-dB... 

A wideband integrated delay chain chip with 5-bit main delay control, two error correction bits, maximum delay of 125-and 3.9-ps delay resolution, designed and fabricated in a 0.18-μ m CMOS technology is presented. This delay chain is a cascade of seven passive internal-switched delay blocks which the five main bits are based on novel delay structures. The proposed delay structures are similar to second-, fourth-, and sixth-order all-pass networks and are robust to mismatch effects of resistive parasitics of transistor switches. Measurement results of the fabricated delay chain show 15.2-23.3-dB insertion loss and less than 3.3-ps rms delay error over the intended frequency band from 8-18... 

A wideband integrated delay chain chip with 5-bit main delay control, two error correction bits, maximum delay of 125-and 3.9-ps delay resolution, designed and fabricated in a 0.18-μ m CMOS technology is presented. This delay chain is a cascade of seven passive internal-switched delay blocks which the five main bits are based on novel delay structures. The proposed delay structures are similar to second-, fourth-, and sixth-order all-pass networks and are robust to mismatch effects of resistive parasitics of transistor switches. Measurement results of the fabricated delay chain show 15.2-23.3-dB insertion loss and less than 3.3-ps rms delay error over the intended frequency band from 8-18... 

A novel trombone topology has been introduced for achieving controllable true time delay. The prominent aspect of the proposed topology is the ability to provide discrete variable delay with minimum insertion loss variation with delay settings. Furthermore, the effects of source impedance, output load, and line-terminating loads' impedance mismatch on group delay variation are theoretically investigated for the proposed trombone topology. Moreover, based on this new topology, a prototype trombone delay circuit has been designed and fabricated in 0.18- mu ext{m} CMOS technology, operating over the frequency bandwidth of 8-18 GHz. This 3-bit delay integrated circuit provides a maximum delay... 

To help overcome limits to the density and speed of conventional SRAMs, we have developed a five-transistor SRAM cell. The newly developed CMOS five-transistor SRAM cell uses one word-line and one bit-line during read/write operation. This cell retains its data with leakage current and positive feedback without refresh cycle. The new cell size is 18% smaller than a conventional six-transistor SRAM cell using same design rules. Simulation result in standard 0.25μm CMOS technology shows purposed cell has correct operation during read/write and idle mode. The average delay of new cell is 20% smaller than a six-transistor SRAM cell. © 2008 IEEE