Characterization and modelling of microwave devices and circuits

The research group has well-consolidated expertise in the field of microwave device and circuit characterization, supported by a Microwave Lab. The availability of RF and microwave on-wafer measurement systems able to give all possible information on the devices under consideration is mandatory for circuit and system design. Large breakdown voltage devices, such as GaN, deliver larger output power, and the test set-ups must be properly designed for high power handling. The now common use of wideband complex modulations introduce issues concerning the measurement of RF and microwave performances, the adjacent channel power ratio, and the realization of wide band variable loads. Moreover, the relatively recent spread of differential devices in handsets and base stations, has triggered the need for non-linear multiport characterization, which is beyond the current state-of-art, and seen as the next frontier in large signal microwave measurements.  On the basis of wafer-level characterizations carried out up to 18 GHz (power load-pull measurements) and up to 40 GHz (two-port measurements) and to ?? GHz (one-port measurements), circuit-oriented models based on black-box approaches (behavioral models) or equivalent circuit approaches (small- and large-signal) are developed to assist the circuit- and system-level CAD.

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ERC Sector:

  • PE7_3 Simulation engineering and modelling
  • PE7_5 (Micro and nano) electronic, optoelectronic and photonic components
  • PE7_6 Communication technology, high-frequency technology

Keywords:

  • Microwave measurement
  • Semiconductor device modeling
  • load-pull systems
  • on-wafer microwave measurements

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