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Lixue Kuang

Biography

Enrollment Date: 2009

Graduation Date：2015

Degree：Ph.D.

Defense Date：2014.12.26

Advisors：Zhihua Wang Baoyong Chi

Department：Institute of Microelectronics，Tsinghua University

Title of Dissertation/Thesis：Research on Key Techniques of CMOS Mm-wave High Data-Rate Wireless Transceivers

Abstract:
Along with the rapid progress of wireless communication techniques, the traditional spectrum that is allocated for wireless communication becomes more and more congested, while the demands of high data-rate wireless link remains growing. Compared to main stream wireless communications, there are three intrinsic advantages with the wireless communication in 60-GHz bands: low interference, small devices, and high data-rate. Furthermore, the CMOS technology scaling is a strong guarantee for the low-cost and widespread use of 60-GHz wireless transceivers in the future. In this dissertation, the key techniques of 60-GHz CMOS high data-rate wireless transceivers chip are studied. This dissertation proposes a co-design technique of the millimeter-wave (mm-wave) on-chip transmit/receive (T/R) switch and the low noise amplifier (LNA) / power amplifier (PA). With the co-design technique, the effects of insertion loss that introduced by the T/R switch could be minimized, and the matching bandwidth of the front-end could be extended. With the T/R switch integrated on chip, the number of antennas could be reduced, thus reducing the system size and lower the total cost. This dissertation proposes a dual-mode PA structure based on the stacked-transistor technique, and has implemented the first 60-GHz dual-mode PA in bulk CMOS that employs the stacked-transistor technique. The measured results show that in the high-power (HP) mode, the PA achieves a peak power-added efficiency (PAE) over 20%, and a 1-dB output power higher than 10 dBm. In the low-power (LP) mode, the saturated output power of the PA is higher than 10 dBm. The PAE at 10-dBm output power is improved by 2.8x (10.6% versus 3.8%) by utilizing the LP mode compared with the HP-mode-only PA. In this dissertation, multiple bandwidth-extension techniques for mm-wave high data-rate wireless transceivers are studied, including the high-order LC network wideband impedance matching technique, distributed amplifier technique, π-network inter-stage coupling. These techniques are modified to be utilized in the design of wideband transmitter/receiver (TX/RX) link and wider than 5.0-GHz TX/RX link bandwidth has been achieved. Based on the above techniques, two 60-GHz transceivers are implemented in 65nm CMOS. The first transceiver is fully-integrated, including on-chip T/R switch, mm-wave front-end modules, programmable-gain amplifier, fully-differential phase-locked loop frequency synthesizer, and QPSK modulator/demodulator. The transceiver achieves a 5-Gb/s QPSK transmission with comparatively low power dissipation. The second one is a four-channel transceiver based on IEEE 802.11ad. A dual-mode power amplifier and a high-linearity transmit/receive switch are integrated, and the transceiver supports four-channel switching. Besides, the power dissipation is lowered, and the chip area is also reduced compared to the first transceiver.

Publications

Papers：：

[1] Baoyong Chi,Zheng Song,Haikun Jia,Lixue Kuang,Jianfu Lin,Zhihua Wang, CMOS circuit techniques for mm-wave communications, IWS 2018, pp. 1 - 3, 2018.

[2] Zhiping Wang,Lixue Kuang,Lei Chen,Baoyong Chi, A 38.4- to 43.4-GHz CMOS Voltage Controlled Oscillator, Microelectronics, Vol.46, No.3, pp. 375 - 378, 2016.

[3] Baoyong Chi,Zheng Song,Lixue Kuang,Haikun Jia,Xiangyu Meng,Zhihua Wang, CMOS mm-wave transceivers for Gbps wireless communication, Journal of Semiconductors, No.7, pp. 5 - 15, 2016.

[4] Haikun Jia,Baoyong Chi,Lixue Kuang,Zhihua Wang, A Simple and Robust Self-Healing Technique for Millimeter-Wave Amplifiers, IET Circuits, Devices & Systems, Vol.10, No.1, pp. 37 - 43, 2016.

[5] Haikun Jia,Lixue Kuang,Zhihua Wang,Baoyong Chi, A W-Band Injection-Locked Frequency Doubler Based on Top-Injected Coupled Resonator, IEEE Transactions on Microwave Theory and Techniques, Vol.64, No.1, pp. 210 - 218, 2016.

[6] Haikun Jia,Lixue Kuang,Wei Zhu,Zhiping Wang,Feng Ma,Zhihua Wang,Baoyong Chi, A 77 GHz Frequency Doubling Two-Path Phased-Array FMCW Transceiver for Automotive Radar, IEEE Journal of Solid-State Circuits, Vol.51, No.10, pp. 2299 - 2311, 2016.

[7] Haikun Jia,Baoyong Chi,Lixue Kuang,Zhihua Wang, A W-Band Power Amplifier Utilizing a Miniaturized Marchand Balun Combiner, IEEE Transactions on Microwave Theory and Techniques, Vol.63, No.2, pp. 719 - 725, 2015.

[8] Haikun Jia,Baoyong Chi,Lixue Kuang,Zhihua Wang, A 47.6-to-71.0 GHz 65-nm CMOS VCO Based on Magnetically Coupled pi-Type LC Network, IEEE Transactions on Microwave Theory and Techniques, Vol.63, No.5, pp. 1645 - 1657, 2015.

[9] Lixue Kuang,Baoyong Chi,Haikun Jia,Wen Jia,Zhihua Wang, A 60-GHz CMOS dual-mode power amplifier with efficiency enhancement at low output power, IEEE Transactions on Circuits and Systems II: Express Briefs, Vol.62, No.4, pp. 352 - 356, 2015.

[10] Haikun Jia,Baoyong Chi,Lixue Kuang,Xiaobao Yu,Lei Chen,Wei Zhu,Meng Wei,Zheng Song,Zhihua Wang, Research on CMOS Mm-Wave Circuits and Systems for Wireless Communications, China Communications, Vol.12, No.5, pp. 1 - 13, 2015.

[11] Lixue Kuang,Baoyong Chi,Lei Chen,Wen Jia,Zhihua Wang, A fully-differential phase-locked loop frequency synthesizer for 60-GHz wireless communication, Journal of Semiconductors, Vol.35, No.12, pp. 125002-1-6, 2014.

[12] Wei Zhu,Baoyong Chi,Lixue Kuang,Wen Jia,Zhihua Wang, An inductorless CMOS programmable-gain amplifier with a > 3 GHz bandwidth for 60 GHz wireless transceivers, Journal of Semiconductors, Vol.35, No.10, pp. 105001-1-6, 2014.

[13] Haikun Jia,Baoyong Chi,Lixue Kuang,Zhihua Wang, A 77 GHz FMCW radar transmitter with reconfigurable power amplifier in 65 nm CMOS, Microelectronics Journal, Vol.45, No.7, pp. 898 - 903, 2014.

[14] Lixue Kuang,Xiaobao Yu,Haikun Jia,Lei Chen,Wei Zhu,Meng Wei,Zheng Song,Zhihua Wang,Baoyong Chi, A fully-integrated 60-GHz 5-Gb/s QPSK transceiver with T/R switch in 65-nm CMOS, IEEE Transactions on Microwave Theory and Techniques, Vol.62, No.12, pp. 3131 - 3145, 2014.

[15] Lixue Kuang,Baoyong Chi,Haikun Jia,Zuochang Ye,Wen Jia,Zhihua Wang, Co-Design of 60-GHz Wideband Front-End IC With On-Chip T/R Switch Based on Passive Macro-Modeling, IEEE Transactions on Microwave Theory and Techniques, Vol.62, No.11, pp. 2743 - 2754, 2014.

[16] Haikun Jia,Baoyong Chi,Lixue Kuang,Zhihua Wang, A 38- to 40-GHz Current-Reused Active Phase Shifter Based on the Coupled Resonator, IEEE Transactions on Circuits and Systems II: Express Briefs, Vol.61, No.12, pp. 917 - 921, 2014.

[17] Xiangyu Meng,Baoyong Chi,Haikun Jia,Lixue Kuang,Zhihua Wang, 142 GHz amplifier with 18.5 dB gain and 7.9 mW DC power in 65 nm CMOS, Electronics Letters, Vol.50, No.21, pp. 1513 - 1514, 2014.

[18] Xiangyu Meng,Baoyong Chi,Haikun Jia,Lixue Kuang,Wen Jia,Zhihua Wang, A wideband on-chip millimeter-wave patch antenna in 0.18 μm CMOS, Journal of Semiconductors, Vol.34, No.10, pp. 105010-1 - 105010-5, 2013.

[19] Lixue Kuang,Baoyong Chi,Haikun Jia,Zuochang Ye,Wen Jia,Zhihua Wang, Co-design of 60GHz wideband front-end IC with on-chip Tx/Rx switch based on passive macro-modeling, RFIC 2013, pp. 93 - 96, 2013.

[20] Haikun Jia,Baoyong Chi,Lixue Kuang,Zhihua Wang, A Self-Healing mm-Wave Amplifier Using Digital Controlled Artificial Dielectric Transmission Lines, A-SSCC 2013, pp. 425 - 428, 2013.

[21] Lixue Kuang,Baoyong Chi,Lei Chen,Meng Wei,Xiaobao Yu,Zhihua Wang, An Integrated 60GHz 5Gb/s QPSK Transmitter with On-Chip T/R Switch and Fully-Differential PLL Frequency Synthesizer in 65nm CMOS, A-SSCC 2013, pp. 413 - 416, 2013.

[22] Haikun Jia,Baoyong Chi,Lixue Kuang,Zhihua Wang, A resonant-mode switchable VCO with 47.6–71.0 GHz tuning range based on π-type LC network, A-SSCC 2013, pp. 321 - 324, 2013.

[23] Haikun Jia,Baoyong Chi,Lixue Kuang,Zhihua Wang, A 1 V, 69–73 GHz CMOS power amplifier based on improved Wilkinson power combiner, Microelectronics Journal, Vol.43, No.6, pp. 370 - 376, 2012.

[24] Lei Chen,Siyang Han,Lixue Kuang, 40GHz, 12% tuning-range, fully differential low phase-noise LC VCO, ICSICT 2012, pp. 1 - 3, 2012.