2022 |
Matthus, Christian D.; Ellinger, Frank Chopping for over 50 MHz gain-bandwidth product current sense amplifiers achieving input noise level of 8.5 nV/√Hz Journal Article In: International Journal of Circuit Theory and Applications, 2022. @article{https://doi.org/10.1002/cta.3402,Abstract An accurate, high-speed, fully differential difference amplifier for current sensing utilizing the chopper approach was implemented in a 0.18 μm complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) technology. Unlike state-of-the-art solutions, we use a higher chopping frequency in the MHz range due to the bandwidth requirements of the introduced circuits for the latter application, namely, low-side phase-current measurement in motor control circuits. Except the low-pass filter (LPF) effect of the output stage, no additional LPF was integrated in hardware at the output of the circuits. We show that on the other hand a digital LPF, which can be integrated in the field-programmable gate-array (FPGA) logic or microcontroller used for the motor control, offers a higher flexibility in terms of filter design. Weak input signals of only few mV can be reconstructed with a high accuracy. This is demonstrated for a 500 kHz rectangular signal and a chopping frequency of 20 MHz. Note that an input-signal frequency of several hundreds of kHz with harmonics in the MHz region is very challenging for chopper amplifiers. Still, a significant decrease of the input-referred noise is demonstrated, especially cancelling out the 1/f-noise achieving a remaining noise floor of approximately 8.5 nV/√Hz. Overall, the input-referred noise level can be pushed far below 50 μV (root mean square). Moreover, using a quite relaxed second-order Butterworth filter with a 3 dB corner frequency of 1 MHz, input-referred noise levels of 10 μV (root mean square) can be easily achieved at the costs of reduced bandwidth. The lowest achieved input offset is 50 μV. The gain is adjusted by resistive feedback and is approximately 40 dB. Hence, the amplifier is suitable for current sensing in motor control circuits, and a significant reduction of the shunt resistance typically used for this purpose will be possible. |
Corsino, Dianne; Catania, Federica; Ishida, Koichi; Meister, Tilo; Ellinger, Frank; Cantarella, Giuseppe; Münzenrieder, Niko Monolithic Integration, Performance, and Comparison of Self-Aligned and Conventional IGZO Thin-Film Transistors on a Flexible Substrate Journal Article In: IEEE Journal on Flexible Electronics, vol. 1, no. 3, pp. 159-166, 2022, ISSN: 2768-167X. @article{9904604,Flexible electronics, most prominently thin-film transistors (TFTs) on plastic substrates, are considered the prime building block for the realization of innovative wearable systems. Two of the currently most successful fabrication processes of transistors on free-standing polymer foils are large-area-compatible devices structured by conventional UV lithography and high-speed transistors realized by self-alignment. Here, both processes, based on InGaZnO (IGZO) technology, are combined for the first time. This not only demonstrates their compatibility, but also showcases the differences between the resulting devices. Concerning the geometry, TFTs with the same nominal designed channel length of 1.5μm exhibit a real channel length of 1.5μm (self-aligned) and 4.5μm (conventional). Furthermore, the integrated side-by-side fabrication enables the electrical comparison of both types of TFTs excluding external factors. While all TFTs exhibit similar threshold voltages around $mathrm 0 V$ and excellent on/off ratios of $approx mathrm e10 $ , conventional TFTs are easier to fabricate and have comparably higher mobilities up to 16cm2V−1s−1. At the same time, self-aligned TFTs demonstrate better ac performance, demonstrating a maximum oscillation frequency of 216 MHz. This integration shows new possibilities for the realization of complex systems made from building blocks optimized for reliability and speed. |
Meister, Tilo; Ishida, Koichi; Carta, Corrado; Münzenrieder, Niko; Ellinger, Frank Flexible Electronics for Wireless Communication: A Technology and Circuit Design Review With an Application Example Journal Article In: IEEE Microwave Magazine, vol. 23, no. 4, pp. 24-44, 2022, ISSN: 1557-9581. @article{9724627,There is a practical gap between conventional rigid electronics and bendable items from daily life, such as paper, tape, textiles, and the human body. This space can be bridged by flexible transistor technologies, which typically offer bendability, a light weight, ultrathin dimensions, transparency, some stretchability, suitability for large areas, and a low cost. Thanks to the continuous increase of the maximal operation frequency of flexible electronics, wireless communication is becoming one of the promising enablers for many new applications and is widely studied. For a long time, electronics have advanced in terms of speed, power consumption, integration density, and cost. In particular, reductions in feature sizes, which lead to improvements in integration density, are expected to keep slowing down, e.g. due to thermal noise constraints. This trend has long been predicted, and it has motivated the investigation of multiple alternative electronic technologies, including mechanically flexible ones. |
2021 |
Cantarella, G; Münzenrieder, N; Petti, L; Ishida, K; Meister, T; Carta, C; Ellinger, F; Hopf, R Mechanical and Electrical Design Strategies for Flexible InGaZnO Circuits Inproceedings In: Mixed Design of Integrated Circuits and Systems (MIXDES), 28th International Conference, 2021. @inproceedings{Cantarella2021,Thin-film transistors (TFTs) and circuits based on oxide semiconductors fabricated on flexible plastic foils and stretchable substrates are reported. Reliable fabrication protocols, using InGaZnO as n-type semiconductor, in combination with different design strategies, aiming at the improvement of both the electrical performance and the mechanical stability of such electronics, are discussed. First, simulation models are used to guide the fabrication of operational amplifiers and logic circuits on flexible polyimide foil, using an additional third metal layer for the interconnections. Thanks to the reduced parasitic resistances and capacitances, the resulting circuits have yielded improved electrical performances with respect to a two-metals architecture. In particular, an increase of 5.7% of the Gain-Bandwidth-Product (GBWP) for operational amplifiers, and an average reduction of 22% of the rise times, fall times and propagation delays for digital circuits, were achieved. In parallel, Finite-Element Modeling (FEM) has supported the design of engineered stretchable substrates shaped with pillar (or mesa) structures. The reduction of the strain experienced by the electronics, located on the mesa surfaces, during stretching, bending, and twisting, resulted in highly flexible digital circuits with functionality up to 20% elongation. |
2020 |
Münzenrieder, N.; Petti, L.; Cantarella, G.; Costa, J.; Meister, T.; Ishida, K.; Carta, C.; Ellinger, F. Tools and strategies to optimize the electrical and mechanical properties of flexible IGZO TFTs Inproceedings In: 2020. @inproceedings{MU2020, |
Meister, Tilo; Ishida, Koichi; Sou, Antony; Carta, Corrado; Ellinger, Frank 3.93 MHz / 328 μW Dynamic Frequency Divider in Flexible a-IGZO TFT Technology Journal Article In: IEEE Solid-State Circuits Letters, pp. 1-1, 2020, ISSN: 2573-9603. @article{9136723,The implementation of a dynamic frequency divider in a fully-flexible amorphous Indium-Gallium-Zinc-Oxide (a-IGZO) thin-film transistor (TFT) technology on a sub-15μm polyimide substrate is presented. This frequency divider is regenerative and is also known as a Miller divider. In this work, it is implemented using only a Gilbert cell with minimum-size LO transistors. Including the bias network, it has only 8 transistors. Using a 6 V supply voltage, it operates up to 3.93 MHz, consumes 328 μW, and has a speed over power figure-of-merit (FOM) of 12.0 MHz/mW. To the best knowledge of the authors, this FOM is the highest reported for circuits in this class of flexible TFT technologies. |
Cantarella, Giuseppe; Costa, Julio; Meister, Tilo; Ishida, Koichi; Carta, Corrado; Ellinger, Frank; Lugli, Paolo; Münzenrieder, Niko; Petti, Luisa Review of recent trends in flexible metal oxide thin-film transistors for analog applications Journal Article In: Flexible and Printed Electronics, vol. 5, no. 3, pp. 033001, 2020. @article{Cantarella_2020,Thanks to the extraordinary advances flexible electronics have experienced over the last decades, applications such as conformable active-matrix displays, ubiquitously integrated disposable flexible sensor nodes, wearable or textile-integrated systems, as well as imperceptible and transient implants are now reachable. To enable these applications, specialized analog circuits able to transmit and receive data, condition sensors’ parameters, drive actuators or control powering devices are required. High-performance sensor conditioning, driving and transceiver circuits on a wide range of flexible substrates are therefore extremely important to develop. However, the currently available materials and processes compatible with mechanically flexible substrates impose massive limitations in terms of large-area uniformity, device dimensions’ shrinkability and circuit design, challenging the realization of flexible analog systems. Among state-of-the-art technologies employing low-temperature fabrication processes, thin-film transistors (TFTs) based on metal oxide semiconductors represent the potentially best compromise in terms of prize, performance, technology maturity and capacity to realize complex systems. This is why metal oxide TFTs are nowadays widely used for flexible, light-weight, transparent, stretchable and bio-degradable analog circuits and systems. Here, we review the current trends of flexible metal oxide TFTs for analog applications. First, an introduction is given, where current challenges and requirements related to the realization of flexible analog circuits and systems are analysed. Additionally, TFT performance parameters and configurations are briefly revised. Then, the recent advances in the field of flexible metal oxide TFTs for analog applications are summarized. In particular, all reported approaches to reduce the channel length and improve the AC performance are shown. Next, the current state of flexible metal oxide TFT-based analog circuits is shown, discussing n-type only and complementary circuit configurations. The last topic of the review covers systems based on flexible metal oxide analog circuits. Finally, a conclusion is drawn and an outlook over the field is provided. |
Meister, Tilo; Ishida, Koichi; Sou, Antony; Carta, Corrado; Ellinger, Frank 49.35 MHz GBW and 33.43 MHz GBW amplifiers in flexible a-IGZO TFT technology Journal Article In: Electronics Letters, 2020, ISSN: 0013-5194. @article{10.1049el.2020.0813,The authors present the implementation of two amplifiers in a commercial flexible amorphous Indium Gallium Zinc Oxide (a-IGZO) thin-film transistor (TFT) technology: a Cherry Hooper (CH) amplifier and a 4-stage common source amplifier. The CH amplifier is designed as a pre-amplifier for wireless receivers. It is optimised for a high gain-bandwidth product (GBW). From a supply voltage of VDD=8 V it provides 19.4 dB gain and has a −3dB-bandwidth of 5.3 MHz, while consuming 0.2 mW. It has a GBW of 49.35 MHz, which is more than a factor two better than previously reported a-IGZO TFT amplifiers. The 4-stage common source amplifier is designed as output buffer, has a very wide range of operating conditions and strong robustness against manufacturing tolerances. From a supply voltage of VDD=8 V it provides 28.9 dB gain, has a −3dB-bandwidth of 1.2 MHz, and a GBW product of 33.43 MHz, while consuming 14.2 mW. Both circuits can operate from a supply voltage between 2.5 and 10 V. |
Münzenrieder, Niko; Shorubalko, Ivan; Petti, Luisa; Cantarella, Giuseppe; Shkodra, Bajramshahe; Meister, Tilo; Ishida, Koichi; Carta, Corrado; Ellinger, Frank; Tröster, Gerhard Focused ion beam milling for the fabrication of 160 nm channel length IGZO TFTs on flexible polymer substrates Journal Article In: Flexible and Printed Electronics, vol. 5, no. 1, pp. 015007, 2020. @article{Munzenrieder2020_FIB,The quest for short channel length transistors is an important challenge in the semiconductor industry. A similar trend is observed in the field of flexible electronics where sensor conditioning circuits and transceivers have to be realized on plastic foils. Here the use of a focused Ga+ ion beam (FIB) to structure the channel of a flexible InGaZnO-based thin-film transistor (TFT) is presented. The resulting flexible TFT exhibits a channel length of and an effective field effect mobility of 4 cm2 V−1 s−1. Furthermore, the optimized Ga+ beam milling does not damage the Al2O3 gate insulator underneath, leading to a gate leakage current of <. The extreme channel length demonstrates that focused ion beams can complement conventional fabrication approaches, overcoming current limitations imposed by flexible substrates. While the dimensions result in short channel effects and a drain conductance of limiting the DC applicability of the FIB TFT, the device also exhibits a high internal gain of . Consequently, a transit frequency of ≈ and a maximum frequency of oscillation of ≈ is measured for supply voltages . This shows that highly scaled flexible TFTs for analog circuits can be fabricated by ion beam milling. |
2019 |
Meister, T; Ishida, K; Knobelspies, S; Cantarella, G; Münzenrieder, N; Tröster, G; Carta, C; Ellinger, F 5-31-Hz 188-μW Light-Sensing Oscillator With Two Active Inductors Fully Integrated on Plastic Journal Article In: IEEE Journal of Solid-State Circuits, vol. 54, no. 8, pp. 2195-2206, 2019, ISSN: 0018-9200. @article{JSSC19_8721229,We present a low-power low-frequency oscillator that is fully integrated on a bendable plastic substrate using amorphous indium-gallium-zinc oxide (a-IGZO) thin-film transistors (TFTs). Its purpose is the duty cycling of components of a wireless sensor tag to realize power savings. In addition, the oscillator can directly be used as a light sensor. It oscillates between 5 Hz in the dark and 31 Hz under daylight, from a 5-V supply voltage. The measured light-sensitivity of the oscillation frequency is between 7.4 Hz/klx in the dark and around 1.7 Hz/klx in daylight. On average, the frequency of oscillation changes by 58 %/klx. The required power is 188 μ/W. The presented design is a combination of the inductance-capacitance cross-coupled oscillator structure and two single-transistor active inductors, which enable high gain at low power levels in a small chip area. We analyze the circuit and derive design guidelines for minimizing the oscillation frequency, circuit area, and power consumption. Finally, we report the measurements including jitter and deduce implications for the accuracy of light measurements. |
Münzenrieder, N; Costa, J; Petti, L; Cantarella, G; Meister, T; Ishida, K; Carta, C; Ellinger, F Design of bendable high-frequency circuits based on short-channel InGaZnO TFTs Inproceedings In: 2019 IEEE International Conference on Flexible and Printable Sensors and Systems (FLEPS), pp. 1-3, 2019. @inproceedings{8792264,A unique requirement of flexible electronic systems is the need to simultaneously optimize their electrical and mechanical performance. Amorphous InGaZnO thin-film transistors (TFTs) fabricated on free-standing large-area plastic substrates address this issue by providing a carrier mobility >10 cm 2 /Vs, and bendability down to radii as small as 25 μm. At the same time, limitations such as a constrained minimum lateral feature size, the lack of appropriate p-type materials, or the influence of strain have to be considered when designing circuits. Here, models describing the scaling and bending behavior of flexible InGaZnO TFTs, together with the design of strain insensitive circuits operating at megahertz frequencies are presented. |
Meister, Tilo Bendable Metal Oxide and Printed Electronics for High Frequency Wireless Communications Miscellaneous Transparent Conductive Oxides - Fundamentals and Applications (TCO 2019), University of Leipzig, Germany, Invited Talk, 2019. @misc{meine_TCO2019_InvitedTalk,Many daily-life objects are not rigid. We are surrounded by bendable, stretchable and foldable items everywhere. Examples are paper, tapes, our body, our skin and all kinds of textiles. In contrast to this, the electronics we use are mostly implemented on rigid substrates. This constitutes a big discrepancy between electronics and bendable daily-life items. In the recent years great progress has been made to develop flexible electronics and advance their performance. Where by flexibility we refer to mechanical flexibility, which can come in flavors of stretchability, foldability and, bendability. It can be combined with light weight, ultra-thinness, transparency, large area integration, biocompatibility and easy recyclability. All these properties can be achieved by modern TOLAE (thin film organic and large area electronics) technologies. The recent achievements in this field point towards fully integrated wireless communication systems on plastic or paper. Soon, in parallel the rapid scaling of silicon based electronics of the past decades will die due to thermal noise. This is the opportunity for the establishment of flexible systems with completely new features. Key capabilities of such systems will be their ability for wireless communication and an integrated durable power supply. However, for flexible systems with sufficiently high operation frequencies for wireless communications, the speed of flexible TOLAE devices and circuits still has to be massively increased and innovation regarding system and circuit architectures, component concepts, technologies and materials is required. The presentation focuses on those groups of materials and select key techniques that are prime candidates to enable wireless communication with flexible electronics. |
2018 |
Münzenrieder, N; Ishida, K; Meister, T; Cantarella, G; Petti, L; Carta, C; Ellinger, F; Tröster, G Flexible InGaZnO TFTs With fmax Above 300 MHz Journal Article In: IEEE Electron Device Letters, vol. 39, no. 9, pp. 1310-1313, 2018, ISSN: 0741-3106. @article{Munzenrieder_fmax300,In this letter, the AC performance and influence of bending on flexible IGZO thin-film transistors, exhibiting a maximum oscillation frequency (maximum power gain frequency)$f_textsf max$beyond 300 MHz, are presented. Self-alignment was used to realize TFTs with channel length down to 0.5$mu textm$. The layout of these TFTs was optimized for good AC performance. Besides the channel dimensions, this includes ground-signal-ground contact pads. The AC performance of these short channel devices was evaluated by measuring their two port scattering parameters. These measurements were used to extract the unity gain power frequency from the maximum stable gain and the unilateral gain. The two complimentary definitions result in$f_textsf max$values of (304 ± 12) and (398 ± 53) MHz, respectively. Furthermore, the transistor performance is not significantly altered by mechanical strain. Here,$f_textsf max$reduces by 3.6% when a TFT is bent to a tensile radius of 3.5 mm. |
Ellinger, Frank; Tzschoppe, Christoph; Fritsche, David; Stärke, Paul; Ishida, Koichi; Meister, Tilo Review of Fast, Efficient and Bendable Radio-Frequency Integrated Receivers for the Wireless Communication Systems of the Future Inproceedings In: 2018 IEEE-APS Topical Conference on Antennas and Propagation in Wireless Communications (APWC), pp. 766-768, 2018. @inproceedings{Ellinger2018ab,This paper focuses on the review of leading-edge integrated radio frequency (RF) receiver chips for the wireless communication systems of the future. A 190 GHz silicon germanium bipolar complementary metal oxide semiconductor (SiGe BiCMOS) transceiver chip with 47 dB gain and power consumption of only 122 mW is presented. Moreover, a 2.4 GHz SiGe BiCMOS receiver with aggressive duty cycling is discussed which can be operated with a power consumption down to 3 μW. Last but not least, a 20 MHz receiver with 15 dB gain is outlined which is fully integrated in a bendable plastic substrate and does not need any rigid components. |
Ellinger, F; Ishida, K; Meister, T; Boroujeni, B K; Barahona, M; Carta, C; Münzenrieder, N; Knobelspies, S; Salvatore, G A; Tröster, G; Schmidt, G C; Hübler, A C Bendable Printed and Thin-film Electronics for Wireless Communications Inproceedings In: Second URSI Atlantic Radio Science Meeting - 2018 (URSI AT-RASC), Gran Canaria, 28 May – 1 June 2018, 2018. @inproceedings{Ellinger_ATRASC2018,In this paper an overview of the recent progress of bendable ultra-thin and lightweight electronics for wearable wireless communication systems is given. This kind of electronics can be realized on a piece of plastic foil or paper and does not need any standard rigid chips. The focus will be on organic, printed and thin-film electronics and addresses the following components: thin-film transistors (TFTs) with transit frequency (ft) up to 135 MHz, roll to roll (R2R) printed organic field effect transistors (OFETs) with ft beyond 50 kHz, an OFET-based R2R printed audio amplifier, active TFT-based wireless transmitters and receivers up to 20 MHz, and R2R printed passive radio frequency identification (RFID) tags in the GHz range. |
2017 |
Ishida, K; Meister, T; Knobelspies, S; Münzenrieder, N; Cantarella, G; Salvatore, G A; Tröster, G; Carta, C; Ellinger, F 3–5 V, 3–3.8 MHz OOK modulator with a-IGZO TFTs for flexible wireless transmitter Inproceedings In: 2017 IEEE International Conference on Microwaves, Antennas, Communications and Electronic Systems (COMCAS), pp. 1-4, 2017. @inproceedings{Ishida2017_OOKModulator,This paper presents an On-Off-Keying (OOK) modulator for a flexible and wearable wireless transmitter implemented in an amorphous-Indium-Gallium-Zinc-Oxide (a-IGZO) TFT technology. The circuit consists of a three-stage ring oscillator for the carrier and an output driver with an OOK modulation switch, realized with just five transistors. In order to maximize the operation frequency, we use 2 μm-long nMOS transistors in the circuit design. The proposed OOK modulator is fabricated on a polyimide flexible substrate, and characterized with 3-to-5 V supply voltages and an output load capacitance of 15 pF. The circuit operates from the lowest supply voltage of 3 V, while the highest measured oscillation frequency is 3.76 MHz at 5 V VDD. Although the schematic is simple and straight forward, the equivalent modulation depth ranges from 61.3 % to 78.2 %, which can be detected with an existing AM/OOK receiver in the same technology. The power consumptions for 3 V and 5 V supply voltages are 2.15 mW and 6.77 mW, respectively. |
Meister, Tilo; Ellinger, Frank; Bartha, Johann Wolfgang; Berroth, Manfred; Burghartz, Joachim; Claus, Martin; Frey, Lothar; Gagliardi, Alessio; Grundmann, Marius; Hesselbarth, Jan; Klauk, Hagen; Leo, Karl; Lugli, Paolo; Mannsfeld, Stefan; Manoli, Yiannos; Negra, Renato; Neumaier, Daniel; Pfeiffer, Ullrich; Riedl, Thomas; Scheinert, Susanne; Scherf, Ullrich; Thiede, Andreas; öster, Gerhard Tr; Vossiek, Martin; Weigel, Robert; Wenger, Christian; Alavi, Golzar; Becherer, Markus; Chavarin, Carlos Alvarado; Darwish, Mohammed; Ellinger, Martin; Fan, Chun-Yu; Fritsch, Martin; Grotjahn, Frank; Gunia, Marco; Haase, Katherina; Hillger, Philipp; Ishida, Koichi; Jank, Michael; Knobelspies, Stefan; Kuhl, Matthias; Lupina, Grzegorz; Naghadeh, Shabnam Mohammadi; ünzenrieder, Niko M; Ö, Sefa; Rasteh, Mahsa; Salvatore, Giovanni; üfer, Daniel Schr; Strobel, Carsten; Theisen, Manuel; ückmantel, Christian T; von Wenckstern, Holger; Wang, Zhenxing; Zhipeng, Zhang Program FFlexCom - High Frequency Flexible Bendable Electronics for Wireless Communication Systems Inproceedings In: 2017 IEEE International Conference on Microwave, Communications, Antennas and Electronic Systems (COMCAS 2017), pp. 1-6, Tel Aviv, Israel, 2017. @inproceedings{meine_COMCAS17_FFlexCom,Today, electronics are implemented on rigid substrates. However, many objects in daily-life are not rigid - they are bendable, stretchable and even foldable. Examples are paper, tapes, our body, our skin and textiles. Until today there is a big gap between electronics and bendable daily-life items. Concerning this matter, the DFG priority program FFlexCom aims at paving the way for a novel research area: Wireless communication systems fully integrated on an ultra-thin, bendable and flexible piece of plastic or paper. The program encompasses 13 projects led by 25 professors. With flexibility we refer to bendability, foldability, and stretchability. In the last years the speed of flexible devices has massively been improved. However, to enable functional flexible systems and operation frequencies up to the sub-GHz range, the speed of flexible devices must still be increased by several orders of magnitude requiring novel system and circuit architectures, component concepts, technologies and materials. |
Shabanpour, Reza; Meister, Tilo; Ishida, Koichi; Boroujeni, Bahman; Carta, Corrado; Ellinger, Frank; Petti, Luisa; Münzenrieder, Niko; Salvatore, Giovanni A; Tröster, Gerhard A Transistor Model for a-IGZO TFT Circuit Design Built Upon the RPI-aTFT Model Inproceedings In: 2017 15th IEEE International New Circuits and Systems Conference (NEWCAS), pp. 129–132, 2017. @inproceedings{meine_Shabanpour_TFT_modelling_2017,This paper presents a compact transistor model for circuit design in a flexible amorphous indium gallium zinc oxide (a-IGZO) thin-film transistor (TFT) technology. The presented model builds upon an existing amorphous silicon TFT model. On the basis of extensive device characterization, we introduce appropriate new equations and parameters that enable an accurate, efficient behavioral representation of a IGZO TFTs. Thereby, we overcome shortcomings of previous models. To verify our new model, a Cherry-Hooper amplifier is designed, analyzed, implemented in a flexible a-IGZO TFT technology, and characterized. The simulation using our new compact transistor model resembles the measured characteristics very well. |
Taghavi, A; Carta, C; Meister, T; Ellinger, F; Claus, M; Schroter, M A CNTFET Oscillator at 461 MHz Journal Article In: IEEE Microwave and Wireless Components Letters, vol. 27, no. 6, pp. 578-580, 2017, ISSN: 1531-1309. @article{7932995,This letter presents design, implementation, and characterization of the first reported carbon nanotube field-effect transistor (CNTFET) RF oscillator. The circuit is implemented with discrete CNTFETs mounted on standard FR-4 substrate with off-the-shelf surface-mount-device components. The oscillator topology is similar to the phase shifter oscillator and uses two cascaded common source stages to provide enough gain for self-sustained and self-startup oscillation. The oscillator tank is merged with the matching network between two stages. The circuit oscillates at the frequency of 461 MHz with a phase noise of -115 dBc/Hz at 1 MHz and power consumption of 60 mW. While limited in output power by the driving capabilities of prototype CNTFETs, which still have a large density of residual metallic tubes, both power consumption and phase noise compare well with established and mature technologies. Moreover, the presented phase noise measurements provide a useful benchmark for the physical noise models being currently developed for this category of devices. |
Meister, Tilo Durchbruch durch Echtzeitfähigkeit – fast Presentation Vortrag beim Future Technologies - Science Match im Erlwein-Forum in der Messe Dresden, 26.01.2017. BibTeX | Links: @misc{meine_Vortrag_fast_FutureTechnologies_2017, |
2016 |
Cantarella, G; Ishida, K; Petti, L; Münzenrieder, N; Meister, T; Shabanpour, R; Carta, C; Ellinger, F; Tröster, G; Salvatore, G A Flexible In–Ga–Zn–O-Based Circuits With Two and Three Metal Layers: Simulation and Fabrication Study Journal Article In: IEEE Electron Device Letters, vol. 37, no. 12, pp. 1582-1585, 2016, ISSN: 0741-3106. @article{7604130,The quest for high-performance flexible circuits call for scaling of the minimum feature size in thin-film transistors (TFTs). Although reduced channel lengths can guarantee an improvement in the electrical properties of the devices, proper design rules also play a crucial role to minimize parasitics when designing fast circuits. In this letter, systematic computer-aided design simulations have guided the fabrication of high-performance flexible operational amplifiers (opamps) and logic circuits based on indium-gallium-zinc-oxide TFTs. In particular, the performance improvements due to the use of an additional third metal layer for the interconnections have been estimated for the first time. Encouraged by the simulated enhancements resulting by the decreased parasitic resistances and capacitances, both TFTs and circuits have been realized on a free-standing 50-μm-thick polymide foil using three metal layers. Despite the thicker layer stack, the TFTs have shown mechanical stability down to 5-mm bending radii. Moreover, the opamps and the logic circuits have yielded improved electrical performance with respect to the architecture with two metal layers: gain-bandwidth-product increased by 16.9%, for the first one, and propagation delay (tpd) decreased by 43%, for the latter one. |
Ellinger, Frank; Meister, Tilo; Grosa, Patrick; Jamshidi, Kambiz; Ihle, David; Franchi, Norman; Wagner, Jens; Richter, Andreas; Fettweis, Gerhard; Fitzek, Frank; Kreissig, Martin; Klessig, Henrik; Kraemer, Rolf; Richter, Klaus; Frotzscher, Andreas; Löhr, Robert; Winkler, Wolfgang; Zoeke, Dominik; Carôt, Alexander; Bluschke, Andreas Project FAST - Fast Actuators Sensors & Transceivers Inproceedings In: 2016 IEEE MTT-S Latin America Microwave Conference (LAMC-2016), pp. 1-3, 2016, ISBN: 978-1-5090-4287-6. @inproceedings{Ellinger_LAMC_fast2016,In this paper we give an overview of the German project cluster FAST which targets a technical breakthrough by real-time with latencies below 1 ms to enable advanced applications in the area of connectivity, traffic, manufacturing and health. FAST is based on 25 technical projects conducted by over 80 partners in industry and research. The innovations are outlined and include high frequency communication aspects such as 20 Gb/s communications at 200 GHz, real-time OFDM MIMO imaging radar, real-time GPS navigation with <; 1 m accuracy, encryption using the unique air channel between nodes, time- and scenario-dependent latency measurements, the mobile edge cloud concept as well as synchronization via Ethernet with achieved measured accuracy of 1 ns. Moreover, this paper aims at stimulating potential cooperation between Latin America and Germany. |
Meister, Tilo; Ishida, Koichi; Shabanpour, Reza; K.-Boroujeni, Bahman; Carta, Corrado; Münzenrieder, Niko; Petti, Luisa; Cantarella, Giuseppe; Salvatore, Giovanni A; Tröster, Gerhard; Ellinger, Frank 20.3dB 0.39mW AM detector with single-transistor active inductor in bendable a-IGZO TFT Inproceedings In: ESSCIRC Conference 2016: 42nd European Solid-State Circuits Conference, pp. 79-82, 2016, (14. September 2016). @inproceedings{meine_ESSCIRC2016,This paper presents an AM detector circuit in a bendable a-IGZO TFT technology. The circuit is based on a common-source stage loaded with a single-ended active inductor, which uses only one active transistor. This active inductor is the key element for the achieved circuit performance. The detector circuit consumes only 0.39 mW, which is almost a tenfold improvement over previous works in the same technology and crucial for mobile and wearable applications. At the same time it has the smallest chip area. The detector provides a conversion gain of 20.3 dB and an RF −3dB-bandwidth of around 7.5 MHz. At fc=13.56 MHz it has 11.6 dB gain, which also allows its use in this unlicensed ISM radio band for RFID and smart label applications. |
Ishida, K; Meister, T; Shabanpour, R; Boroujeni, B K; Carta, C; Cantarella, G; Petti, L; Mtozenrieder, N; Salvatore, G A; Troster, G; Ellinger, F Radio frequency electronics in a-IGZO TFT technology Inproceedings In: 2016 23rd International Workshop on Active-Matrix Flatpanel Displays and Devices (AM-FPD), pp. 273-276, 2016. @inproceedings{7543689,This paper reviews the recent progress of active high-frequency electronics on plastic, and gives an outlook towards future advances of radio-frequency electronics in the amorphous Indium Gallium Zinc Oxide (a-IGZO) thin-film transistor (TFT) technology. Our a-IGZO technology is mechanically flexible, bendable and stretchable. A 0.5 μm TFT achieved a measured transit frequency of 138 MHz. We have presented several high-frequency circuits integrated in this a-IGZO technology, including several RF amplifiers and a fully-integrated AM receiver. The receiver consists of a four-stage cascode amplifier, an amplitude detector, a baseband amplifier, and a filter. At a DC current of 7.2 mA and a supply of 5 V, a conversion gain above 15dB was measured from 2 to 20MHz. Based on these works, we are investigating a wireless transmitter to be fully integrated on a plastic film. Some simulation results of a ring-oscillator based on-off-keying modulator and an LC voltage controlled oschillator under investigation are presented. |
Kheradmand-Boroujeni, Bahman; Schmidt, Georg C; Höft, Daniel; Haase, Katherina; Bellmann, Maxi; Ishida, Koichi; Shabanpour, Reza; Meister, Tilo; Carta, Corrado; Hübler, Arved C; Ellinger, Frank Small-signal characteristics of fully-printed high-current flexible all-polymer three-layer-dielectric transistors Journal Article In: Organic Electronics, vol. 34, pp. 267 - 275, 2016, ISSN: 1566-1199. @article{Boroujeni2016_Elsevier_2016267,Abstract All-polymer, semi-transparent, three-layer-dielectric (3L) organic field effect transistors (OFETs) are fabricated on polyethylene terephthalate plastic substrate, using high-throughput printing techniques. Analog small-signal characteristics of the 3L OFET are presented and are compared against the previous version of this technology, which was based on a single-layer dielectric and a metal gate electrode. The 3L transistor withstands 50 V, can continuously drive 50 uA/mm, reaches an excellent intrinsic-gain (Av0) of 43 dB, an equivalent mobility of 0.85 cm2/V, and a transit frequency (fT) of 68 kHz, well suited for applications such as driving printed piezoelectric loudspeakers and flexible audio systems. The effects of the relaxor-ferroelectric high-k layer in the 3L stack on the gate capacitance, gm, and Av0 are measured in the frequency domain. In addition, it is observed that PEDOT:PSS makes a better interface with polymer dielectric comparing to copper particle ink. Five-hour small- and large-signal bias stress tests are performed. A novel direct Av0 measurement technique, and an improved transconductance extraction method are also presented. |
Kheradmand-Boroujeni, B; Schmidt, G C; Höft, D; Bellmann, M; Haase, K; Ishida, K; Shabanpour, R; Meister, T; Carta, C; Ghesquiere, P; Hübler, A C; Ellinger, F A Fully-Printed Self-Biased Polymeric Audio Amplifier for Driving Fully-Printed Piezoelectric Loudspeakers Journal Article In: IEEE Transactions on Circuits and Systems I: Regular Papers, vol. 63, no. 6, pp. 785-794, 2016, ISSN: 1549-8328. @article{Boroujeni2016_7464839,In this paper, a printed audio amplifier, which is a new application for organic electronics, is suggested. The amplifier consists of several fully-printed bendable components including: a loudspeaker, organic field effect transistors (OFETs), capacitors, and resistors. All components are fabricated on polyethylene terephthalate (PET) substrate by means of high-throughput printing techniques. A complete self-biased circuit is reported consisting of large multi-finger OFETs with channel length of 20 mutextm and total width of 0.475 meter. The amplifier provides a peak voltage gain of 18 dB at 400 Hz, can reproduce sound pressure level of 36–60 dBA over 700 Hz to 12.5 kHz at one meter distance, and has a unity-gain-bandwidth of 17.7 kHz/5.2 kHz when driving 0 nF/ sim 39 nF load at textV_mathrmDD=80 textV , respectively. The impact of bias-stress effects on the amplifier performance is measured to be sim 3 dBA sound loss after 5 hours of continuous operation. The whole circuit is packaged and laminated on a separate PET sheet. In addition, the intrinsic electrical impedance of the printed PVDF-TrFE piezoelectric polymer used in the loudspeaker is characterized, and is modeled by a complex dielectric constant. |
Meister, T; Ishida, K; Carta, C; Shabanpour, R; Boroujeni, B K; Münzenrieder, N; Salvatore, Pettiand L G A; Schmidt, G; Ghesquiere, P; Kiefl, S; Toma, G D; Faetti, T; Hübler, A C; Tröster, G; Ellinger, F 3.5mW 1MHz AM Detector and Digitally-Controlled Tuner in a-IGZO TFT for Wireless Communications in a Fully Integrated Flexible System for Audio Bag Inproceedings In: 2016 Symposium on VLSI Circuits (VLSI Circuits), pp. 134–135, 2016. @inproceedings{meine_VLSISymp2016,We developed a fully flexible AM (amplitude modulation) radio receiver suitable for integration in an “audio bag”, by exploiting the heterogeneous integration of several fully flexible technologies. In this paper, we present a 2.9 mW 2-bit digitallycontrolled tuner with a 576 kHz tuning range, a 3.5 mW 1 MHz AM detector and their integration in such a fully-flexible system. Their optimized power consumptions are essential because thin flexible batteries and organic solar cells serve as power supply. The circuits are fabricated in a low-temperature amorphous indium gallium zinc oxide (a-IGZO) technology. For the system integration textile techniques as well as flexible inkjet-printed packages and printed circuit boards (IPCBs) were used. |
2015 |
Ellinger, F; Ishida, K; Shabanpour, R; Meister, T; Boroujeni, B K; Carta, C; Petti, L; Salvatore, G A; Troster, G; Munzenrieder, N Radio frequency electronics on plastic - Revolution by Flexible Solution Inproceedings In: Microwave and Optoelectronics Conference (IMOC), 2015 SBMO/IEEE MTT-S International, pp. 1-5, 2015. @inproceedings{7369178,In this paper the recent progress of active high frequency electronics on plastic is discussed. This technology is mechanically flexible, bendable, stretchable and does not need any rigid chips. Indium Gallium Zinc Oxide (IGZO) technology is applied. At 2 V supply and gate length of 0.5 ??m, the thin-film transistors (TFTs) yield a measured transit frequency of 138 MHz. Our scalable TFT compact simulation model shows good agreement with measurements. To achieve a sufficiently high yield, TFTs with gate lengths of around 5 ??m are used for the circuit design. A Cherry Hopper amplifier with 3.5 MHz bandwidth, 10 dB gain and 5 mW dc power is presented. The fully integrated receiver covering a plastic foil area of 3 ?? 9 mm2 includes a four stage cascode amplifier, an amplitude detector, a baseband amplifier and a filter. At a dc current of 7.2 mA and a supply of 5 V, a bandwidth of 2 ??? 20 MHz and a gain beyond 15 dB were measured. Finally, an outlook regarding future advancements of high frequency electronics on plastic is given. |
Shabanpour, R; Carta, C; Ishida, K; Meister, T; Kheradmand-Boroujeni, B; Münzenrieder, N; Petti, L; Salvatore, G A; Tröster, G; F., Ellinger Baseband Amplifiers in a-IGZO TFT Technology for Flexible Audio Systems Inproceedings In: 2015 International Symposium on Intelligent Signal Processing and Communication Systems (ISPACS), pp. 357–361, 2015. @inproceedings{Shabanpour2015,This work shows two baseband amplifiers, which are suitable for audio system applications. The amplifiers are implemented in a flexible a-IGZO thin-film transistor (TFT) technology. They should be capable of driving printed piezoelectric loudspeakers. One of these circuits is a two-stage cascode amplifier, which is operating at 6 V DC supply voltage (VDD). It has a voltage gain of 31 dB over a 3 dB bandwidth of 252 kHz with a DC power consumption as low as 1.5 mW. This amplifier is used as a pre-audio amplifier for driving the audio amplifier. The audio amplifier is a two-stage common-source (CS) circuit with a source-follower stage as a buffer, and is characterized with an 18 V VDD. The measured voltage gain of audio amplifier is 21.5 dB with a 3 dB bandwidth of 55 kHz from a DC power of 30 mW. The simulation of frequency responses of these circuits shows that the amplifiers can drive the loudspeakers with areas of 16 cm2 and 128 cm2. The load of this audio system is the model of printed loudspeaker with specific characterizations of manufacturer. |
Shabanpour, R; Meister, T; Ishida, K; Kheradmand-Boroujeni, B; Carta, C; Ellinger, F; Petti, L; Münzenrieder, N; Salvatore, G A; Tröster, G Design and analysis of high-gain amplifiers in flexible self-aligned a-IGZO thin-film transistor technology Journal Article In: Analog Integrated Circuits and Signal Processing, pp. 1–10, 2015, ISSN: online: 1573-1979, print: 0925-1030, (Published online: 31 October 2015). @article{Shabanpour2015c,This paper presents two high-gain amplifiers fabricated in a flexible self-aligned amorphous indium gallium zinc oxide thin-film transistor (TFT) technology. One common-source amplifier relies on positive feedback to provide a voltage gain of 17 dB, and a bandwidth of 79 kHz from a dc power of only 0.76 mW. One cascode amplifier provides a voltage gain of 25 dB, and a bandwidth of 220 kHz from a dc power of 2.32 mW. The chip areas of the amplifiers are 7.5 and 10.3 mm², respectively. By using a gain-enhancement technique in the first amplifier, gain, dc power consumption, and chip area are greatly improved. The presented amplifiers are designed for using as audio pre-amplifiers in a radio receiver. The presented measurements confirm that the amplifiers meet the requirements for this purpose. The circuits are designed using the Verilog-A Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute amorphous TFT model; circuit simulations are also presented for comparison with the hardware characterization. Additionally, the impact of process variations on the amplifiers is analyzed and discussed in details. |
Ishida, Koichi; Shabanpour, Reza; Meister, Tilo; Boroujeni, Bahman Kheradmand; Carta, Corrado; Ellinger, Frank; Petti, Luisa; Münzenrieder, Niko; Salvatore, Giovanni Antonio; Tröster, Gerhard 20 MHz Carrier Frequency AM Receiver in Flexible a-IGZO TFT Technology with Textile Antennas (invited paper) Inproceedings In: IEEE International Symposium on Radio-Frequency Integration Technology (RFIT), pp. 142-144, Sendai, Japan, 2015. @inproceedings{ISM2015a,This paper presents an AM receiver implemented in flexible a-IGZO TFT. The circuit consists of a 4-stage cascode amplifier at the RF input, a source-follower detector, and a common-source baseband amplifier. The measured conversion gain exceeds 15 dB for carrier frequencies ranging from 2 to 20 MHz, which covers a relevant portion of the shortwave radio band. The 3 dB- bandwidth of the baseband signal ranges from 400 Hz to 10 kHz: this is comparable to the so-called voice band and is suitable to low-rate data communications. Additionally, the AM receiver is tested in combination with two textile antennas. The flexible a-IGZO receiver successfully detected the baseband signal through the textile antennas, demonstrating for the first time wireless transmission for this class of technologies |
Meister, Tilo; Ishida, Koichi; Shabanpour, Reza; Boroujeni, Bahman K; Carta, Corrado; Münzenrieder, Niko; Petti, Luisa; Salvatore, Giovanni A; Tröster, Gerhard; Wagner, Michael; Ghesquiere, Pol; Kiefl, Stefan; Krebs, Martin; Ellinger, Frank Bendable Energy-Harvesting Module with Organic Photovoltaic, Rechargeable Battery, and a-IGZO TFT Charging Electronics Inproceedings In: 22nd European conference on circuit theory and design, ECCTD2015, Trondheim, 2015. @inproceedings{meine_ECCTD2015,This work presents an innovative bendable module for solar-energy harvesting. The module consists of a mechanically flexible organic photovoltaic device (OPV), a rechargeable battery, and an a-IGZO TFT charge-control circuit. The total thickness of the module is 1.1 mm. We present measurements of hardware implementations and simulations. On this basis, voltage converter schemes based on a charge pump in the flexible a-IGZO TFT technology are explored, to enhance the range of operation of the module, particularly under low-light conditions. All investigations and data are presented with focus on two variants of the energy harvesting module that differ in nominal output voltage and capacity: a 6 V variant with capacity of 14.4 mAh and a 24 V variant with capacity of 5.5 mAh. Under exposure to 1 sun, both can be charged in less than 4 hours. |
Shabanpour, R; Carta, C; Meister, T; Ishida, K; Kherdmand-Boroujeni, B; Ellinger, F; Munzenrieder, N; Salvatore, G; Petti, L; Troster, G A fully integrated audio amplifier in flexible a-IGZO TFT technology for printed piezoelectric loudspeakers Inproceedings In: Circuit Theory and Design (ECCTD), 2015 European Conference on, pp. 1-4, 2015. @inproceedings{Shabanpour2015a,This paper presents the design, implementation and characterization of an integrated power efficient cascode amplifier in a flexible a-IGZO thin-film transistors (TFTs) with minimum channel lengths of 25 µm. The circuit consists of a two-stage cascode amplifier for the audio baseband amplification and a source-follower as a buffer to drive printed loudspeakers. The proposed amplifier is fabricated on a 50 µm-thick flexible polyimide foil, and characterized with a 20 V dc supply voltage (VDD) and an output load capacitance of 15 pF. The measured voltage gain exceeds 15 dB from 4.5 kHz to 15 dB at 25 kHz. The measured 3 dB bandwidth of the unloaded audio amplifier spans from 2.2 kHz to 60 kHz. The amplifier consumes a dc power of 40 mW and delivers 10 dBV of output signal at the 1 dB compression point; this is sufficient to drive printed piezoelectric loudspeakers. The simulated frequency response of the loaded amplifier shows that the amplifier can drive a wide range of capacitive loads from 15 pF to 500 nF. The simulated 3 dB bandwidth of the amplifier loaded with the printed loudspeaker is 29 kHz. |
Shabanpour, R; Ishida, K; Meister, T; Munzenrieder, N; Petti, L; Salvatore, G; Kheradmand-Boroujeni, B; Carta, C; Troster, G; Ellinger, F A 70°phase margin OPAMP with positive feedback in flexible a-IGZO TFT technology Inproceedings In: Circuits and Systems (MWSCAS), 2015 IEEE 58th International Midwest Symposium on, pp. 1-4, 2015. @inproceedings{Shabanpour2015b,This paper presents a fully integrated operational amplifier (OPAMP) with positive feedback fabricated in a flexible amorphous indium gallium zinc oxide (a-IGZO) thin film transistor (TFT) technology. The OPAMP is implemented by using a 5 µm nMOS a-IGZO TFT process, and is operated from a dc supply voltage of 6 V. The circuit relies on positive feedback in the input differential pair to improve gain. The measured open-loop gain is 19 dB over a 3 dB bandwidth of 25 kHz with 70° PM (phase margin). The measured unity-gain frequency, output swing voltage, and dc power consumption are 330 kHz, 3.7 Vpp, and 6.78 mW, respectively. The total chip area of the proposed OPAMP is 4.2×6 mm2. To the best of our knowledge the proposed amplifier has the highest PM among OPAMPs in TFT technology. |
Ishida, K; Shabanpour, R; Meister, T; Boroujeni, B K; Carta, C; Petti, L; Münzenrieder, N; Salvatore, G A; Tröster, G; Ellinger, F 15 dB Conversion gain, 20 MHz carrier frequency AM receiver in flexible a-IGZO TFT technology with textile antennas Inproceedings In: 2015 Symposium on VLSI Circuits (VLSI Circuits), pp. C194-C195, 2015, ISSN: 2158-5601. @inproceedings{Ishida2015,This paper presents an AM receiver implemented in a flexible a-IGZO TFT technology. The circuit consists of a four-stage cascode amplifier at the RF input, a detector based on a source follower, and a common source circuit for the baseband amplification. The measured conversion gain is very flat and exceeds 15 dB from 2 to 20 MHz carrier frequency range, which covers a relevant portion of the shortwave radio band. The 3 dB-bandwidth of the audio signal is 400 Hz to 10 kHz, which is comparable to the so-called voice band, and it is also suitable to low-rate data communication. In addition, an integrated demonstration of the AM receiver and textile antennas is carried out. The flexible a-IGZO receiver successfully detected the baseband signal through the textile antennas, demonstrating for the first time wireless transmission for this class of technologies. |
Meister, Tilo; Ishida, Koichi; Shabanpour, Reza; Kheradmand-Boroujeni, Bahman; Carta, Corrado; Ellinger, Frank Textile Loop Antenna and TFT Channel-Select Circuit for Fully Bendable TFT Receivers Inproceedings In: 2015 SBMO/IEEE MTT-S International Microwave and Optoelectronics Conference (IMOC) (IMOC 2015), Porto de Galinhas, Pernambuco, Brazil, 2015. @inproceedings{meine_IMOC15_TextileAntenna,In this paper we present the design, measurements, simulation, and modelling of a flexible textile loop antenna. Using embroidering techniques, a stranded copper wire is integrated onto a textile substrate, which in turn can be part of a garment or wearable accessory. The targeted application is a textile antenna integrated into the sides of a messenger bag next to fully flexible a-IGZO TFT receiver circuitry. The carrier frequency is dictated by the relatively slow TFTs, which limit the operation frequency of the receiver. As a result, a compact antenna for frequencies in the range of 100 kHz to 10 MHz is required. For this purpose loop antennas are suited. They usually provide only a limited gain, yet they allow for a low profile. Since the performance of thin and organic large area electronics (TOLAE) technologies improves steadily, we also investigate their applicability for higher carrier frequencies, which will enable smaller antenna dimensions. Finally we present a fully flexible TFT circuit to tune the antenna characteristics. |
2014 |
Shabanpour, R; Meister, T; Ishida, K; Boroujeni, B Kheradmand; Carta, C; Jorges, U; Ellinger, F; Petti, L; Munzenrieder, N; Salvatore, G A; Troster, G Cherry-Hooper amplifiers with 33 dB gain at 400 kHz BW and 10 dB gain at 3.5 MHz BW in flexible self-aligned a-IGZO TFT technology Inproceedings In: Intelligent Signal Processing and Communication Systems (ISPACS), 2014 International Symposium on, pp. 271-274, 2014. @inproceedings{Shabanpour2014,This paper presents two Cherry-Hooper amplifiers for bendable analog radio-frequency electronic systems fabricated in flexible self-aligned amorphous indium gallium zinc oxide (a-IGZO) thin-film-transistor (TFT) technology. The first circuit is a wideband single-stage Cherry-Hooper amplifier providing a voltage gain of 10.4 dB over a 3 dB bandwidth of 3.5 MHz and a gain-bandwidth product (GBP) of 11.6 MHz. For the second circuit, a two-stage Cherry-Hooper amplifier, a voltage gain of 33.3 dB with a 3 dB bandwidth of 400 kHz and a GBP of 18.5 MHz were measured. The simulations, which are based on a Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute-amorphous TFT (RPI-aTFT) model, are in good agreement with measurements. |
Shabanpour, R; Meister, T; Ishida, K; Petti, L; Munzenrieder, N; Salvatore, G A; Boroujeni, B K; Carta, C; Troster, G; Ellinger, F High gain amplifiers in flexible self-aligned a-IGZO thin-film-transistor technology Inproceedings In: Electronics, Circuits and Systems (ICECS), 2014 21st IEEE International Conference on, pp. 108-111, 2014. @inproceedings{Shabanpour2014b,To our knowledge, this paper presents the first high-gain amplifiers fabricated in flexible self-aligned amorphous indium gallium zinc oxide (a-IGZO) thin-film-transistor (TFT) technology. For the common source amplifier applying positive feedback a voltage gain of 17 dB, a bandwidth of 79 kHz and a DC power of only 0.76 mW were measured. For the cascode amplifier a voltage gain of 25 dB voltage gain, a bandwidth of 220 kHz and a DC power of 2.32 mW were measured. The simulations based on a RPI-aTFT model are compared with measurements. The chip areas are 8 and 10 mm2, respectively. |
Ishida, K; Shabanpour, R; Boroujeni, B K; Meister, T; Carta, C; Ellinger, F; Petti, L; Munzenrieder, N S; Salvatore, G A; Troster, G 22.5 dB open-loop gain, 31 kHz GBW pseudo-CMOS based operational amplifier with a-IGZO TFTs on a flexible film Inproceedings In: Solid-State Circuits Conference (A-SSCC), 2014 IEEE Asian, pp. 313-316, 2014. @inproceedings{Ishida2014,This paper presents an operational amplifier based on pseudo-CMOS blocks and integrated in a flexible a-IGZO TFT technology. The circuit consists of only nMOS transistors, and the pair of active loads is in a pseudo-CMOS configuration. These active loads allow various kinds of common mode feedback schemes or cross-coupled connection, typical for CMOS operational amplifiers. The proposed amplifier is fabricated on a flexible film, and characterized with 5 V supply voltage and an output load capacitance of 15 pF. The measured open-loop gain is 22.5 dB, which is the highest reported for operational amplifiers in metal-oxide TFT technology. The measured bandwidth and gain bandwidth products are 5.6 kHz, and 31 kHz, respectively with 160 uW power consumption, which is lowest among flexible operational amplifies. |
Kheradmand-Boroujeni, B; Schmidt, G C; Hoft, D; Shabanpour, R; Perumal, C; Meister, T; Ishida, K; Carta, C; Hubler, A C; Ellinger, F Analog Characteristics of Fully Printed Flexible Organic Transistors Fabricated With Low-Cost Mass-Printing Techniques Journal Article In: Electron Devices, IEEE Transactions on, vol. 61, no. 5, pp. 1423-1430, 2014, ISSN: 0018-9383. @article{Bahman2014,Fully printed organic field effect transistors (OFETs) are fabricated on a flexible, 100- $murm m$ -thick, polyethylene terephthalate substrate using high-throughput printing techniques: 1) Cyflex; 2) gravure; 3) screen; and 4) flexographic printing without using a cleanroom, and below 130 $^circrm C$ . The dependence of the transconductance $(g_m)$ , transit-frequency $(f_Ŧ)$ , and intrinsic-gain on the bias drain current $(I_rm D)$ are measured. The OFETs show intrinsic gain for $I_rm D>10~rm nA/rm mm$ (per millimeter width), and reach $f_Ŧ=64~rm kHz$ at $I_rm D=16~murm A/rm mm$ , whereas the $g_m$ loss with frequency is $<10%$ up to $f_Ŧ$ . Unlike silicon MOSFETs, the dependence of the OFET $g_m$ on the $f_Ŧ$ in the subthreshold region is found to be weaker than $I_rm D^1.0^vphantom)$ . In addition, the overlap capacitance of the staggered-geometry OFET shows strong frequency dependence, and this is - hown to be related to the overlap semiconductor. For the first time, it is found that the impact of process variations and bias stress on the OFET analog characteristics can be significantly attenuated by biasing the device at a fixed $I_rm D$ . This approach is tested on an array of five amplifiers, reaching the gain-bandwidth product of 32 kHz, within $pm3.7%$ variations. |
2013 |
Shabanpour, Reza; Ishida, Koichi; Perumal, Charles; Boroujeni, Bahman Kheradmand; Meister, Tilo; Carta, Corrado; Ellinger, Frank; Petti, Luisa; Münzenrieder, Niko; Salvatore, Giovanni Antonio; Tröster, Gerhard A 2.62 MHz 762 µW Cascode Amplifier in Flexible a-IGZO Thin-Film Technology for Textile and Wearable-Electronics Applications Inproceedings In: International Semiconductor Conference Dresden - Grenoble (ISCDG), pp. 1-4, 2013. @inproceedings{Shabanpour2013,This paper presents a cascode amplifier for bendable analog and radio-frequency electronic systems in a flexible amorphous indium gallium zinc oxide (a-IGZO) TFT technology, featuring a minimum gate length of 5 um. The design is optimized for large bandwidth. The circuit design was carried out with a MOSFET LEVEL=3 SPICE model template. The required model parameters were extracted from both DC and AC measured characteristics. Measurements results show 10.5 dB of voltage gain and a 3 dB bandwidth of 2.62 MHz; the small-signal performance was closely predicted by simulations. The presented circuit provides the highest frequency of operation reported for a single-stage cascode amplifier in a-IGZO TFT technology to date. |
Carta, Corrado; Ishida, Koichi; Boroujeni, Bahman Kheradmand; Shabanpour, Reza; Meister, Tilo; Schmidt, Georg; Suomalainen, Eero; Brandlmaier, Andreas; Salvatore, Giovanni Antonio; Münzenrieder, Niko; Petti, Luisa; Tröster, Gerhard; Petrantonakis, Dimitris; Kozakis, Dionyssis; Paradiso, Rita; Krebs, Martin; Tuomikoski, Markus; Egelhaaf, Hans-Joachim; Ellinger, Frank Overview of the EC Project FLEXIBILITY: Organic and Thin-Film ICs up to Radio Frequencies for Multifunctional Flexible Systems (invited) Inproceedings In: SBMO/IEEE MTT-S International Microwave and Optoelectronics Conference (IMOC), Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 2013. @inproceedings{Carta2013,This paper provides an overview of the research activities within the frame of the European project FLEXIBILITY. The project aims at advancing the competitiveness of Europe in the area of multifunctional, ultra-lightweight, ultrathin, bendable organic and large area electronics (OLAE). An overview of the technologies available to the consortium is provided, together with details of the performance achieved by the first prototypes. Particular focus is given to the circuit design in technologies compatible with the flexible components and systems. Using a 50 MHz IGZO TFT technology, several circuits have been demonstrated, including a 20 MHz AM demodulator. |
2012 |
Beyer, Christian; Dietrich, Manfred; Fischbach, Robert; Heinig, Andy; Jancke, Roland; Knechtel, Johann; Knöchel, Uwe; Lienig, Jens; Meister, Tilo; Neubert, Holger; Reitz, Sven; Stolle, Jörn; Wilde, Andreas; Wolf, Susann Entwurf integrierter 3D-Systeme der Elektronik Book Springer Vieweg, Berlin, Heidelberg, New York, 2012. @book{meine_3DBuch_Springer,Hochintegrierte Schaltungen mit hunderten Millionen Transistoren sind die Kernstücke fast aller modernen elektronischen Geräte. Dieser bemerkenswerte Fortschritt wurde hauptsächlich durch das Verkleinern der Halbleiterstrukturen erreicht. Die Kosten für jede weitere Strukturverringerung steigen jedoch stark an. Um die Leistung zukünftiger Schaltkreise weiterhin zu erhöhen, gewinnen daher zunehmend neue Technologien und Entwurfsmethoden an Bedeutung. Eine Möglichkeit, den Integrationsgrad von Schaltungen zu steigern, sind dreidimensionale elektronische Systeme (3D-Systeme), bei denen 3D-Integrationstechnologien es erlauben, mehrere Ebenen aktiver Bauelemente übereinander anzuordnen. Das Hinzufügen der dritten Dimension gestattet höhere Integrationsdichten, kürzere Verbindungsleitungen und den Aufbau heterogener Systeme in einer Baugruppe. Der Übergang von zweidimensionalen (2D) zu dreidimensionalen integrierten Systemen (3D) ist auch ein topologischer Wandel, womit der Entwurf dieser Systeme neu auszurichten ist. Dieses Buch stellt die neuartigen Herausforderungen sowie aktuelle Ergebnisse beim Entwurf von 3D-Systemen vor. Diese beruhen auf Forschungen am Institut für Feinwerktechnik und Elektronik-Design der Technischen Universität Dresden und dem Fraunhofer Institut für Integrierte Schaltungen / Institutsteil Entwurfsautomatisierung. Die Arbeiten sind zum Teil innerhalb von Förderprojekten des Bundesministeriums für Bildung und Forschung durchgeführt worden. Dies sind die BMBF-Projekte V3DIM und NEEDS und die EU-Projekte Therminator und e-Brains, in denen das Fraunhofer-Institut als Partner mitwirkt. Ebenfalls zu nennen ist hier das Graduiertenkolleg 1401 der DFG, in dessen Rahmen viele der Arbeiten an der TU Dresden erfolgten. Wir danken den Fördergebern für die Möglichkeit, die Forschungen mit ihrer Unterstützung intensiv vorantreiben zu können. Die Herausgeber möchten sich bei den Autoren für die geleistete Arbeit sowie für ihre wertvollen Beiträge und ihr Engagement bei der Vorbereitung des Buches herzlich bedanken. Damit ist ein Werk entstanden, das einen umfassenden Einblick in die Entwurfsmethoden für die Eroberung der dritten Dimension gibt. Dank gilt auch dem Springer Verlag, der das schnelle Erscheinen ermöglichte. Die Herausgeber hoffen, dem Leser eine gute Hilfestellung für den Einstieg in die Welt der dreidimensionalen Systemintegration zu geben. |
Meister, Tilo Verdrahtungsvorhersage im dreidimensionalen Layoutentwurf Book Chapter In: Lienig, Jens; Dietrich, Manfred (Ed.): Entwurf integrierter 3D-Systeme der Elektronik, pp. 175–190, Springer Berlin Heidelberg, Berlin, Heidelberg, 2012, ISBN: 978-3-642-30572-6. @inbook{meine_3DBuch_Meister2012,Der Layoutentwurf elektronischer Schaltungen erfolgt in einer Kette einzelner Entwurfsschritte (Abb. 10.1). Die sonst unüberschaubar komplexe Entwurfsaufgabe lässt sich so nach dem Prinzip „teile und herrsche`` bewältigen. Einer der letzten Teilschritte der Layoutsynthese ist die Verdrahtung und damit das Festlegen zahlreicher elektrischer Eigenschaften der Schaltung. Bestmögliche Ergebnisse werden dabei nur erreicht, wenn bereits die Zwischenergebnisse der vorangegangenen Syntheseschritte bezüglich ihrer Verdrahtbarkeit (engl. routability) bewertet und optimiert sind. Dementsprechend ist das Abschätzen der Verdrahtbarkeit fester Bestandteil der Syntheseschritte. |
Meister, Tilo Pinzuordnungs-Algorithmen zur Optimierung der Verdrahtbarkeit beim hierarchischen Layoutentwurf Book Düsseldorf: VDI Verlag, 2012, ISSN: 0178-9422, (Fortschritt-Berichte VDI). @book{meine_diss_pz,This work deals with the optimization of pin assignments for which an accurate routability prediction is a prerequisite. Therefore, this contribution introduces methods for routability prediction. The optimization of pin assignments, for which these methods are needed, is done after initial placement and before routing. Known methods of routability prediction are compiled, compared, and analyzed for their usability as part of the pin assignment step. These investigations lead to the development of a routability prediction method, which is adapted to the specific requirements of pin assignment. So far pin assignment of complex electronic devices has been a predominantly manual process. Hence, practical experience exists, yet, it had not been transferred to an algorithmic formulation. This contribution develops pin assignment methods in order to automate and improve pin assignment. Distinctive characteristics of the thereby developed algorithms are their usability during layout planning, their capability to integrate into a hierarchical design flow, and the consideration of differential pairs. Both aspects, routability prediction and assignment algorithms, are finally brought together by using the newly developed routability prediction to evaluate and select the assignment algorithms. |
Meister, Tilo; Lienig, Jens Bewertung der Genauigkeit von Verdrahtungsdichtevorhersagen des Layoutentwurfs Inproceedings In: Tagungsband Dresdner Arbeitstagung Schaltungs- und Systementwurf (DASS 2012), pp. 92–97, Fraunhofer Verlag, 2012, ISBN: 978-3-8396-0404-5. @inproceedings{meine_dass12,Diese Arbeit stellt Vergleichskriterien für Verdrahtungsdichteverteilungen vor. Kennt man eine „ideale“ oder als „ideal angenommene“ Verdrahtungsdichte für ein Layout, so lassen sich damit Verdrahtungsvorhersagen bezüglich ihrer Genauigkeit bewerten. Dies ist für die Layoutsynthese von großer Bedeutung, da gute Verdrahtungsvorhersagen die Grundlage für den Erfolg zahlreicher Optimierungsschritte sind. Der Vorteil der vorgestellten Kriterien ist, dass sie nicht in einen konkreten Entwurfsfluss eingebunden sind und dadurch eine schnelle und allgemeingültige Bewertung der Vorhersagegenauigkeit erlauben. |
2011 |
Fischbach, Robert; Lienig, Jens; Meister, Tilo 3D Physical Design: Challenges and Solutions Inproceedings In: Proceedings of the edaWorkshop 11, pp. 39–44, VDE Verlag, 2011, ISBN: 978-3-8007-3353-8. @inproceedings{meine_edaWS11,Modern three-dimensional (3D) designs, in which the active devices are placed in multiple layers using 3D integration technologies, are helping to maintain the validity of Moore’s law in today’s nano era. However, progress in commercial 3D ICs has been slow due to multiple reasons. One of them is the lack of appropriate physical design (layout) tools that take the new constraints arising from the third dimension into account. In this paper, an overview of physical design’s challenges in the new 3-dimensional context are presented. Specifically, we investigate the physical design steps of floorplanning, placement, routability prediction and routing. New 3D-tailored design methodologies are presented that are capable of addressing 3D-specific design challenges. |
Meister, Tilo; Lienig, Jens; Thomke, Gisbert Interface Optimization for Improved Routability in Chip-Package-Board Co-Design Inproceedings In: System Level Interconnect Prediction (SLIP), 2011 13th International Workshop on, pp. 1–8, 2011, ISBN: 978-1-4577-1240-1. @inproceedings{meine_SLIP2011,The simultaneous optimization of both pin assignment and pin routing for different hierarchy levels (chip, package, board) of an electronic system is a bottleneck in today's hierarchical co-design flows, typically requiring manual optimization strategies and multiple iterations. Specifically, a fast and finegrained evaluation of routability that considers all requirements between the different hierarchy levels is missing. In this paper we provide a comprehensive, fast method to evaluate the routability of interfaces in hierarchical systems based on a new probabilistic routability prediction. We implemented our methodology in an industrial design flow and achieved significant improvement in overall routing, including reduced manufacturing costs of chip-package-board co-designs. |
2010 |
Fischbach, Robert; Lienig, Jens; Meister, Tilo Herausforderungen bei der Automatisierung des Layoutentwurfs bei dreidimensionalen heterogenen Systemen Journal Article In: Tagungsband Dresdner Arbeitstagung Schaltungs- und Systementwurf (DASS 2010), pp. 37–42, 2010, ISBN: 978-3-8396-0126-6. @article{meine_Fischbach2010, |
Meister, Tilo; Lienig, Jens Routability Prediction for Three-Dimensional Circuits Inproceedings In: edacentrum, (Ed.): Tagungsband edaWorkshop 10, pp. 29–34, edacentrum ; Bundesministerium f. Bildung u. Forschung ; Informationstechnische Gesellschaft im VDE ; GI/GMM/ITG-Kooperationsgemeinschaft „Rechnergestützter Schaltungs- und Systementwurf“ VDE Verlag, 2010, ISBN: 978-3-8007-3252-4. @inproceedings{meine_edaWS2010,Der Entwurf von integrierten Schaltungen und Systemen stellt höchste Anforderungen an Entwicklungsingenieure und an die von ihnen verwendeten Entwurfsmethoden und -werkzeuge. Dazu gehören die effiziente und herstellungsorientierte Entwicklung von sicheren, sparsamen, robusten und zuverlässigen Elektronik-Systemen hoher Komplexität in sehr kleinen Strukturen unter besonderer Berücksichtigung von Analog- und Mixed-Signal-Schaltungen. Mit dem edaWorkshop als einer zentralen deutschen EDA-Veranstaltung werden beste Voraussetzungen für die Publikation und Diskussion von anwendungsnahen EDA-Forschungsergebnissen geschaffen. |
2009 |
Meister, Tilo; Lienig, Jens Neue Herausforderungen an die Verdrahtungsvorhersage beim 3D-Layoutentwurf Inproceedings In: Zuverlässigkeit und Entwurf, pp. 99–106, VDE/VDI-Gesellschaft Mikroelektronik, Mikro- und Feinwerktechnik (GMM) VDE Verlag, 2009, ISBN: 978-3-800-73178-7. @inproceedings{meine_ZuE09_Verdrahtbarkeit3D,Während des Layoutentwurfs einer elektronischen Schaltung unterliegen Zwischenlösungen einer ständigen Bewertung, wobei ein typisches Bewertungskriterium die Verdrahtbarkeit ist. Sie dient dazu, möglichst frühzeitig ungültige Lösungen auszusortieren und so die besten Zwischenlösungen für nachfolgende Entwurfsschritte zu identifizieren. Die aktuelle 3D-Integration elektronischer Baugruppen und die daraus resultierenden dreidimensionalen Verdrahtungsstrukturen erfordern ein neues Herangehen an dieses Problem. Diese Arbeit gibt zuerst einen Überblick über die Methoden zum Abschätzen der Verdrahtbarkeit, wobei diese nach ihrem jeweiligen Auflösungsgrad systematisch aufbereitet und verglichen werden. Der Beitrag untersucht anschließend die neuen Herausforderungen an die Verdrahtbarkeitsanalyse beim 3D-Layoutentwurf. Anhand von Lösungsmöglichkeiten wird gezeigt, dass bei entsprechender Berücksichtigung der 3D-spezifischen Besonderheiten auch hier eine effektive Verdrahtbarkeitsvorhersage möglich ist. |
Fischbach, Robert; Lienig, Jens; Meister, Tilo From 3D circuit technologies and data structures to interconnect prediction Inproceedings In: SLIP '09: Proceedings of the 11th international workshop on System level interconnect prediction, pp. 77–84, ACM, San Francisco, CA, USA, 2009, ISBN: 978-1-60558-576-5. BibTeX | Links: @inproceedings{meine_SLIP09_Fischbach_3DTechRouting, |
2008 |
Meister, Tilo; Lienig, Jens; Thomke, Gisbert Universal Methodology to Handle Differential Pairs During Pin Assignment Inproceedings In: Piguet, Christian; Reis, Ricardo; Soudris, Dimitrios (Ed.): Proc. of the 16th IFIP/IEEE Int. Conf. on Very Large Scale Integration (VLSI-SoC 2008), pp. 347–352, 2008, ISBN: 978-3-901882-32-6, (Rhode Island, Greece). BibTeX | Links: @inproceedings{meine_VLSISoC_DiffPairs, |
Meister, Tilo; Lienig, Jens; Thomke, Gisbert Pinzuordnungs-Algorithmen für hochkomplexe Area-Array-Komponenteny Journal Article In: GMM-Fachbericht ANALOG '08, Siegen, pp. 177–182, 2008, ISBN: 978-3-8007-3083-4. @article{meine_Analog08PZAlgos,Abstract The wiring results of printed circuit board, multi chip module and single chip module designs, which carry area array components, largely depends on the pin assignments of the equipped components. To help reduce the necessary wiring effort and decrease signal delay, the pin assignment has to be optimized during layout synthesis. During this design phase the assignment of logical signals to physical component pins is optimized to improve the wireability of the design. Contrary to VLSI pin assignment, algorithms for designs containing area array components have to handle components that have several thousand pins each. This paper presents three algorithms to create optimized assignments of logical signals to physical pins for area array components. This optimization is done subsequently to the placement of components and prior to routing the design. The application of the presented algorithms in the design flow of current industrial designs has shown their robustness and efficiency. Moreover, compared to the so far manual pin assignment processes, the presented pin assignment algorithms enable a significant time saving during layout synthesis. Kurzfassung Die Verdrahtbarkeit und das Verdrahtungsergebnis von Leiterplatten, Multi-Chip-Modulen und Single-Chip- Modulen, die mit Area-Array-Komponenten bestückt sind, hängen von der gewählten Pinbelegung dieser Komponenten ab. Im Gegensatz zum Pinzuordnungsproblem im VLSI-Entwurf, bei dem eine Zuordnung von einer Vielzahl (stellenweise Millionen) Komponenten mit jeweils wenigen Pins erfolgt, zeichnen sich die Area-Array- Komponenten auf den oben genannten Verdrahtungsträgern durch Tausende von Pins aus, deren Signalzuordnung zu optimieren ist. Dieses Pinzuordnungsproblem wurde bisher wenig beachtet und ist demzufolge weitestgehend noch durch eine manuelle Vorgehensweise gekennzeichnet. Diese Arbeit stellt drei neue Pinzuordnungs-Algorithmen für die Signalbelegung bei Area-Array-Komponenten vor, welche die Zuordnung von Signalen zu physikalischen Pins automatisch erstellen und optimieren. Die Anwendung in realen Entwurfsumgebungen bestätigt ihre enorme Zeiteffizienz im Gegensatz zur bisher erfolgten manuellen Belegungsermittlung, welche im Durchschnitt einen Monat in Anspruch nimmt. |
Meister, Tilo; Lienig, Jens; Thomke, Gisbert Novel Pin Assignment Algorithms for Components with Very High Pin Counts Journal Article In: Design, Automation and Test in Europe, 2008. DATE '08, pp. 837–842, 2008, ISBN: 978-3-9810801-4-8. @article{meine_Paper_DATE08,The wiring effort and thus, the routability of electronic designs such as printed circuit boards, multi chip modules and single chip modules largely depends on the assignment of signals to component pins. For modern components that have as many as several thousand pins, this pin assignment cannot be optimized manually. This paper presents four novel pin assignment algorithms that automatically create optimized pin assignments for wiring substrate designs with components that have very high pin counts. We also present and evaluate quality estimation metrics that enable fast assessment of the pin assignment results. The efficiency of our algorithms allows the creation of optimized pin assignments using only minutes of computation time. We show the applicability of all four algorithms, including their strengths and weaknesses, in specific design applications. |
Meister, Tilo; Thomke, Gisbert Verdrahtungsoptimierung von Differential Pairs: Berücksichtigung von Differential Pairs bei der automatisierten Pinzuordnung Book 1, VDM Verlag Dr. Müller, 2008, ISBN: 3639016866. @book{meine_Buch_Diplomarbeit,Moderne Elektronik ist aus unserem Leben nicht mehr wegzudenken. Ihr Funktionsumfang und ihre Leistungsfähigkeit werdenstetig weiterentwickelt, um neue vorher eventuell ungeahnte Aufgaben zu erfüllen. Dabei hängt die Leistungsfähigkeit einer Baugruppe maßgeblich von der Geschwindigkeit der internen Signalverarbeitung und -übertragung ab. Höchste Geschwindigkeiten erreicht man heutzutage mit differentiellen Leitungspaaren (Differential Pairs). Sie zeichnen sich durch besonders gute Signaleigenschaften aus, bedürfen aber einer speziellen Verdrahtungsgeometrie. Dazu ist für jedes Bauelement eine entsprechend optimierte Zuordnung der physikalischen Pinanschlüsse zu den logischen Signalen (Pinzuordnung) notwendig. Nach einer Einführung in die Pinzuordnung und Differential Pairs, stellt dieses Buch neue, effiziente Pinzuordnungs-Algorithmen vor, die erstmals für Differential Pairs verwendet werden können.Herausragend ist ihre Kombinierbarkeit mit anderen Pinzuordnungs-Verfahren, wodurch neue, erweiterte Algorithmen entstehen, die die Vorteile der ursprünglichen Verfahren und Differential Pairs vereinen. Abgerundet wird das Buch durch Untersuchungsergebnisse von realen Bauelementen. |
2006 |
Meister, Tilo Berücksichtigung von Differential Pairs bei der automatisierten Pinzuordnung Masters Thesis TU Dresden, IFTE; IBM Böblingen, 2006. @mastersthesis{meine_MeineDiplomarbeit,Kurzfassung Die zunehmenden Anforderungen an die Signaleigenschaften elektrischer Systeme werden vermehrt den Einsatz differentieller Signalübertragung erfordern. Diese zeichnet sich durch eine spezielle Verdrahtungsgeometrie und besonders gute Signaleigenschaften aus. Um mit differentieller Signalübertragung die bestmögliche Signalqualität zu erreichen, ist unter anderem eine optimierte Zuordnung der Signale zu Pinanschlüssen nötig. Bisher war diese Pinzuordnung ein halbautomatischer Prozess und erforderte erheblichen manuellen Aufwand. Wegen der großen Anzahl Pins ist es notwendig diese Pinzuordnung zu automatisieren. Dazu werden in der vorliegenden Diplomarbeit die für differentielle Signalübertragung geeigneten Pinzuordnungen charakterisiert, und aufbauend auf vorhandenen Pinzuordnungs-Algorithmen werden neue Algorithmen entwickelt, mit denen automatisch optimierte Pinzuordnungen generiert werden können, die für differentielle Signalübertragung geeignet sind. Sie ersetzen die bisher halbautomatische Pinzuordnung und ermöglichen es, eine Pinzuordnung deutlich schneller und mit besseren Eigenschaften zu erstellen. Abstract As clock speeds of digital circuits increase, interconnect signal integrity aspects will increasingly require the application of differential pairs. They are characterized by a specific wiring geometry and a particularly good signal quality. To achieve best signal integrity possible for differential pairs, amongst others, an optimized assignment of signals to pins is necessary. Until now this pin assignment was a semiautomatic process that required significant manual rework. Due to the high pin count the pin assignment process has to be automated. In this diploma thesis valid pin assignments for differential pairs are characterized. Based on existing pin assignment algorithms new differential pair aware algorithms were developed. The newly developed algorithms automatically generate a pin assignment optimized for differential pairs. These algorithms replace the former semiautomatic pin assignment process and enable a significantly faster generation of pin assignments with better results than before. |
Meister, Tilo Implementierung von Pin-Zuordnungs-Algorithmen und Design-Analyse-Algorithmen in Sysopt Technical Report IBM Deutschland Entwicklung GmbH 2006. @techreport{meine_Praktikum,Kurzfassung Im Praktikum wurden auf der Basis des Optimierungsprogramms Sysopt von Gisbert Thomke Pin-Zuordnungs-Algorithmen implementiert. Anhand realer Designs wurden die Pin-Zuordnungs- Algorithmen getestet. Die erzeugten Pin-Zuordnungen wurden mit Sysopt bewertet und verwendet, um die verschiedenen Pin-Zuordnungs-Algorithmen zu vergleichen. Als Ergebnis der Arbeit stehen in Sysopt jetzt mehrere Pin-Zuordnungs-Algorithmen und Algorithmen zur Design-Analyse zur Verfügung. Abstract During the internship pin assignment algorithms were implemented based on the optimization tool Sysopt by Gisbert Thomke. The pin assignment algorithms were applied to realistic designs. The created pin assignments were analyzed and the different pin assignment algorithms were compared. As result of the internship Sysopt now provides pin assignment and design analysis algorithms. |
2005 |
Meister, Tilo Optimierung der Pin-Zuordnung bei komplexen Leiterplatten Technical Report Technische Universität Dresden 2005. @techreport{meine_Studienarbeit,Kurzfassung Durch die Optimierung der Pin-Zuordnung k¨onnen die Eigenschaften des Layouts verbessert werden. Diese Reserven werden bis jetzt nicht ausgesch¨opft. Um eine automatische Erstellung und Optimierung der Pin-Zuordnung zu erm¨oglichen, wird als ein erster Schritt in der vorliegenden Arbeit die Problematik der Pin-Zuordnung dargestellt. Dazu werden die Layoutentwurfsschritte aufgef¨uhrt und charakterisiert. Aus der Zielstellung der Arbeit und den Eigenschaften der Layoutentwurfsschritte werden die Voraussetzungen, Randbedingungen und Optimierungsziele f¨ur die Pin-Zuordnung abgeleitet. Die Wechselwirkung zwischen der Plazierung, der Pin-Zuordnung und der Verdrahtung werden dargestellt, und die Pin-Zuordnung wird in den Layoutentwurfsprozeß eingeordnet. Aus dem gegenw¨artigen Vorgehen und einer Literaturrecherche werden L¨osungsans¨atze zur Erstellung und Optimierung einer Pin-Zuordnung aufgezeigt. Abschließend werden aus den hergeleiteten Optimierungszielen Bewertungsm¨oglichkeiten f¨ur die Pin-Zuordnung entwickelt. Abstract Layout characteristics are improved by an optimized pin assignment. Up to now, this resource is not exploited. As an approach to an automatic generation and optimization of a pin assignment, this paper covers the pin assignment problem. For this purpose the characteristics of physical design are summarized. The preconditions, constraints and optimization goals for pin assignment are deduced from the characteristics of physical design. The correlation amongst placement, pin assignment and routing are described and the pin assignment is arranged within the flow of physical design. Based on current procedures and a literature research, possible solutions for the generation and the optimization of a pin assignment are pointed out. Finally, cost functions for pin assignment are developed from the previously deduced optimization goals. |
2022 |
Chopping for over 50 MHz gain-bandwidth product current sense amplifiers achieving input noise level of 8.5 nV/√Hz Journal Article In: International Journal of Circuit Theory and Applications, 2022. |
Monolithic Integration, Performance, and Comparison of Self-Aligned and Conventional IGZO Thin-Film Transistors on a Flexible Substrate Journal Article In: IEEE Journal on Flexible Electronics, vol. 1, no. 3, pp. 159-166, 2022, ISSN: 2768-167X. |
Flexible Electronics for Wireless Communication: A Technology and Circuit Design Review With an Application Example Journal Article In: IEEE Microwave Magazine, vol. 23, no. 4, pp. 24-44, 2022, ISSN: 1557-9581. |
2021 |
Mechanical and Electrical Design Strategies for Flexible InGaZnO Circuits Inproceedings In: Mixed Design of Integrated Circuits and Systems (MIXDES), 28th International Conference, 2021. |
2020 |
Tools and strategies to optimize the electrical and mechanical properties of flexible IGZO TFTs Inproceedings In: 2020. |
3.93 MHz / 328 μW Dynamic Frequency Divider in Flexible a-IGZO TFT Technology Journal Article In: IEEE Solid-State Circuits Letters, pp. 1-1, 2020, ISSN: 2573-9603. |
Review of recent trends in flexible metal oxide thin-film transistors for analog applications Journal Article In: Flexible and Printed Electronics, vol. 5, no. 3, pp. 033001, 2020. |
49.35 MHz GBW and 33.43 MHz GBW amplifiers in flexible a-IGZO TFT technology Journal Article In: Electronics Letters, 2020, ISSN: 0013-5194. |
Focused ion beam milling for the fabrication of 160 nm channel length IGZO TFTs on flexible polymer substrates Journal Article In: Flexible and Printed Electronics, vol. 5, no. 1, pp. 015007, 2020. |
2019 |
5-31-Hz 188-μW Light-Sensing Oscillator With Two Active Inductors Fully Integrated on Plastic Journal Article In: IEEE Journal of Solid-State Circuits, vol. 54, no. 8, pp. 2195-2206, 2019, ISSN: 0018-9200. |
Design of bendable high-frequency circuits based on short-channel InGaZnO TFTs Inproceedings In: 2019 IEEE International Conference on Flexible and Printable Sensors and Systems (FLEPS), pp. 1-3, 2019. |
Bendable Metal Oxide and Printed Electronics for High Frequency Wireless Communications Miscellaneous Transparent Conductive Oxides - Fundamentals and Applications (TCO 2019), University of Leipzig, Germany, Invited Talk, 2019. |
2018 |
Flexible InGaZnO TFTs With fmax Above 300 MHz Journal Article In: IEEE Electron Device Letters, vol. 39, no. 9, pp. 1310-1313, 2018, ISSN: 0741-3106. |
Review of Fast, Efficient and Bendable Radio-Frequency Integrated Receivers for the Wireless Communication Systems of the Future Inproceedings In: 2018 IEEE-APS Topical Conference on Antennas and Propagation in Wireless Communications (APWC), pp. 766-768, 2018. |
Bendable Printed and Thin-film Electronics for Wireless Communications Inproceedings In: Second URSI Atlantic Radio Science Meeting - 2018 (URSI AT-RASC), Gran Canaria, 28 May – 1 June 2018, 2018. |
2017 |
3–5 V, 3–3.8 MHz OOK modulator with a-IGZO TFTs for flexible wireless transmitter Inproceedings In: 2017 IEEE International Conference on Microwaves, Antennas, Communications and Electronic Systems (COMCAS), pp. 1-4, 2017. |
Program FFlexCom - High Frequency Flexible Bendable Electronics for Wireless Communication Systems Inproceedings In: 2017 IEEE International Conference on Microwave, Communications, Antennas and Electronic Systems (COMCAS 2017), pp. 1-6, Tel Aviv, Israel, 2017. |
A Transistor Model for a-IGZO TFT Circuit Design Built Upon the RPI-aTFT Model Inproceedings In: 2017 15th IEEE International New Circuits and Systems Conference (NEWCAS), pp. 129–132, 2017. |
A CNTFET Oscillator at 461 MHz Journal Article In: IEEE Microwave and Wireless Components Letters, vol. 27, no. 6, pp. 578-580, 2017, ISSN: 1531-1309. |
Durchbruch durch Echtzeitfähigkeit – fast Presentation Vortrag beim Future Technologies - Science Match im Erlwein-Forum in der Messe Dresden, 26.01.2017. |
2016 |
Flexible In–Ga–Zn–O-Based Circuits With Two and Three Metal Layers: Simulation and Fabrication Study Journal Article In: IEEE Electron Device Letters, vol. 37, no. 12, pp. 1582-1585, 2016, ISSN: 0741-3106. |
Project FAST - Fast Actuators Sensors & Transceivers Inproceedings In: 2016 IEEE MTT-S Latin America Microwave Conference (LAMC-2016), pp. 1-3, 2016, ISBN: 978-1-5090-4287-6. |
20.3dB 0.39mW AM detector with single-transistor active inductor in bendable a-IGZO TFT Inproceedings In: ESSCIRC Conference 2016: 42nd European Solid-State Circuits Conference, pp. 79-82, 2016, (14. September 2016). |
Radio frequency electronics in a-IGZO TFT technology Inproceedings In: 2016 23rd International Workshop on Active-Matrix Flatpanel Displays and Devices (AM-FPD), pp. 273-276, 2016. |
Small-signal characteristics of fully-printed high-current flexible all-polymer three-layer-dielectric transistors Journal Article In: Organic Electronics, vol. 34, pp. 267 - 275, 2016, ISSN: 1566-1199. |
A Fully-Printed Self-Biased Polymeric Audio Amplifier for Driving Fully-Printed Piezoelectric Loudspeakers Journal Article In: IEEE Transactions on Circuits and Systems I: Regular Papers, vol. 63, no. 6, pp. 785-794, 2016, ISSN: 1549-8328. |
3.5mW 1MHz AM Detector and Digitally-Controlled Tuner in a-IGZO TFT for Wireless Communications in a Fully Integrated Flexible System for Audio Bag Inproceedings In: 2016 Symposium on VLSI Circuits (VLSI Circuits), pp. 134–135, 2016. |
2015 |
Radio frequency electronics on plastic - Revolution by Flexible Solution Inproceedings In: Microwave and Optoelectronics Conference (IMOC), 2015 SBMO/IEEE MTT-S International, pp. 1-5, 2015. |
Baseband Amplifiers in a-IGZO TFT Technology for Flexible Audio Systems Inproceedings In: 2015 International Symposium on Intelligent Signal Processing and Communication Systems (ISPACS), pp. 357–361, 2015. |
Design and analysis of high-gain amplifiers in flexible self-aligned a-IGZO thin-film transistor technology Journal Article In: Analog Integrated Circuits and Signal Processing, pp. 1–10, 2015, ISSN: online: 1573-1979, print: 0925-1030, (Published online: 31 October 2015). |
20 MHz Carrier Frequency AM Receiver in Flexible a-IGZO TFT Technology with Textile Antennas (invited paper) Inproceedings In: IEEE International Symposium on Radio-Frequency Integration Technology (RFIT), pp. 142-144, Sendai, Japan, 2015. |
Bendable Energy-Harvesting Module with Organic Photovoltaic, Rechargeable Battery, and a-IGZO TFT Charging Electronics Inproceedings In: 22nd European conference on circuit theory and design, ECCTD2015, Trondheim, 2015. |
A fully integrated audio amplifier in flexible a-IGZO TFT technology for printed piezoelectric loudspeakers Inproceedings In: Circuit Theory and Design (ECCTD), 2015 European Conference on, pp. 1-4, 2015. |
A 70°phase margin OPAMP with positive feedback in flexible a-IGZO TFT technology Inproceedings In: Circuits and Systems (MWSCAS), 2015 IEEE 58th International Midwest Symposium on, pp. 1-4, 2015. |
15 dB Conversion gain, 20 MHz carrier frequency AM receiver in flexible a-IGZO TFT technology with textile antennas Inproceedings In: 2015 Symposium on VLSI Circuits (VLSI Circuits), pp. C194-C195, 2015, ISSN: 2158-5601. |
Textile Loop Antenna and TFT Channel-Select Circuit for Fully Bendable TFT Receivers Inproceedings In: 2015 SBMO/IEEE MTT-S International Microwave and Optoelectronics Conference (IMOC) (IMOC 2015), Porto de Galinhas, Pernambuco, Brazil, 2015. |
2014 |
Cherry-Hooper amplifiers with 33 dB gain at 400 kHz BW and 10 dB gain at 3.5 MHz BW in flexible self-aligned a-IGZO TFT technology Inproceedings In: Intelligent Signal Processing and Communication Systems (ISPACS), 2014 International Symposium on, pp. 271-274, 2014. |
High gain amplifiers in flexible self-aligned a-IGZO thin-film-transistor technology Inproceedings In: Electronics, Circuits and Systems (ICECS), 2014 21st IEEE International Conference on, pp. 108-111, 2014. |
22.5 dB open-loop gain, 31 kHz GBW pseudo-CMOS based operational amplifier with a-IGZO TFTs on a flexible film Inproceedings In: Solid-State Circuits Conference (A-SSCC), 2014 IEEE Asian, pp. 313-316, 2014. |
Analog Characteristics of Fully Printed Flexible Organic Transistors Fabricated With Low-Cost Mass-Printing Techniques Journal Article In: Electron Devices, IEEE Transactions on, vol. 61, no. 5, pp. 1423-1430, 2014, ISSN: 0018-9383. |
2013 |
A 2.62 MHz 762 µW Cascode Amplifier in Flexible a-IGZO Thin-Film Technology for Textile and Wearable-Electronics Applications Inproceedings In: International Semiconductor Conference Dresden - Grenoble (ISCDG), pp. 1-4, 2013. |
Overview of the EC Project FLEXIBILITY: Organic and Thin-Film ICs up to Radio Frequencies for Multifunctional Flexible Systems (invited) Inproceedings In: SBMO/IEEE MTT-S International Microwave and Optoelectronics Conference (IMOC), Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 2013. |
2012 |
Entwurf integrierter 3D-Systeme der Elektronik Book Springer Vieweg, Berlin, Heidelberg, New York, 2012. |
Verdrahtungsvorhersage im dreidimensionalen Layoutentwurf Book Chapter In: Lienig, Jens; Dietrich, Manfred (Ed.): Entwurf integrierter 3D-Systeme der Elektronik, pp. 175–190, Springer Berlin Heidelberg, Berlin, Heidelberg, 2012, ISBN: 978-3-642-30572-6. |
Pinzuordnungs-Algorithmen zur Optimierung der Verdrahtbarkeit beim hierarchischen Layoutentwurf Book Düsseldorf: VDI Verlag, 2012, ISSN: 0178-9422, (Fortschritt-Berichte VDI). |
Bewertung der Genauigkeit von Verdrahtungsdichtevorhersagen des Layoutentwurfs Inproceedings In: Tagungsband Dresdner Arbeitstagung Schaltungs- und Systementwurf (DASS 2012), pp. 92–97, Fraunhofer Verlag, 2012, ISBN: 978-3-8396-0404-5. |
2011 |
3D Physical Design: Challenges and Solutions Inproceedings In: Proceedings of the edaWorkshop 11, pp. 39–44, VDE Verlag, 2011, ISBN: 978-3-8007-3353-8. |
Interface Optimization for Improved Routability in Chip-Package-Board Co-Design Inproceedings In: System Level Interconnect Prediction (SLIP), 2011 13th International Workshop on, pp. 1–8, 2011, ISBN: 978-1-4577-1240-1. |
2010 |
Herausforderungen bei der Automatisierung des Layoutentwurfs bei dreidimensionalen heterogenen Systemen Journal Article In: Tagungsband Dresdner Arbeitstagung Schaltungs- und Systementwurf (DASS 2010), pp. 37–42, 2010, ISBN: 978-3-8396-0126-6. |
Routability Prediction for Three-Dimensional Circuits Inproceedings In: edacentrum, (Ed.): Tagungsband edaWorkshop 10, pp. 29–34, edacentrum ; Bundesministerium f. Bildung u. Forschung ; Informationstechnische Gesellschaft im VDE ; GI/GMM/ITG-Kooperationsgemeinschaft „Rechnergestützter Schaltungs- und Systementwurf“ VDE Verlag, 2010, ISBN: 978-3-8007-3252-4. |
2009 |
Neue Herausforderungen an die Verdrahtungsvorhersage beim 3D-Layoutentwurf Inproceedings In: Zuverlässigkeit und Entwurf, pp. 99–106, VDE/VDI-Gesellschaft Mikroelektronik, Mikro- und Feinwerktechnik (GMM) VDE Verlag, 2009, ISBN: 978-3-800-73178-7. |
From 3D circuit technologies and data structures to interconnect prediction Inproceedings In: SLIP '09: Proceedings of the 11th international workshop on System level interconnect prediction, pp. 77–84, ACM, San Francisco, CA, USA, 2009, ISBN: 978-1-60558-576-5. |
2008 |
Universal Methodology to Handle Differential Pairs During Pin Assignment Inproceedings In: Piguet, Christian; Reis, Ricardo; Soudris, Dimitrios (Ed.): Proc. of the 16th IFIP/IEEE Int. Conf. on Very Large Scale Integration (VLSI-SoC 2008), pp. 347–352, 2008, ISBN: 978-3-901882-32-6, (Rhode Island, Greece). |
Pinzuordnungs-Algorithmen für hochkomplexe Area-Array-Komponenteny Journal Article In: GMM-Fachbericht ANALOG '08, Siegen, pp. 177–182, 2008, ISBN: 978-3-8007-3083-4. |
Novel Pin Assignment Algorithms for Components with Very High Pin Counts Journal Article In: Design, Automation and Test in Europe, 2008. DATE '08, pp. 837–842, 2008, ISBN: 978-3-9810801-4-8. |
Verdrahtungsoptimierung von Differential Pairs: Berücksichtigung von Differential Pairs bei der automatisierten Pinzuordnung Book 1, VDM Verlag Dr. Müller, 2008, ISBN: 3639016866. |
2006 |
Berücksichtigung von Differential Pairs bei der automatisierten Pinzuordnung Masters Thesis TU Dresden, IFTE; IBM Böblingen, 2006. |
Implementierung von Pin-Zuordnungs-Algorithmen und Design-Analyse-Algorithmen in Sysopt Technical Report IBM Deutschland Entwicklung GmbH 2006. |
2005 |
Optimierung der Pin-Zuordnung bei komplexen Leiterplatten Technical Report Technische Universität Dresden 2005. |