Trends in mmWave devices, ICs and
packaging for electronics test and
measurement
October 2014
Daniel Thomasson, PhD
Director, Keysight HFTC
Trends in mmWave devices, ICs & packaging
for electronics T&M
– Keysight & HFTC Intro
– Market Drivers
– Technology Needs
– IC
– Device Technology
– Packaging
– Summary
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Introduction to Keysight & HFTC
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A Brief History of Keysight
1939–1998: The Hewlett-Packard years
A company founded on electronic measurement innovation
1999–2013: The Agilent Technologies years
Spun off from HP, Agilent became the World’s Premier Measurement Company
In September 2013, announced the spin off its electronic measurement business
2014: Keysight begins operations
Focused 100% on electronic measurement industry
Market Leadership in Core Platforms
Core Platforms
Leadership Position
Electronic
Design
Automation
Highest performance design software used by 2/3 of the
world’s RF/Microwave designers
Network
Analyzers
Highest performance, broadest offering, including
industry-leading PNA-X microwave network analyzers
Signal
Analyzers
Highest performance signal analyzer family, including the
flagship PXA X-Series
Signal
Sources
Highest performance signal generators led by the
industry-standard PSG performance signal generator
Oscilloscopes
Product leadership in high-performance oscilloscopes via
proprietary technology and application expertise
Two new R&D (UXM) and manufacturing (EXM) platforms
One Box Testers for 4G and beyond
Technology for Electronics Measurement
>20 dB Better
…than what our customers need to measure
High Repeatability
Broadband Frequency Coverage
Robust Manufacturability
High Dynamic Range
High Reliability
High Power & Low Noise Floor
High Fidelity / Low Distortion
Low Cost of Ownership
Mod Quality/EVM/Spurs/Harmonics
Long Platform Life
Low Noise
High Mix – Low Volume
Amplitude & Phase Noise
Leading Edge
Manufacturing
T&M Grade
Performance • Value • Quality
High Frequency Technology Center
High-Performance
Invent and deliver world-leading
signal conditioning technology
GaAs • InP • >200 GHz transistors • THz diodes
World-class R&D and manufacturing engineers
75 professionals • 30 PhDs • 140 production
High-Mix
13 core technologies
200+ IC products
High-Complexity Low-Volume
55,000 process steps completed per mo
555 process steps per wafer
2500 wafers • 3M chips/yr
High-Quality
4000 ft2 Reliability Lab
100% dc/rf KGD
Basic
Research
Applied
Research
Development
University Access
Design
HFTC
NPI
Mfg
Tech Access
Design & Development
Pilot & Production
Photo removed
R&D & Production Rel
HFTC mmWave
Enabling the 90000 Q-series 63 GHz Oscilloscope
mmWave Chipset
Innovative Technology…
63 GHz
Microcircuits
• mmWave InP HBT, PHEMT and Schottky MMICs and Diodes
• Precision Hybrid Microcircuit solutions deliver 63 GHz
• Innovative architecture
Enables Differentiation…
• Industry’s highest real time bandwidth - 63 GHz on two channels
• Industry’s highest 4-channel bandwidth - 33 GHz, 160 GS/s
• Industry’s lowest noise and jitter measurement floor
• Industry’s deepest memory - 2 Gpts
… in the World’s Most Accurate Real time
Oscilloscope
Acquisition Board
Enabling Leading Products
OPD
Infiniium 90000 X-Series
Oscilloscope
G-Rex InP chipset
highest bandwidth
best signal fidelity
OPD
Infiniium 9000 Series
Oscilloscope
superior reliability
excellent signal fidelity
OPD
86100D Infiniium DCA-X
Oscilloscope
Chameleon InP chipset
comprehensive jitter
analysis
MCD
EXG and MXG
Signal Generators
golden transmitter
in R&D
MCD
N9030A PXA
Signal Analyzer
flagship lead in
dynamic range &
phase noise
MCD
E6607A EXT
Wireless Comms. Test Set
performance and speed
across multiple
radio standards
CTD
FieldFox
Handheld Analyzer
world’s highest
performance handheld
CTD
PNA-X
Network Analyzer
303 MMICs, 31 designs
widest range of
single-connection
measurements
ETD
N9403B J-BERT
Serial BERT
industry’s best
pulse fidelity
Market Drivers for mmWave in T&M
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Millimeter-Wave Test & Measurement Market
two broad segments
Aerospace & Defense
Digital Communications
traditional
frequency-domain (FD) drivers
new
time-domain (TD) drivers
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Global Internet Traffic
users  access rates & methods  services
http://www.ieee802.org/3/ad_hoc/bwa/BWA_Report.pdf
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The Next Ten Years
– Today’s reality: immediate availability of data,
always and everywhere
• fixed and mobile computing devices with high
data bandwidth
• cloud storage with large-capacity data
centers, network access
• broadband wired and wireless networks
– Tomorrow’s vision: the interconnection of people
and things
• but both people and machines create and
consume data
• the ‘the internet of things’ (IoT)
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Ethernet
the next ten years: 100Gbaud for 1TbE
Major challenges:
•
technical: baud rate, channel
density and power/bit
•
economic: cost/bit
•
market: hit the window
• represents a very strong future TD driver
• TD instruments must keep up
to support new standards
adapted from http://www.ieee802.org/3/ad_hoc/bwa/BWA_Report.pdf, “The need for speed: beyond 100GbE,” OFC 2013 Panel #2, and
http://www.nanog.org/meetings/nanog52/presentations/Tuesday/hankins-100-gbe-and-beyond.pdf
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Mobile
the next ten years: 5G is mmWave cellular
– revolutionary, not evolutionary
5G
2020
today
today
•
speed: 10Gb/s, 100× faster than 4G
•
latency: 1ms for M2M and IoT
•
mobility: available everywhere
•
density: very crowded
•
low cost, low energy
–
safe assumptions
•
microwave & mmWave frequencies:
10-50, 60, 70-80GHz, …
•
wide bandwidths: 500MHz to 3GHz
•
new antenna technologies:
steerable arrays, massive MIMO
Gerhard P. Fettweis, ”5G – what will it be: the tactile internet,” IEEE ICC, Jun 2013.
A. Osseiran, “Mobile and wireless communications system for 2020 and beyond (5G),” ITU-R 2020 Vision Workshop, 12 Feb 2014, available at
https://www.metis2020.com/documents/presentations/.
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The Result…
Broadband Instrument Bandwidth
Bandwidth (GHz)
1000
100
frequency domain
VNA and SA
2× every ~15yr
10
1
1960
time-domain
real-time oscilloscope
2× every ~3yr
1970
VNA
1980
SA
1990
2000
Year of Introduction
RT scope
FD trend
2010
2020
TD trend
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T&M Technology Needs
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CMOS – Impressive Achievements
From: http://www.digitaltonto.com/2011/4-digital-laws/
CMOS Performance and Density Continue to Advance
CMOS mm-wave research/product development on-going
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CMOS – 70-85 GHz Example
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CMOS – Analog Limitations
Logic Levels
6
Logic Level (Volts)
5
4
Logic Levels
3
2
1
0
1980
1990
2000
2010
2020
Break Down Voltages drop as Ft & Fmax Increase
Limits Dynamic Range and Broad-Band Power
CMOS not the T&M solution …
Limited Voltage Swing
Limited Dynamic Range
Limited Linearity
Very limited BB power
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T&M Requirements
Source Block Diagram
Challenges
Broad Bandwidths DC – 110+ GHz
High Dynamic Range -130dBm to +30dBm
Extreme Linearity 50 dBm TOI, 75 to 90dBc ACPR
Low Spurious, Low Harmonics, Low Phase Noise
Spectrum Analyzer Block Diagram
PXI and Handheld-Specific Challenges
DC Power Dissipation
Costs
Size
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Challenges to Integration
10MHz – 110GHz
20Vpp Swings
100dB Isolation
90dBc Spurs
90+dBc ACPR
45 - 55 dBm TOI
80dBc ACPR
3Hz – 110GHz
20Vpp Swings
70dB Isolation
Low Loss Switches
Very High Drive
Very High TOI
130dB Isolation
Low Noise Amps
Performance Expectations
• Broadband, 50 ohm Equipment
• 30 dBm Power Handling, 20Vpp
• Better Performance than DUT
- commercial system ~40dBc ACPR
- test system ~75dBc ACPR
Isolation
• Chip Isolation Decreases with Frequency
• ~40dB typical 30GHz
• Often need >100 dB
Optimum Technology Differs by
Functional Block
• CMOS – digital
• GaN – power
• HBTs – gain, complex analog
• YIGs, Cavities, etc. - Filters
• etc.
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IC Trends
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MMIC Portfolio
>200 IC products covering
Amplifiers
DC to >100GHz
Mixers & Multipliers
Switches & Attenuators
Digital MMICs
Detectors
Shocklines & 3 Samplers
Limiters
IQ Modulators
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Page
Trends for mmW T&M ICs
Top Drivers
– frequency (bandwidth)
mmW T&M IC Trends
– spectral efficiency (bit/Hz)
– multiple semi technologies
– cost (economics)
– analog, digital & microwave design
techniques in same IC
• higher levels of integration
– fast transistors
• lower cost of test
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Page
Single-Ended Amplifiers
broadband and banded topologies
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Page 29
Broadband Differential Amplifiers
limiting and linear topologies
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Page 30
Mixed-Signal ICs
money-specs = analog characteristics of digital signal
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Page 31
Mixed-Signal ICs
coming soon: fully distributed mixed-signal ICs
• IC design methodology changes dramatically when the physical element sizes > 10% of a wavelength
• future mixed-signal ICs designed to operate at the fastest data rates will cross this threshold, becoming
‘distributed’ mixed-signal ICs, a term usually reserved for amplifiers
min length of a distributed element
distributed design
wavelength at 120GHz ~ 1mm
min length of a distributed element
wavelength at 30GHz ~ 4mm
lumped design
mixer
amplifier
flip-flop
amplifier
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Device Technology Trends
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mmWave Transistors
Instrumentation requirements
‒ Broad bandwidth
‒ High power
‒ Low noise
‒ Excellent quality/reliability
‒ Cost per Q
‒ IC Development cost
Material
mn
Vsat
Eg
Ebr
2
7
(eV) (cm /Vs) (10 cm/s) (MV/cm) JFOMx/JFOMSi
Diamond
n-GaN
n-SiC
n-InP
n-GaAs
n-Si
5.5
3.4
3.3
1.4
1.4
1.1
1900
1500
300
4500
5000
1300
2.0
2.5
2.0
1.0
0.8
0.8
5.6
3.0
2.2
0.5
0.4
0.3
47
31
18
2.1
1.3
1.0
In0.53 Ga0.47 As
n-Ge
0.8
0.7
11000
3900
0.8
0.6
0.2
0.2
0.7
0.5
Johnson’s FOM = vsat*Ebr/2p. Data from /www.ioffe.ru/SVA/NSM
Important devices
‒ GaN HEMT
‒ InP HEMT / GaAs mHEMT
‒ InP & SiGe HBT
SHINOHARA et al.: SCALING OF GaN HEMTs AND SCHOTTKY DIODES
IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON ELECTRON DEVICES, VOL. 60, NO. 10, OCT2013
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GaN HEMT
Intrinsically Advantageous Material System
‒ Wide bandgap, large BV → high power
‒ 2DEG density 5-10X higher than other III-V
‒ High electron mobility and saturated velocity
‒ Many strong GaN programs
Promise
‒ Ft, Fmax > 300 GHz (production quality)
‒ IC bandwidth > 200GHz (production quality)
Challenges
Trap related effects!
‒ Instrument level quality and reliability
‒ Instrument level noise, linearity, signal integrity
‒ Integration for 1000Q ICs
‒ Modeling and design infrastructure
‒ T&M needs a Watt with fantastic signal integrity and
stability more than 10 Watts with compromised SI
Pout = 18 dBm
HRL 70-110GHz GaN-based PA – from “WPA” datasheet
Expect to be significant for targeted T&M
applications
SHINOHARA et al. IEDM2011 pp. 19.1.1
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GaAs mHEMT / InP HEMT Status
Very high frequency, not much breakdown
‒ InGaAs 2DEG has high electron mobility
‒ BV and power limit by narrow InGaAs bandgap
‒ Few players
Promise
‒ Scaling of gates to < 50 nm
‒ Ft, Fmax > 1 THz
‒ IC bandwidth > 400 GHZ
Challenges
− Power slump at moderate drain voltages
− Low integration limits functionality
Niche player getting pressed by other
technologies.
Wins at very highest frequencies
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SiGe HBTs
−
−
−
Benefits: fast, high integration→ order(s) magnitude more transistors than III-V
Challenges: low breakdown voltage, high NRE mask costs relative to low vol T&M
SiGe makes sense in many applications and we design in it when volumes justify
Ruker et al, SiRF 2012 pp133
Technology for highest integration,
when low voltage ok, high volumes
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InP HBTs
Benefits
– Much higher breakdown voltage than SiGe HBTs
→ Higher output voltage/power
– Very high speed (heading to THz)
– Higher integration levels versus HEMTs
– Much lower development cost as internal foundry
Lobisser, IPRM, 2012
Future Direction
– higher integration, faster
High performance and broad
applicability to T&M.
Xu, CSICS, 2014
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T&M mmWave Device Summary
Technology
Future
Mature GaAs
Fully meets many needs. Cheap. Important for long time
to come.
GaN
Significant for targeted BB power applications, especially
where GaAs has reached limits.
InP HEMT/mHEMT
Niche player. Ultra-high frequency only.
SiGe HBT
Many applications. Fast & high integration, but low
breakdown and more costly for high mix-low-vol.
InP HBTs
Fast & high breakdown w/ moderate integration. Many
applications now. Workhorse.
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mmW Packaging
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T&M Packaging Technologies
Key Attributes
Drivers
•
Reliability (environmental)
•
Increased IC power dissipation
•
Performance (loss/isolation/match)
•
Increased IC functionality – I/O count
•
‘Right sized’ for the application (cost/size)
•
Higher frequency
•
Support ICs (CTE/thermal/bias/mechanical)
•
Higher density
From 2-port, 1-source
To 4-port, 2-sources
26-50-67GHz
PXI format
Up to 32-port 26 GHz
VNA per mainframe
Handheld
No-vents, battery powered
26GHz VNA, SA, power meter
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(#) New MMIC/QFN, R=recent release ramp
Packaging Value Model
Total Solution Cost
SMT
Hybrid uckt
Hybrid
In PCB
Hybrid
Hybrid on
PCB
SMT
Performance (freq, integration, isolation, power handling etc.)
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SMT
QFN section
Die
•
Flexibility in layout and integration
•
On-going push for high speed PCBs
•
QFN (Quad Flat-pack Non-leaded)
• Plastic encapsulated
• Industry standard
• Flexible sizes
• Minimize lead inductance
• Microwave performance
Cu Leadframe
Lands
Mold Compound
Gold Wire
High Density PCA
microwave
performance at
PCB cost
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Hybrid
•
Traditional – proven microcircuit technology
•
Performance to 110GHz and beyond
•
Optimal thermal environment
•
Hermetic possible
•
Supports 3D designs
mmWave & sub-mmWave
premium solution
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Summary
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Materials Device
Science Physics Semiconductor
Process
Reliability
Technologies
&
Statistics
MMIC
Design
EM simulation & Modeling
MMIC Onwafer Test
Thin Films
(TF)
T&M mmWave Technology
T&M solutions must be flexible
MMIC Pkg
Modules &
applications
Connectors
(PMTC)
MicroMachining
(PMTC)
Demands premium signal conditioning
Unique requirements
Calibration
(CTD)
mm-wave mfg & test
Diverse technology needs
Drives different tech choices
Preliminary
PXA2’s Cross Functional Milestones
Exciting challenges
Many opportunities
FE
FW support of 1st LO, 140/255 MHz switch and LO nulling
8/29(SW work starts)
Full System
AIF255
LO/reference
1st integration (Using external cal and doing some temperature testing)
1st integration, measure high band phase noise, gage performance of FEC & LO
10/3
10/3
Integration &
Decision onUC Davis DMRC
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