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6.776  High Speed Communications Circuits

Spring 2006

Instructor: Joel L Dawson

TA: Jack W Holloway

Lecture:  TR1-2.30  (36-112)        

Information: 

Text

Lee, Thomas H. The Design of CMOS Radio-Frequency Integrated Circuits, 2nd Edition. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2004. ISBN: 0 521 83539 9

Introduction
Communications systems represent an incredible integration of the basics of our field. Expertise in device physics, thermodynamics, the theory of linear and nonlinear systems, control theory, circuit design, E&M, communications theory, and digital signal processing all find application to the problem of communications system design.

This semester we focus on radio-frequency (RF) circuit design for wireless systems. We will have a great deal to say about design techniques, and you will begin to develop the skills of an RF designer. However, we also stress the why of RF circuit design. Why do we design at such high frequencies? Why do we design for low noise? Why do we like our amplifiers linear? Understanding the answers to these questions will help you apply your expertise in RF circuits to the next hot research topic, and to other engineering fields of interest to you.

Prerequisites
The prerequisite for this course is 6.301 Solid-State Circuits, or equivalent. By “equivalent,” we mean experience in designing analog circuits to demanding specifications, and in getting them to work in the laboratory. It is also assumed that you have had some exposure to feedback systems.

Announcements

Lab 2 reports graded, final reports done

Hi Everyone,

Lab 2 reports are graded, as are your final problem sets. Both can be picked up with my administrative assistant, Rhonda, in room 39-527. Also, remember to return your lab kits to John Sweeney on the fifth floor.

Thanks for a great term, everyone. Have a terrific summer.

Cheers,

Joel

Announced on 30 May 2006  10:46  a.m. by Joel Dawson

Need teams to show off their final projects!

Hi all,

Could I get a couple of volunteers to show off their 6.776 projects? The department wants to photograph students using the lab equipment, and that brand new Tektronix spectrum analyzer was a big purchase. I need two groups to photograph right after class tomorrow. Let me know.

Also, for those of you presenting tomorrow, I will be working actively to limit presenations to 20 minutes. This will give us time to wrap up, and to do the course evaluations for this year.

Best,

Joel

Announced on 17 May 2006  2:13  p.m. by Joel Dawson

Project presentations

Hi Everyone,

The presentation schedule is set for next week. Presentations should be about 20 minutes. There will be an overhead projector if you want to use foils, and if you prefer a laptop I will bring one. You'll need to either email me your slides beforehand, or bring them on a flash drive.


5/16 Tuesday

1. Sungwon/Sanquan
2. Tim/Tao

5/18 Thursday

1. Tania/Ravi

2. Warit/Al

3. Robert

Looking forward to it,

Joel

Announced on 11 May 2006  5:18  p.m. by Joel Dawson

Lab 2 Checkoffs

Hi Everyone,

We just completed the Lab 2 checkoffs for this semester! I couldn't be happier with how they went. Every group went after the optimization in a different way, and that is exactly what I was hoping for. Congratulations on a great effort.

For your presentations, it is really going to be important to explain your circuits in a clear way. As a general guideline, your classmates will be interested in what was different about your implementation. At a lower level, this means your buffer circuit, the topology you chose for your dithering modulator, and your approach to designing the dynamics of your PLL. At a higher level, this means describing your optimization. Be sure to talk about what problem you decided to go after, why you thought your method would help, what the actual results were, and why those results might have differed from your initial thoughts.

Great job!

Best,

Joel

Announced on 08 May 2006  5:29  p.m. by Joel Dawson

Slides for BitWave Semiconductor lecture

Hi Everyone,

I just put up the slides from Thursday's guest speakers for those of you who are interested. They really enjoyed talking to you, and appreciated the good questions that you had.

This coming Tuesday, we'll have Prof. Mike Perrott coming in to talk about advanced PLL techniques. Because of the work you've already done on your final projects, I expect that you'll be well-prepared to appreciate the issues that he will discuss.

Have a great weekend, and see you in class!

Best,

Joel

Announced on 05 May 2006  2:57  p.m. by Joel Dawson

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