Nonlinear Electronics Research Facility
Equipment and Tools
- RF Network Measurements - 300 kHz to 50 GHz
- Nonlinear Network Measurements (up to 5th order) - 1 Hz to 10 MHz
- Access to Large-Signal Nonlinear Network Measurements - to 110 GHz
- Pulsed-I(V) - 100 ns with APSPA
- Automated Intermodulation measurements - 2-tone to 6 GHz
- Access to Pulsed RF - HP85108 and APSPA
- Semiconductor Parameter Analysers - HP4145
- TDFD Intermodulation measurments - 110 dB dynamic range
- On-wafer device probing - Cascade probe station with thermal stage
Software Tools
- Networked automation of measurements with advanced scripting
- Simulation with SPICE, MWOffice, and ADS
- Parameter analysis and extraction software - MathCad
Workshop Facilities
- Fabrication of microwave and surface-mount circuits
- Mechanical component fabrication
Analysis and Modelling Techniques
Transistor characterization and modeling
Models implementations to describe thermal and trapping dynamics of
transistors.
- Time-evolution characteristics measured with the Arbitrary Pulsed Semiconductor Parameter Analyser
- Intermodulation tone-spacing/bias surface analysis
- Analysis of total and trapping charge storage
- Symmetric and infinitely continuous mathematical representations
- Parameter extraction for deriving scalable descriptions of
device access elements and account for access elements and scaling
- New models, such as the PSmodel and
Mongoose project, characterize distortion and dispersion.
- Descriptions of heating and trapping that give rise to anomalous behavior and dispersion effects
Distortion and intermodulation measurement and simulation
Analysis of distortion in all
circuit configurations or operating conditions give an unprecedented view of the distortion characteristics
of devices that is essential to the correct development of
simulation models.
- Volterra-series measurement and extraction
- Classical two-tone adapted to observe memory effects
in tone-spacing (memory) versus bias measurements
- Total Difference-frequency Distortion Technique for
very large dynamic range
- Bias, load, frequency, and power level, dependence of intermodulation
Pulse Measurement
CNERF is home to the Arbitrary Pulse Semiconductor Parameter Analyzer (
APSPA). This powerful instrument routinely measures data essential to the understanding of device behavior:
- Dispersion characteristics of transistors
- Time-evolution characteristics of transistors
- Arbitrary stress and breakdown characteristics
Simulators
- High resolution distortion analysis using DFT techniques in SPICE
- Techniques that ensure infinitely differentiable mathematical representations
gives models that operate with greater reliability and speed
- Efficient descriptions of rate dependence
- Charge conserving capacitance implementations
- Use of popular simulators and installation new models
Modeling and simulation techniques are based on both time-domain
simulators such as SPICE and harmonic balanced simulators such as
ADS and MWOffice.
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