Low-cost test, diagnosis, and tuning for adaptive radio frequency systems

Abstract

The continuing trend of miniaturization in semiconductor devices has enabled the integration of complex functionalities on-chip, leading to a proliferation of wireless devices for both mobile and in-office applications. The use of scaled CMOS technologies for high-frequency wireless devices is posing daunting technological challenges, both in the design and post-manufacture testing of such devices. The issue of device power consumption and heat dissipation is also dominating future wireless transceiver designs. This is driven by the trend of increasing operating speeds coupled with dense integration of multi-mode functionalities onto compact form-factors on-chip. In this thesis, a framework for reliable low-power operation of wireless devices is presented. The presented approaches significantly reduce device test costs during production, and operate the device at very low power consumption levels during field operation of the device. Low-cost test, diagnosis, and tuning techniques to reduce to reduce test cost of devices and operational reliability in field. To reduce device power consumption during field operation, adaptation is performed continuously while ensuring that system-level performance metrics are never violated. This approach has direct implications for boosting the battery life of portable wireless devices while ensuring their operational reliability.