Working towards FOSS RF IC design in SKY130
- Speakers: Jelle Verest
- email: j.n.g.w.verest@tue.nl
Downloads
Abstract
In this talk, the fully open source Skywater 130nm BiCMOS process design kit (PDK) is characterized for radio frequency integrated circuit (RFIC) design. The process design kit (PDK) has FETs with fT/fmax of 63/121 GHz, but contains no noise in its models. The omission of noise modeling in devices in the PDK is mended via Hajimiri's impulse sensitivity function theory and the standard Skywater recommended tool-chain is appended with an open source EM solver. An X-Band LC-Voltage Controlled Oscillator (VCO) is presented as demonstration of these additions. The VCO has a center frequency of f0 = 9.95 GHz, with a tuning range of 16% and a phase noise at f0 of -112 dBc/Hz at an offset of 1 MHz and a figure-of-merit FoM = 183.
Files
The files created during this project can be found on Github. These include:
- A KLayout PCell library for inductors in SKY130
- A GDS to FastFieldSolver converter
- Xschem files for the 10 GHz VCO