Collaborative Research:Cross-Domain Built-In Tuning of Advanced Mixed- Signal Radio-Frequncy Systems-on-Chip For Yield Recovery and Electrical Stress Management

这项研究将对集成电路(IC)的设计做出重大贡献，集成电路是所有计算、通信和传感系统的关键部件。拟议的研究是多学科的，涵盖混合信号/模拟/射频(RF)设计和仿真以及计算机科学等领域。该计划亦载有一套全面的外展活动计划，以及将研究和教育结合起来的计划，这些活动对提升科学和工程工作能力至为重要。参与这项计划的研究生将接受不同范畴的跨学科训练，包括电气、电脑工程和电脑科学。此外，还将探索和发展与其他系统级设计学科的多学科联系。这些学生将参加暑期实习生项目，并参与实际行业的测试案例。这将促进向行业的技术转让，也将挑战PI和学生解决影响本研究开发的技术商业化的实际问题。这项研究将通过会议和期刊论文、专利以及工作硬件原型的演示来传播。PI和共同PI将尽最大努力让佐治亚理工学院和普渡大学的本科生参与研究项目。也可以通过高级设计项目让本科生参与到这项研究中来。因此，该项目的资金将支持招募更多美国公民、妇女和少数族裔参加G.Tech和普渡未来混合信号/RF/毫米波电路和系统研究生课程的目标，这些电路和系统采用激进的CMOS工艺技术制造，需要使用内置自调整机制在其整个生命周期中积极调整性能。需要开发新的算法和片上基础设施来高效地调整这些器件的大量参数(例如偏置电流、匹配网络)，以提高制造效率并降低现场维护成本。如果没有这样的调整机制，就很难以低成本将新的先进电子产品推向市场。这项研究将利用多维优化和监督学习技术，为高性能无线通信系统的跨域(跨不同电路模块，包括数字补偿)内建调谐开发新的工程原理。将使用智能内置测试方法来暴露与每个设备对应的工艺参数。这些信息以及来自晶圆图的工艺数据和来自内置传感器的测试响应数据将用于调整复杂的无线系统，以实现多输入多输出(MIMO)波束形成和极地无线电。此外，现场调整还将用于通过重新分配电气退化产生的电应力来延长现场设备的使用寿命。开发的核心概念将适用于一系列混合信号/模拟/高速设备，如有线局域网(WLAN)系统、传感器网络、汽车控制系统等。

This research will make significant contributions to Integrated Circuits (ICs) design which are critical components in all computing, communications and sensing systems. The proposed research is multidisciplinary, spanning the fields of mixed-signal/ analog/Radio-Frequency (RF) design and simulation as well as computer science. It also contains a comprehensive plan for outreach activities and integration of research and education which are essential for enhancing the scientific and engineering workforce.The graduate students working on the project will receive cross-disciplinary training across diverse areas of electrical and computer engineering and computer science. In addition, the multi-disciplinary links to other system-level design disciplines will be explored and developed. The students will participate in summer internship programs with industry and work on real industry test cases. This will facilitate technology transfer to industry and will also challenge the PIs and students to address practical issues that impact commercialization of the technology developed in this research. The research will be disseminated through conference and journal papers, patents as well as demonstrations of working hardware prototypes. The PI and co-PI will make maximum efforts to involve undergraduate students at Georgia Tech and at Purdue in the research project. It will also be possible to involve undergraduate project students in this research through senior design projects. Thus, funding for this project will support the goals of recruiting more U.S. citizens, women and minorities to graduate programs at G.Tech and Purdue Mixed-signal/RF/mm-wave Circuits and systems of the future, manufactured with aggressive CMOS processing technologies will need to be tuned aggressively for performance throughout their life cycle using built-in self-tuning mechanisms. New algorithms and on-chip infrastructure need to be developed for tuning large numbers of parameters (e.g. bias currents, matching networks) of these devices efficiently to improve manufacturing yield and reduce field maintenance costs. Without such tuning mechanisms it will be difficult to introduce new advanced electronic products into the marketplace at low cost. This research will develop new engineering principles for cross-domain (across different circuit modules including digital compensation) built-in tuning of high performance wireless communication systems using multi-dimensional optimization and supervised learning techniques. Intelligent built-in testing methods will be used to expose the process parameters corresponding to each device. This information along with process data from wafer maps and test response data from built-in sensors will be used to tune complex wireless systems for Multiple-Input-Multiple Output (MIMO) beamforming and polar radio. In addition, field tuning will also be applied to extending the useful life of devices in the field by redistributing electrical stresses from electrical degradation. The core concepts developed will be applicable to a host of mixed-signal/analog/high-speed devices such as Wired-Local-Area Network(WLAN) systems, sensor networks, automobile control systems,and others.