Non-linear (large signal) Millimetre-wave Devices, Circuits and Systems On-Wafer Characterization Facility

移动的电话和它们所实现的通信现在已经成为我们日常生活的重要组成部分。使用移动的技术的人数在20年前几乎没有使用过，现在的人数令人吃惊：独特的移动的用户最近已超过50亿，超过30亿人订阅了移动的宽带服务。这种技术的普及意味着未来社会将以电信为核心，以智能城市等有远见的概念为基础，依靠快速交换信息来优化可用资源和改善人们的生活。因此，第五代（5G）移动的网络将不仅仅是前几代移动的网络的演进。在保持连接设备（如移动的电话）的作用的同时，5G还将提供一个平台来支撑大量服务，包括物联网中数十亿传感器和设备的连接，智能电网控制，自动驾驶，这种移动的电信模式的改变只有在可行的和基本的使能技术的支持下才能发生。特别地，毫米波（mm波）频谱中的通信的使用已经被确定为支持更高数据速率的需求的选择技术。因此，毫米波技术在过去一直被认为是利基市场，现在正在成为一种大众市场技术（到2025年将达到86.9亿美元，来源：Grand View Research），具有巨大的收入潜力，并在电信市场的未来具有明确的战略作用。此外，电信市场推动毫米波技术的普及，也将有利于其他毫米波应用，如雷达和成像系统，这些应用对其他战略市场具有重要影响。（军事和航空航天）。为了使整体高性能的毫米波电子器件能够在能耗、尺寸和成本方面用于这些应用和市场，在单个器件（晶体管）级优化电路是至关重要的。当器件在非线性状态下工作时，这是很难实现的，在非线性状态下，通常的设计近似简单地失败。源和负载牵引测量是表征高频器件非线性工作的事实上的标准方法。实验数据可直接用于关键高频元件（如高效功率放大器）的设计，用于设计套件模型的验证和开发，用于评估新器件技术的改进、可靠性和可重复性，卡迪夫大学的高频工程中心是世界领先的大型高频工程设计中心，高频器件的信号表征和建模。这一地位的实现得益于波形工程和最先进的负载牵引和波形测量系统等新概念的发展，这些系统提供了可靠的实验数据，从而能够及时进行研究并为行业提供支持。然而，由于目前可用的实验装置的频率限制，这一世界领先的地位现在处于危险之中。该提案概述了需要一个新的源/负载牵引能力的毫米波晶圆表征，将扩展测量能力在卡迪夫高达110 GHz。灵活的配置将是独一无二的，并将保证显着的竞争优势，卡迪夫，英国大学和英国工业。它还将通过吸引与世界上最优秀的科学家合作，提升英国研究的国际形象。该系统将在卡迪夫合作伙伴和其他机构和公司之间推广，以进行尖端的合作研究，以及希望获得纯粹测量服务的外部用户。

Mobile telephones and the communications they enable have now become an essential part of our everyday lives. The number of people using mobile technologies, which was practically unused 20 years ago, is astonishing: Unique mobile subscribers have recently exceeded 5 billion, and more than 3 billion people have subscribed to mobile broadband services. The pervasiveness of this technology means that future societies will be built with telecommunications at their heart, with visionary concepts such as Smart-Cities relying on the rapid exchange of information for the optimisation of available resources and the improvement of people's lives. For this reason, 5th generation (5G) of mobile networks will be much more than just an evolution of the previous mobile generations. While maintaining the role of connecting devices, such as mobile telephones, with more than ten times the current data rate, 5G will also provide a platform to underpin a large number of services, including the connection of billions of sensors and devices in the Internet of Things, Smart Grid control, autonomous driving, and remote health care.This paradigm change in mobile telecommunications can only happen if supported by viable and fundamental enabling technologies. In particular, the use of communications in the millimetre-wave (mm-wave) spectrum has been identified as the technology of choice to support the demand in higher data-rates. For this reason, mm-wave technology, which in the past has always been considered as niche, is now becoming a mass-market technology ($8.69B by 2025, source:Grand View Research), with a huge revenue potential and with a clear strategic role in the future of the telecom market. Moreover, the drive from the telecommunications market to make mm-wave technology affordable, will also benefit other mm-wave applications, such as radar and imaging systems that have important consequences on other strategic markets (military and aerospace).To enable the overall high-performance mm-wave electronics for these applications and markets in terms of energy consumption, size and cost, it is crucial to optimise circuits at a single device (transistor) level. This is very difficult to achieve when devices are operating in non-linear regimes, where the usual design approximations simply fail. Source and load-pull measurements are the de-facto standard method of characterising high frequency devices working non-linearly. The experimental data can be used directly in the design of key, high-frequency components such as high-efficiency power amplifiers, in the verification and development of design kit models, to assess the improvement, reliability and repeatability of new device technologies, and to derive and verify new theoretical design concepts.The Centre for High Frequency Engineering at Cardiff University is a world leader in large-signal characterisation and modelling of high-frequency devices. This position has been achieved thanks to the development of novel concepts such as waveform engineering and state-of-the-art load-pull and waveform measurement systems that have provided trusted experimental data, enabling timely research and support to industry. This world-leading position is however now at risk due to the frequency limitations of the current experimental setup available. This proposal outlines the need for a new source/load-pull capability for mm-wave on-wafer characterisation that will extend measurement capabilities at Cardiff up to 110 GHz. The flexible configuration proposed will be unique, and will guarantee significant competitive advantage to Cardiff, UK Universities and UK industry. It will also bolster the international profile of UK research, by attracting collaborations with the world's best scientists. The system will be promoted among Cardiff partners and to other institutions and companies to perform cutting-edge collaborative research, as well as to external users who desire a pure measurement service.