Experimental Verification of RF Stress Effect on Cascode Class-E PA Performance and Reliability

Yuan, J.S.; Yen, Hsuan-Der; Chen, Shuyu; Wang, Ruey-Lue; Huang, Guo–Wei; Juang, Ying‐Zong; Tu, Chih-Ho; Yeh, Wen–Kuan; Ma, Jun

doi:10.1109/tdmr.2011.2179548

Cited by 15 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 21 publications

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“…Encouraged by the results from the simple RF circuit, we applied the split manufacturing method and the same security analysis procedure to a Class E power amplifier, which we recently designed, calibrated and fabricated [19]. This Class E power amplifier works at a frequency of 5.2 GHz under 0.18-µm technology and delivers 12.5 dBm output power and 25% power-added efficiency.…”

Section: Experimentationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…It is clear that the inductors occupy the majority of the RF circuit, which leads the attackers to easily identify that the missing components are inductors. Furthermore, the sample circuit caters to a boosting technique of power-added efficiency (see the loop of M 2 , L tr and C tr [19]); therefore, even though only a few interconnections are missing, the attackers may still be unable to recover the circuit topology. Figure 13.…”

Section: Experimentationmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Beyond the Interconnections: Split Manufacturing in RF Designs

Yuan

Jin

2015

Electronics

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With the globalization of the integrated circuit (IC) design flow of chip fabrication, intellectual property (IP) piracy is becoming the main security threat. While most of the protection methods are dedicated for digital circuits, we are trying to protect radio-frequency (RF) designs. For the first time, we applied the split manufacturing method in RF circuit protection. Three different implementation cases are introduced for security and design overhead tradeoffs, i.e., the removal of the top metal layer, the removal of the top two metal layers and the design obfuscation dedicated to RF circuits. We also developed a quantitative security evaluation method to measure the protection level of RF designs under split manufacturing. Finally, a simple Class AB power amplifier and a more sophisticated Class E power amplifier are used for the demonstration through which we prove that: (1) the removal of top metal layer or the top two metal layers can provide high-level protection for RF circuits with a lower request to domestic foundries; (2) the design obfuscation method provides the highest level of circuit protection, though at the cost of design overhead; and (3) split manufacturing may be more suitable for RF designs than for digital circuits, and it can effectively reduce IP piracy in untrusted off-shore foundries.

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Section: Experimentationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Experimentationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Beyond the Interconnections: Split Manufacturing in RF Designs

Yuan

Jin

2015

Electronics

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“…However, it is worth noting that existing literatures on class-E PA reliability are mainly focused on the gate oxide stress, hot-carrier stress, voltage stress and radio frequency (RF) stress (Mazzanti et al, 2006;Song et al, 2010;Yuan et al, 2012;Larcher et al, 2006;Apotolidou et al, 2009;Fritzin et al, 2010;Lin et al, 2005;Lin et al, 2004). Furthermore, the high-efficiency and switch-mode operation are the major characteristics for the class-E PA in wireless communication application, which are extremely vulnerable and sensitive to the variation of temperature (Akita et al, 2001).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Study of temperature reliability for a parallel high-efficiency class-E power amplifier

Lin

Wu²,

2017

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Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate the temperature reliability for a parallel high-efficiency class-E power amplifier (PA). Design/methodology/approach To explore the relationship between temperature and direct current (DC) characteristics, output power, S parameters and efficiency of the PA quantitatively, a series of reliability experiments have been designed and conducted to study the temperature reliability for this PA. Findings From the results, the prominent performance degradation even failure is found during the testing. Furthermore, the thermal shock test can cause permanent failure, which is a great threat for PA. Research limitations/implications Therefore, to ensure the good performance, the influence of temperature on PA reliability should be carefully considered during the stage of PA design. Practical implications All these can provide important guidance for the reliability design of PA. Social implications All these can give some important guidance for PA application. Originality/value In addition, PA is usually designed according to the electrical properties at the room temperature. From the results above, it can be concluded that it may be unable to satisfy the performance requirement at high temperature. In turn, if it is designed according to the electrical properties at low temperature, the transistor often works in the super-saturated state, the reliability of PA will become the new problem. Therefore, to ensure the good performance, the influence of temperature on PA reliability should be carefully considered during the design.

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Power Amplifier Reliability

Yuan

2016

CMOS RF Circuit Design for Reliability and Variability

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Experimental Verification of RF Stress Effect on Cascode Class-E PA Performance and Reliability

Cited by 15 publications

References 21 publications

Beyond the Interconnections: Split Manufacturing in RF Designs

Beyond the Interconnections: Split Manufacturing in RF Designs

Study of temperature reliability for a parallel high-efficiency class-E power amplifier

Power Amplifier Reliability

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