Applied RF Circuit Engineering Certificate 

Applied RF Circuit Engineering Certificate is a 3-day training program covering key RF circuit engineering principles.

The RF Circuit Engineering Specialized Certificate provides professionals with the positioning to take advantage of the technological advances in both the commercial and military arenas. You will learn the fundamental principles of RF systems and the design of practical, cost-effective RF subsystems and their translation into practical integrated circuits or full RF systems. Also reviewed are the key concepts of simulating, testing and validating RF systems.

Radio-Frequency Integrated-Circuit Engineering addresses the concepts, theory, analysis and design of passive and active RFIC’s using Si-based CMOS and Bi-CMOS technologies, and other non-silicon-based technologies. Key aspects of RF transceivers applied to IoT, sensors mobile phones, autonomous vehicles, 5G and mmWave, WiFi, Bluetooth devices, microwave systems, SATCOM, space communications, military applications, radars, radios and other commercial and defense systems.

Course Highlights:

• RF Introduction and Background
• RF Devices Theory and Applications
• RF Parameters
• RF Passive and Active Components and Devices
• RF Sub-Systems Requirements
• RF System Architectures
• RF System Impairments
• RF Systems Chrematistic and Performance
• RF Systems Concepts and Designs
• RF Amplifier Design
• RF Amplifiers, Coupling Structures, Filters, Mixers and Oscillators Design
• RF Filter Design
• Coupling Structures, Couplers, Dividers
• Impedance Matching
• Mixers
• Oscillators
• Resonators
• Transmission Lines
• S-Parameters and Smith Chart

By the end of this course, the attendees would be able to:

• Learn more about Electrical engineering topics in EM, RF, and circuits to understand and design RFICs
• Differentiate the Circuit Component Behavior at RF frequencies
• Identify the Design Constraints at RF and Microwave/mmWave frequencies
• Explore different RF Design Tools
• Design RF Amplifies, Mixers, Filters, Dividers, Combiners, Oscillators and other sub blocks
• Identify essential elements in EM and microwave engineering, passive and active RFICs, RFIC analysis and design techniques, and RF systems vital for RFIC engineers
• Explore analog and microwave engineering approaches for RFIC design at high frequencies
• Develop understanding of key design parameters, understand data sheets
• Understand integration of RF circuits into products
• Understand frequency and timing considerations for RF circuits

Who should attend:

Technical personnel involved with RF system design/operations, Engineers and managers engaged or expect to be engaged in the specification, procurement, design and development, testing, and operation of current and future RF systems.

Course Outline

• Review of Electromagnetic Waves
  • Frequency ranges: low-frequency, medium frequency, high frequency, ultra-high frequency, extremely high frequency
  • Microwaves
  • Maxwell equations
  • Skin effect
  • Magnetic fields
  • Review of frequency domain, power spectrum, FFT
  • Review of dB units: relative vs. absolute, dBm, dBc, dBi, etc.
• Review of basic Electronic Components used in RF Circuits
  • Passive components vs. Active components
  • Passive components: capacitors, inductors, resistors, crystals, balluns, antennas
  • Power amplifiers
  • Low-noise amplifiers
  • Mixers
  • Phase-locked loops
  • voltage-controlled oscillator (VCO)
  • Data Converters: analog-to-digital converters (ADCs) and digital-to-analog converters (DACs)
  • RF Semiconductors: gallium nitride (GaN), gallium arsenide (GaAs), and silicon germanium (SiGe)
  • RF measurement tools: vector network analyzers, spectrum analyzers, waveform generators
• Review of basic communication systems
  • Components: transmitter, receiver, system-on-chip (SoC), local oscillator, balun, matching circuit, filter, antenna
  • Receiver architecture: super heterodyne receiver, Image rejection receiver
  • Antennas: PCB antennas, whip antennas, chip antennas
  • Modulation and demodulation
  • Amplitude Modulation (AM), Frequency Modulation (FM), Phase Modulation (PM)
  • Digital Modulation: Amplitude Shift Keying (ASK), Frequency Shift Keying (FSK), Phase Shift Keying (PSK)
• Essentials of Transmission Lines and Smith chart
  • lumped element equivalent of transmission lines
  • Transmission line geometry: cable, trace, microstrip
  • Characteristic impedance of transmission lines
  • Reflections, reflection coefficient, VSWR, S-parameters
  • Lambda/4 lines, lambda/2 lines
  • Impedance transformation networks: L network, transmission line transformer, bridge balun, inductive coupler, capacitive coupler
  • Impedance and admittance matching with the Smith chart
  • Normalized impedance Smith chart
  • Resistance, capacitance, inductance and the Smith chart
  • Impedance transformations with Smith chart
  • VSWR on the Smith chart
• Impedance Matching
  • Complex impedance, reactance
  • Real power vs. reactive power
  • Matching tradeoff: bandwidth, complexity, implementation, adjustability
  • Characteristic impedance
  • Maximum power theorem
  • L-networks, quarter-wave transformer, stub-tuning (single and double)
  • Matching networks, baluns, antenna tuners, terminators, transformers
  • Load matching, source matching
• RF Amplifiers
  • RF amplifier classes
  • BJT and MOSFET based amplifiers
  • Driver amplifiers
  • Differential amplifiers
  • Gain blocks
  • Low-noise amplifiers
  • Power amplifiers
  • RF amplifiers bias controllers
  • Wideband distributed amplifiers
  • Amplifier biasing: active and passive biasing circuits / temperature dependence
• Principle of Oscillation
  • Frequency ranges of operation
  • Basic linear harmonic oscillator circuits: RC, LC oscillators, piezoelectric crystal oscillators
  • Oscillators in RF applications: voltage-controlled oscillators (VCOs), phase-locked loops (PLLs), frequency synthesizers
  • Advanced high-frequency oscillators: negative frequency oscillators, negative differential resistance, non-linear oscillators
• RF Filter Design
  • Metrics: cut-off frequency, quality factor, resonance frequency
  • Insertion loss, ripple, bandwidth, shape factor, rejection
  • Transfer function (frequency domain analysis)
  • Low-pass, bandpass, high-pass filter designs, design tables
  • Filter types and uses: binomial, Chebyshev, elliptic, Butterworth
  • Lumped-element vs. distributed element filters
• RF Transistors
  • BJT transistors, MOSFET transistors, III-V power transistors
  • High-power vs. lower power transistors
  • Advanced transistors types: laterally diffused metal oxide semiconductor (LDMOS), V-groove MOS, U-shaped notch MOS, insulated gate bipolar transistors (IGBTs)
  • General purpose transistors, linear amplifier transistors, low-noise amplifier transistors
  • Figures of merit: Power Product, V_CEO, I_c, noise factor, gain, OIP3, OP1dB, f_T, package type
• Mixer Circuits and Switches
  • Purpose of mixing, ideal mixers
  • Switching topologies: ring mixer, star mixer, bridge mixer
  • Switching mixer: Voltage switching mixers, MOS switching mixer
  • Passive vs. active mixers
  • Distortion effects
• RF Couplers
  • Multi-port design
  • Directivity, Loss: insertion, coupling, main line, isolation
  • Directional coupler, di-directional coupler, hybrid coupler
  • Amplitude/phase balance, amplitude/phase ripple
• RF Receiver and Demodulator Circuits
  • Overview of transceiver components
  • Regenerative detector, heterodyne detection principles
  • AM detectors diode detectors (series and parallel)
  • AM detectors: common emitter detector, common base detector
  • FM detectors: slope detector, phase-shift discriminator, ratio detector
  • Phase demodulation, pulse-amplitude demodulation
  • Peak detector
• RFIC Modeling, Simulation, Layout and Testing Principles
  • Traces, grounding, decoupling, thermal management
  • SPICE, micromodel vs. micromodel, other modelling tools
  • Model vs. product, parasitics
  • What should be modelled in an RF module
  • Distortions, jitter, noise, latency
  • Prototyping, boards, power supply, connectors, mounting, sockets
• RFIC Design Case Studies