Applied Electromagnetics for High-Frequency Electronic Design

Electrical signal moves from one part of an integrated circuit (IC) to another according to the laws of Electromagnetics (EM). Unwanted coupling of electrical signals from different parts of an IC can be explained and solved through the fundamentals of EM. Engineers who specialize in both communication system and high-frequency IC design must bring their EM knowledge to their design. After all, if the components are not electromagnetically compatible, the IC chips in the system will not function.  This course covers the application of electromagnetic fundamentals to high-frequency integrated circuit design (RFIC and MMIC) with a focus on building EM fundamentals and applying them to analyze, model, and design high-frequency integrated circuits. The course will cover system components such as high-speed transmission lines for analog/digital signal communication, on-die inductor for LC oscillators for RFIC transceiver LNA circuits, wave guides for MMIC and optoelectronics, and antennas for wireless communication system such as cell phones. Modern real-world applications will be discussed and shown in the textbook.

Topics include devices, circuits, systems, EM of vectors and fields, Maxwell’s equations for static and time-varying fields, as well as the concept of wave and its propagation in material medium including reflection, absorption, and electromagnetic potentials. Building upon these fundamentals, the course explores high-speed transmission lines for communications, crosstalk and signal integrity, Smith chart for impedance matchings, on-die inductor design, guide waves for both mm-wave electronics and optoelectronics, radiation and the basic concept of antenna design. The course concludes with a design and modeling project in which a passive high-frequency EM component such as a high-frequency transmission line, or  an on-die inductor, is designed and modeled to be used in Spice circuit-simulations with the integrated circuit’s high-frequency amplifier, transmitter and receiver, or oscillator. This course can be taken concurrently with the RF Integrated Circuit Design (EC ENGR X 457.25).