Transistor Circuits for MEMS Based Transceiver

Keli Hui, Kelvin Liang, Darryl Yu, Yuehan Xu and Soumya Mantha

EECS Department
University of California, Berkeley
Technical Report No. UCB/EECS-2015-47
May 6, 2015

http://www2.eecs.berkeley.edu/Pubs/TechRpts/2015/EECS-2015-47.pdf

In recent years, the push for low power wireless sensor networks has called for the introduction of RF-MEMS transceiver devices capable of operating on scavenged power. The design of ultra-low power MEMS based transceivers stands to revolutionize the fields of industrial monitoring, environmental monitoring, and biomedical imaging.

This report demonstrates a MEMS based transceiver capable of supporting these low power applications. Included are design and simulation results using transistor circuits implemented with a commercial TSMC 180nm technology. The entire system is estimated to consume 57.8uW of power at a Vdd=1.8V, duty cycled at 50%. The transceiver system implements a modified OOK modulation scheme and utilizes a MEMS resonator, an oscillator, an envelope detector, a comparator, a power amplifier, and an output buffer. The system is currently optimized for data rates of 5kHz, but can easily support much higher data rates. This design demonstrates operation at 60MHz VHF, but the tunable nature of the MEMS device allows for use of frequencies up to UHF. The remainder of this report is organized as follows. Section II explains the current state of the industry that the transceiver is to be commercialized in. This section also uses that information to propose a viable go-to-market strategy for a startup seeking to commercialize this technology. Section III presents a detailed description of my individual contributions toward the Capstone project. Section IV is a consolidated paper with brief descriptions of the performance of each individual block in the transceiver architecture. It also includes simulation results showing the performance of the transceiver as a whole after all individual work was integrated together. Section V finishes with concluding reflections on the progress of the capstone project and potential directions for future work.

Advisor: Clark Nguyen


BibTeX citation:

@mastersthesis{Hui:EECS-2015-47,
    Author = {Hui, Keli and Liang, Kelvin and Yu, Darryl and Xu, Yuehan and Mantha, Soumya},
    Title = {Transistor Circuits for MEMS Based Transceiver},
    School = {EECS Department, University of California, Berkeley},
    Year = {2015},
    Month = {May},
    URL = {http://www2.eecs.berkeley.edu/Pubs/TechRpts/2015/EECS-2015-47.html},
    Number = {UCB/EECS-2015-47},
    Abstract = {In recent years, the push for low power wireless sensor networks has called for the introduction of RF-MEMS transceiver devices capable of operating on scavenged power. The design of ultra-low power MEMS based transceivers stands to revolutionize the fields of industrial monitoring, environmental monitoring, and biomedical imaging. 

This report demonstrates a MEMS based transceiver capable of supporting these low power applications. Included are design and simulation results using transistor circuits implemented with a commercial TSMC 180nm technology. The entire system is estimated to consume 57.8uW of power at a Vdd=1.8V, duty cycled at 50%. The transceiver system implements a modified OOK modulation scheme and utilizes a MEMS resonator, an oscillator, an envelope detector, a comparator, a power amplifier, and an output buffer. The system is currently optimized for data rates of 5kHz, but can easily support much higher data rates. This design demonstrates operation at 60MHz VHF, but the tunable nature of the MEMS device allows for use of frequencies up to UHF. 
The remainder of this report is organized as follows. Section II explains the current state of the industry that the transceiver is to be commercialized in. This section also uses that information to propose a viable go-to-market strategy for a startup seeking to commercialize this technology. Section III presents a detailed description of my individual contributions toward the Capstone project. Section IV is a consolidated paper with brief descriptions of the performance of each individual block in the transceiver architecture. It also includes simulation results showing the performance of the transceiver as a whole after all individual work was integrated together. Section V finishes with concluding reflections on the progress of the capstone project and potential directions for future work.}
}

EndNote citation:

%0 Thesis
%A Hui, Keli
%A Liang, Kelvin
%A Yu, Darryl
%A Xu, Yuehan
%A Mantha, Soumya
%T Transistor Circuits for MEMS Based Transceiver
%I EECS Department, University of California, Berkeley
%D 2015
%8 May 6
%@ UCB/EECS-2015-47
%U http://www2.eecs.berkeley.edu/Pubs/TechRpts/2015/EECS-2015-47.html
%F Hui:EECS-2015-47