Advanced Packaging for mmWave Systems
Abstract:
Wireless communication requires supporting large bandwidth, which can be enabled through frequencies in the sub-Terahertz frequency range. This requires integration of high frequency composite materials and III-V semiconductor integrated circuits (IC) into a heterogeneous stack using embedded dies and 3D vertical interconnections. Advanced packaging becomes extremely critical in such applications.
This tutorial will start with the basics, cover existing and emerging materials that can be used for integration supported by process recipes and integration results. Some of the lowest loss interconnect structures based on a vertical integration concept will be discussed along with its comparison with state of the art.
Madhavan Swaminathan is the Department Head of Electrical Engineering and is the William E. Leonhard Endowed Chair at Penn State University. He also serves as the Director for the Center for Heterogeneous Integration of Micro Electronic Systems (CHIMES), an SRC JUMP 2.0 Center www.chimes.psu.edu.
Prior to joining Penn State, he was the John Pippin Chair in Microsystems Packaging & Electromagnetics in the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE), Professor in ECE with a joint appointment in the School of Materials Science and Engineering (MSE), and Director of the 3D Systems Packaging Research Center (PRC) – a graduated NSF-Engineering Research Center (ERC), Georgia Tech (GT). Prior to GT, he was with IBM working on packaging for supercomputers.
Prof. Swaminathan’s interdisciplinary research on semiconductor packaging and systems integration over the years have resulted in 650+ technical publications, 200+ invited presentations (seminars, keynotes, panels), 3 books, 5 book chapters, 31 patents, 35 best paper and student paper awards, 5 GT awards, 2 start-ups, and several international recognitions with the recent one being the 2024 IEEE Rao R. Tummala Electronics Packaging Award (highest technical field award in packaging) for “contributions to semiconductor packaging and system integration technologies that improve the performance, efficiency, and capabilities of electronic systems”. He is also the founder of the IEEE Conference on Electrical Design of Advanced Packaging and Systems (EDAPS), a premier conference sponsored by the IEEE Electronics Packaging Society (EPS). He is a Fellow of IEEE, Fellow of the National Academy of Inventors (NAI), Fellow of Asia-Pacific Artificial Intelligence Association (AAIA), and has served as the Distinguished Lecturer for the IEEE Electromagnetic Compatibility (EMC) society. He serves as an advisor to India Semiconductor Mission and on the external advisory board for Move2THz (an EU initiative), as well as advisor to 3DGS and Claros.
He received his MS and PhD degrees in Electrical Engineering from Syracuse University, USA.
Madhavan Swaminathan
Department Head of Electrical Engineering & William E. Leonhard Endowed Chair Director, Center for Heterogeneous Integration of Micro Electronic Systems (CHIMES) An SRC JUMP 2.0 Center — The Pennsylvania State University, USA
Measuring Noise Parameter: An Alternative, Size-Based Approach for On-Wafer Device Characterization
Abstract:
This talk will discuss and demonstrate a recent technique developed to characterize the noise parameters of microwave active devices. This innovative approach makes use of the device size as the tuning element to measure the device noise figure from which the noise parameters are extracted. This method provides an effective solution to remove the main bottleneck that makes the measurement of the noise parameters both tedious and burdensome: the requirement of an input tuner. When measuring the noise figure of a set of similar devices with different sizes, the input tuner is no longer required. Modern network analyzers are employed in lieu of noise figure meters offering a fast solution to determining the device’s noise parameters without the additional overhead of characterizing the tuner itself. The clear advantage of this solution is that noise parameters can be measured over a wide frequency, bias and temperature range. Measurement automation is can be easily implemented as well. The presentation will describe this technique in detail, present measurement data and explain how it can be applied to characterize any two- port active devices.
Luciano Boglione was born in Turin, Italy, where he received his Laurea degree in Electronic Engineering from the Politecnico di Torino, Italy. He received his PhD from the Institute of Microwaves, School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, the University of Leeds, UK, under the supervision of the late Prof. Roger Pollard. He has 25+ years of experience in the design and characterization of monolithic microwave and radio frequency integrated circuits (RFICs) fabricated in advanced technologies. His professional experience embraces industry, academia, and government institutions. In 2011, he joined the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory, Washington, DC, USA, where he has led efforts to design advanced subsystems in silicon technology for full-duplex applications. In addition, he continued to develop his long-time interests related to new microwave noise characterization techniques in support of integrated designs. In 2024, Dr. Boglione joined the Boeing Company where he has been involved in new programs and projects spanning cryogenic noise characterization and photonic designs. Dr. Boglione has published more than 45 articles in peer-reviewed publications and holds three patents. He is also a reviewer of several peer-reviewed publications and conferences. Dr. Boglione was an elected AdCom Member of the MTT Society for two terms (2007-2012). He is also a member and a past Chair of the MTT-S Microwave Low-Noise Techniques Committee. He was the 2007 RFIC Conference General Chair and the 2024 Government Microcircuit Applications & Critical Technology Conference (GOMACTech) General Chair. Dr. Boglione continues to be an IEEE Volunteer in various capacities.
Millimeter Wave FMCW Radar Systems
Abstract:
Millimeter-wave FMCW radars offer a compelling combination of a compact form factor, wide bandwidth, and high spatial resolution. This talk covers the fundamentals of FMCW radar operation and delivers insight on system-level trade-offs in broadband radar architectures, with particular emphasis on MIMO techniques for improved spatial sensing. The interplay between waveform parameters, available bandwidth, antenna configuration, and transceiver performance is discussed from a system perspective. Aspects of transceiver design, signal processing considerations, and examples of integrated millimeter-wave FMCW radar systems complete the outline of modern FMCW radar systems.
Akshay Visweswaran (Member, IEEE) received the M.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees in electrical engineering from the Delft University of Technology, Delft, The Netherlands, in 2009 and 2017, respectively.
He was an Analog/RF Designer with Conexant Systems, Hyderabad, India, from 2006 to 2007, and the IC-Laboratory, NXP, Eindhoven, The Netherlands, from 2009 to 2010. He joined imec, Leuven, Belgium, in 2015, as a Senior Researcher, where he was the Technical Project Lead for radar and communication programs beyond 100 GHz from 2017 to 2021. From 2021 to 2022, he was a Principal RF Engineer with the Huawei Technologies R&D Center, Leuven. He is currently a Senior Research Scientist with Nokia Bell Labs, Murray Hill, NJ, USA. His interests include system modeling and the design and characterization of integrated systems for wireless and wireline applications.
Dr. Visweswaran serves as a Technical Program Committee Member at ISSCC, ESSERC, BCICTS and EuMW. He was a recipient of the Top-Talent Fellowship during his M.Sc. study at TU Delft. While at imec, he led the RFIC design leg of the EU Horizon-2020 Project, Taranto, which won the Best Technology Pioneer Award at European Forum for Electronic Components and Systems (EFECS) 2020. He serves as a reviewer for several IEEE journals.
