• Carbon letters
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.17-22
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• 2012

Currently, graphene is a topic of very active research in fields from science to potential applications. For various radio-frequency (RF) circuit applications including low-noise amplifiers, the unique ambipolar nature of graphene field-effect transistors can be utilized for high-performance frequency multipliers, mixers and high-speed radiometers. Potential integration of graphene on Silicon substrates with complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor compatibility would also benefit future RF systems. The future success of the RF circuit applications depends on vertical and lateral scaling of graphene metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistors to minimize parasitics and improve gate modulation efficiency in the channel. In this paper, we highlight recent progress in graphene materials, devices, and circuits for RF applications. For passive RF applications, we show its transparent electromagnetic shielding in Ku-band and transparent antenna, where its success depends on quality of materials. We also attempt to discuss future applications and challenges of graphene.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.6 no.4
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• pp.1-10
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• 2006

In this paper, a broadband RF module is designed and tested for 2.4GHz band applications. The RF module is composed of a low noise amplifier (LNA) with a three stage amplifier, a single ended gate mixer, matching circuits, a hairpin line band pass filter and a Chebyshev low pass filter to convert the radio frequency (RF) into the intermediate frequency (IF). The LNA has a high gain and stability, and the single ended gate mixer has a high conversion gain and wide dynamic range. In the analysis of the broadband RF module, the composite harmonic balance technique is used to analyze the operating characteristics of an RF module circuit. The RF module has a 55.2dB conversion gain with a 1.54dB low noise figure, $-120{\sim}-60dBm$ wide RF power dynamic range, -60dBm low harmonic spectrum and a good isolation factor among the RF, IF, and local oscillator (LO) ports.

• Proceedings of the IEEK Conference
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• 2008.06a
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• pp.24-25
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• 2008

An Electrostatic discharge (ESD) protection has been a very important reliability issue in microelectronics, especially for RF (Radio Frequency) integrated circuits (ICs). This paper reviews design and analysis of on-chip ESD (electrostatic discharge) protection circuits for RF applications. Key issues in RF ESD protection, design methods, and RF ESD protection solutions are discussed.

• JSTS:Journal of Semiconductor Technology and Science
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• v.1 no.1
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• pp.70-83
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• 2001

In this paper, the recent progress of RF MEMS research for wireless/mobile communications is reviewed. The RF MEMS components reviewed in this paper include RF MEMS switches, tunable capacitors, high Q inductors, and thin film bulk acoustic resonators (TFBARs) to become core components for constructing miniaturized on chip RF transceiver with multi-band and multi-mode operation. Specific applications are also discussed for each of these components with emphasis on for miniaturization, integration, and performance enhancement of existing and future wireless transceiver developments.

• ETRI Journal
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.65-72
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• 2003

To achieve cost and size reductions, we developed a low cost manufacturing technology for RF substrates and a high performance passive process technology for RF integrated passive devices (IPDs). The fabricated substrate is a conventional 6" Si wafer with a 25${\mu}m$ thick $SiO_2$ surface. This substrate showed a very good insertion loss of 0.03 dB/mm at 4 GHz, including the conductive metal loss, with a 50 ${\Omega}$ coplanar transmission line (W=50${\mu}m$, G=20${\mu}m$). Using benzo cyclo butene (BCB) interlayers and a 10 ${\mu}m$ Cu plating process, we made high Q rectangular and circular spiral inductors on Si that had record maximum quality factors of more than 100. The fabricated inductor library showed a maximum quality factor range of 30-120, depending on geometrical parameters and inductance values of 0.35-35 nH. We also fabricated small RF IPDs on a thick oxide Si substrate for use in handheld phone applications, such as antenna switch modules or front end modules, and high-speed wireless LAN applications. The chip sizes of the wafer-level-packaged RF IPDs and wire-bondable RF IPDs were 1.0-1.5$mm^2$ and 0.8-1.0$mm^2$, respectively. They showed very good insertion loss and RF performances. These substrate and passive process technologies will be widely utilized in hand-held RF modules and systems requiring low cost solutions and strict volumetric efficiencies.

• Advances in materials Research
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• v.1 no.1
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• pp.37-49
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• 2012

In this paper, we present modeling and characterization of CNT-based TSVs to be used in high-frequency RF applications. We have developed an integrated model of CNT-based TSVs by incorporating the quantum confinement effects of CNTs with the kinetic inductance phenomenon at high frequencies. Substrate parasitics have been appropriately modeled as a monolithic microwave capacitor with the resonant line technique using a two-polynomial equation. Different parametric variations in the model have been outlined as case studies. Furthermore, electrical performance and signal integrity analysis on different cases have been used to determine the optimized configuration for CNT-based TSVs for high frequency RF applications.

• The Transactions of The Korean Institute of Electrical Engineers
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• v.68 no.2
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• pp.304-309
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• 2019

This paper presents a CMOS RF-to-DC converter for video surveillance disposable IoT applications. It widely harvests RF energy of 3G/4G cellular low-band frequency range by employing a tunable impedance matching network. The proposed converter consists of the differential-drive cross-coupled rectifier and the matching network with a 4-bit capacitor array. The proposed converter is designed using 130-nm standard CMOS process. The designed energy harvester can rectify the RF signals from 700 MHz to 900 MHz. It has a peak RF-to-DC conversion efficiency of 72.25%, 64.97%, and 66.28% at 700 MHz, 800 MHz, and 900 MHz with a load resistance of 10kΩ, respectively.

• Journal of IKEEE
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.75-80
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• 2008

There are many researches to reduce power consumption of battery-operated Transceiver for 2.4 GHz smartRF applications. However, components such as processor, memory and LCD based power managements reach the limit of reducing power consumption. To overcome the limit, this research proposes novel low-power Transceiver and transceiver Hardware Design. Experimental results in the real smartRF Transceiver show that the proposed methods can reduce power consumption additionally than component based power managements.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Information and Commucation Sciences Conference
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• 2002.05a
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• pp.288-292
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• 2002

We propose the new type of on-chip ESD protection method for RF applications. By using the properties of RF circuits, we can use the short-circuited stub as ESD protection device in front of the DC blocking capacitor Specially, we can use short-circuited stub as the portion of the matching circuit so to reduce the and various parameters of the transmission line. This new type ESD protection method is very different from the conventional ESD protection method. With the new type ESD protection method, we remove the parasitic capacitance of ESD protection device which degrade the performance of core circuit.

• Journal of the Institute of Electronics Engineers of Korea SD
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• v.37 no.8
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• pp.9-16
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• 2000

MOS transistors are fabricated and evaluated for RF IC applications such as mobile communication systems using 0.35m CMOS process. Characteristics of MOSFETs are analyzed at various channel length, width and bias conditions. From the analysis, cut-off frequency ($f_T$) is independent on channel width but maximum oscillation frequency ($f_{max}$) tends to derease as the channel width increases. As channel length increases, $f_T$ and fmax decrease. $f_T$ is 22GHz and fmax is 28GHz at its maximum value. High frequency noise performance is improved with larger channel width and smaller channel length at same bias conditions. NFmin at 2GHz is 0.45dB as a minimum value. From the evaluation, MOSFETs designed using 0.35m CMOS process demonstrated a full potential for the commercial RF ICs for mobile communication systems near 2GHz. And optimization methods of the CMOS transistors for RF applications are presented in this paper.