Research interest:

I am interested in the field of low power CMOS VLSI design. Specifically, in the integration of CMOS
technology in Radio Frequency receiver front-end circuits. Low noise amplifier and Mixer are the major
building blocks of the Receiver front-end. Low noise amplifier are used to amplify the received signal
while at the same time adding as little additional noise as possible. Mainly, the noise figure and gain are
deciding parameters for its performance. While the mixers are used in the front-end design of the
receivers after the LNA circuit for the purpose of down-conversion of high frequency signals. LNA with
help of CMOS technology have the following advantages: In CMOS technology there is simultaneous
noise and power matching as a result of which it is possible to get maximum power gain and minimum
noise figure simultaneously, there are certain techniques present in CMOS technology to reduce the
noise figure, by using PMOS and NMOS transistor in the cascode configuration yields a very good
second order linearity, also by using LNA with CMOS transistors low power design is possible which is a
major constraint at present day. The books I have referred include “Design of Analog CMOS circuits by
Behzad Razavi”,”Radio Frequency Integrated circuit Design by Calvin Plett and John A. Rogers.”. The
videos lectures I referred were ‘ CMOS analog VLSI Design‘ by Prof. A. N. Chandorkar’ and ‘Introduction
to RF Design by Prof. S. Aniruddhan’.The research paper and thesis referred to are “A 2.4GHz Cascode
CMOS Low Noise Amplifier”, ”Low-Noise Mixing Circuits in CMOS Microwave Integrated Circuits by
Stanley Siu Kee Ho”, ”Low noise RF CMOS Receiver Integrated Circuits by Sang Hyun woo”, ”Noise
Figures in Radio receivers by H. T. Friis”

Proposed project :

The project I would like to work on is the implementation of Active inductor in the RF receiver front-end
circuits including LNA and mixer. The inductor are a key component in the design of Low noise amplifier.
For example it is used for source degeneration , input and output impedance matching , for tuning the
output frequency. Presently, these inductors are being realized using passive spiral inductors which
occupies a relatively large area on the chip and as a result the chip area increases. If , Active inductor can
be implemented in the place of the passive inductors then it will significantly reduce the total chip area
required. But there are certain challenges which are needed to tackled like, on introducing active
inductors it leads to increase in the noise figure ,non-linearity which are major challenges to be tackled.
Also, certain properties like the quality factor(Q), S-parameters(s11 mainly), tunability are to be kept in
mind. . I have read some research papers on active inductors which are “A 1.8V RF CMOS Active
Inductor with 0.18um CMOS Technology by Siavash Heydarzadeh, Massoud Dousti”, “Wideband Active
Inductor and Negative Capacitance for Broadband RF and Microwave Application by Aliakbar Ghadiri
and Kambiz Moez”.

Projects interested from the list of projects available on the site:

I am interested in the project being provided by Prof. Hossein Hashemi on monolithic CMOS integrated
circuits for neural implants(recording and stimulation). I would be very much obliged to work in this
project because the integration of CMOS circuits for medical usage is a growing field and any break
through in this field will open various possibilities. Some of the research paper I have referred to are
“Integrated CMOS wireless Power Transfer for Neural Implants by Meysam Zargham and P. Glenn
Gulak” in which the topic of inductive power transfer through different media such as air , muscle and
skull using coils integrated on FR4 and CMOS have been addressed. ”Event-Driven Implantable Neural
Recording Integrated System Using Level-Crossing Detectors by Zahra Safarian and Hossein Hashemi” in
which an event-driven scheme using level-crossing detectors for low-voltage operation are utilized to
realize a low-power neural recording chipset. Also, I would be obliged to work under Prof. Hossein
Hashemi since the project area resonates with my research interest and it will be an honor for me to
work under him. Also, my previous internship has been closely related with this project which will help
me blend in the project well.

I am also interested to do project being provided under Prof. Ellis Meng which is focused on developing
implantable wireless multi-sensor systems for monitoring hydrocephalus shunts and interfaces to a
range of different nerves. Based on my knowledge on biological sciences studied in higher secondary
level it will give me a upper hand in this project.