WS1: Advances in RF Packaging

Date: Sunday, January 20, 2008
Time: 1:30 pm–5:30 pm
Organizer: Telesphore Kamgaing, Intel Corporation
Speakers:

Mohamed Megahed, Intel Corporation
Scott Baker, University of Virginia
John McKillop, Teravita Inc.
Anh-Vu Pham, University of California, Davis
Telesphor Kamgaing, Intel Corporation (backup)

Form factor reduction and increased functionality integration continue to be major drivers for future wireless communication systems. Solutions to these challenges include the use of scalable packaging technologies and hardware reuse through reconfigurable designs. This half day workshop will focus on recent research and development work that targets RF system miniaturization with half of the talks focusing on system miniaturization through package and component scaling such as interconnect redistribution and use of integrated/embedded passives-based RF modules. The second half of the workshop will focus on the design and application of RF MEMS as enabler for miniaturization through reconfigurability.

WS2: Review of Compact RF Filter Technology

Date: Sunday, January 20, 2008
Time: 1:30 pm–5:30 pm
Organizers: David Penunuri, Rockwell Collins
Speakers:

M. P. Busse, Dielectric Laboratories, Inc
D. Penunuri and J. Estes, Rockwell Collins
M.A. Dubois, CSEM
B.P. Abbott, TriQuint Semiconductor
P.J. Stephanou, Harmonic Devices, Inc.

This half-day workshop will review the progress of several RF filter technologies which have contributed to the miniaturization of RF selectivity for wireless, mobile and other applications. Presently some of these technologies are found in most of the RF portions of a communications system including the receiver front end, transmitter, and IF sections. Of particular interest are miniature low temperature, cofired ceramic (LTCC) module filter banks, thin film bulk acoustic wave (BAW) filters, surface acoustic wave (SAW) filters, RF MEMS devices and high K dielectric resonators. These topics will be specifically covered by the presenters.

WS3: Transmitter Design for High Power Efficiency: the path from device to advanced system architectures

Date: Sunday, January 20, 2008
Time: 8:30 Am–5:00 pm
Organizers:

Fadhel M. Ghannouchi, University of Calgary
Slim Boumaiza, University of Waterloo

Speakers:

Eric Toulouse, Freescale Semiconductors
John Wood, Freescale Semiconductors
Renato Negra, University of Calgary
Ray Pengelly, CREE
Bumman Kim, Postech
Christian Fager, Chalmers University
David Kelly, PulseWaveRF
Z. Popovic, University of Colorado
F. M. Ghannouchi, University of Calgary

This workshop covers the recent technological developments, spanning from device level to system level, aiming at the enhancement of the power efficiency in emerging wireless communications infrastructures. It begins with an overview of the industry perspective on the high efficiency roadmap. Then, a review of the switching mode power amplifiers design based upon a finite number of harmonics will be presented. This part will be illustrated through practical implementations of switching mode amplifiers (Class E, F, F-1, Voltage and Current mode D). An emphasis on the critical issues while designing and realizing these amplifiers will be given. Special focus will also be given to the applications of switching mode amplifiers in the development of advanced high-efficiency transmitter architectures. This workshop will expound on architectures such as Class-M amplifiers, envelop elimination and restoration (EER), and linear amplification using nonlinear components (LINC). An interactive panel session between the attendees and the speakers will close the workshop.