Events Calendar

Integrated Systems Seminar Series

Speaker: Ali Afsahi, Broadcom

Talk Title: Integrated CMOS Power Amplifier for WLAN Applications

Abstract: Consumer demand for WiFi-enabled products has increased over the last several years, and analyst reports conclude that the sales momentum is expected to continue for the next several years. From laptops to cell phones to television sets, our desire to share
broadband information is making wireless connectivity a must-have feature for a range of devices. In order to keep the cost down and have smaller form-factor especially for embedded applications, the transceiver has been integrated with the baseband PHY and MAC as an SoC solution in a pure CMOS process. One of the main contributors to the cost and size of the solution is the external power amplifier (PA). Recently, there has
been a significant amount of effort to implement PAs in CMOS technology. However, the low supply voltage, lossy substrate and lower breakdown voltage make the design of a linear, high power and reliable PA quite challenging in CMOS technology. In addition, the advanced modulation schemes such as OFDM, possesses a very high peak-to-average ratio (PAR) and requires a very linear power amplifier to preserve the integrity of the
signal. This talk will go over the design of a fully integrated, reliable, linear and efficient CMOS power amplifier for Wireless LAN applications while meeting the stringent requirements of WLAN standards. In addition, several linearization and power combining
techniques will be discussed to boost the output power efficiently for watt-level applications.

Biography: Ali Afsahi received the B.S. degree in electrical engineering from the University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran, in 1998, and the M.S.E. degree in RF/analog IC design from Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, in 2006. He is currently pursuing the Ph.D. degree part-time at the University of California at San Diego. He joined Broadcom Corporation in 2004 as an RFIC designer. Since then, he has been involved in the design of various blocks for wireless LAN transceivers. He is currently a manager, IC design engineering, leading the transmitter and CMOS power amplifier designs for all of the Broadcom’s WLAN products. He has more than 30 issued and pending patents. He is on his fourth year serving as a member of RFIC Technical Program Committee. Mr. Afsahi was the recipient of the 2009 Analog Devices Outstanding Designer Award for his work on CMOS power amplifiers.

Host: Prof. Hossein Hashemi, Prof. Mahta Moghaddam, Prof. Mike Chen

More Info: http://mhi.usc.edu/activities/integrated-systems/

Location: Hughes Aircraft Electrical Engineering Center (EEB) - 248

Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

Contact: Hossein Hashemi

Event Link: http://mhi.usc.edu/activities/integrated-systems/