Basics of Semiconductor Microwave Devices

By Prof. Digbijoy N. Nath | IISc Bangalore

Learners enrolled: 827 | Exam registration: 5

ABOUT THE COURSE:

This course will deal with semiconductor devices including diodes and transistors which are used in microwave and RF applications, especially for power amplifiers. Although several excellent courses exist on microwave theory/techniques and on RF circuit design, yet, the RF transistor is often treated as a black-box. With the fast emergence of 5G/wi-fi, advanced cellular platforms and strategic radar systems, III-V FETs and GaN HEMTs are being increasingly adopted. So, this course will seek to give a basic background of such devices in addition to conventional silicon LDMOS and bipolar devices. Toward the end, this course will also try to introduce basic microwave concepts from the device point-of-view.

INTENDED AUDIENCE: Undergrads, post-graduates, PhD scholars, Industry personnel

PREREQUISITES: Taking/doing a basic course on semiconductor devices is a pre-requisite for this course.

INDUSTRY SUPPORT : Any course on RF/microwave devices, companies on device development.

Summary

Course Status :	Upcoming
Course Type :	Elective
Language for course content :	English
Duration :	12 weeks
Category :	Electrical, Electronics and Communications Engineering
Credit Points :	3
Level :	Undergraduate/Postgraduate
Start Date :	20 Jan 2025
End Date :	11 Apr 2025
Enrollment Ends :	27 Jan 2025
Exam Registration Ends :	14 Feb 2025
Exam Date :	27 Apr 2025 IST

Note: This exam date is subject to change based on seat availability. You can check final exam date on your hall ticket.

Page Visits

Course layout

Week 1: Introduction to the course: perspective & historical overview, Applications of various RF devices today

Week 2: Basics of heterojunctions and heterostructure physics, Basics of III-nitrides and polarization Schottky multipliers & varactors

Week 3: Transferred Electron Devices: Gunn Diode, Avalanche Transit Devices: IMPATT

Week 4: III-V MESFET: physics and transport, I-V, load line, transconductance, fabrication. Intro to JFOM.

Week 5: III-V HEMT/MODFET – physics, modulation doping & the formation of 2DEG, breakdown, gain, traps, dispersion.

Week 6: p-HEMT, recess gate, field-plate, power cell, multi-finger devices, fabrication.

Week 7: GaN HEMTs – benefits of WBG, various aspects of GaN RF HEMT such as substrate, processing, dispersion & virtual gate, leakage, stack design, compensation doping

Week 8: Basics of RF CMOS;LDMOS – device physics, transport, breakdown, On resistance, snapback.

Week 9: LDMOS - layout & design, bond pad manifold, frequency aspects, the concept of RESURF.

Week 10: Bipolar devices for RF: working of HBT, Early Effect, Kirk Effect, Gain, Common Emitter & Common Base mode, small-signal model.

Week 11: Bipolar devices: base design, collector design, emitter ballast, SiGe bipolar, FET vs bipolar for RF, fabrication

Week 12: Microwave concepts for devices and packaging: S-parameters & 2-port analysis, concept of impedance, Intro to Smith chart, de-embedding parasitics, derivation of cut-off frequencies and MAG/MSG, Transmission lines & waveguides, concept of impedance matching, Basics of RF device packaging and thermal management

Books and references

Semiconductor Device Physics and Design, by Umesh Mishra & Jasprit Singh - BJT, MESFET and HEMT, modulation doping, basics of GaN and polarization

Lateral Power Transistors in Integrated Circuits, by Tobias Erlbacher - LDMOS including RESURF

Handbook of RF and Microwave Power Amplifiers, by John Walker - LDMOS, GaAs FET, wide band gap transistors, design & concepts of high power RF transistor operation/physics

Physics of Semiconductor Devices by S. M. Sze and Kwok K. Ng - Basic device physics, MOSFET, MESFET, BJT, MODFET, Gunn dioe

RF and Microwave Semiconductor Device Handbook, by Mike Golio - Microwave BJT and HBTs, CMOS RF, negative resistance devices, various concepts related to microwave devices

Microwave Devices and Circuits, by Samuel Y. Liao - Gunn diode, IMPATT, Tunnel diode

Microwave Engineering by David Pozar - Concepts in microwave such as impedance matching, Smith Chart, waveguides and CPWs, etc., S-parameters

Fundamentals of RF and Microwave Transistor Amplifiers, by Inder Bahl - Basic concepts in power amplifier, and parameters related to PA, S-matrix

Fundamentals of III-V Devices, by William Lui - Heterojunction basics, HBT

Fundamentals of Modern VLSI Devices - Fabrication of BJT, design issues n BJT, small-signal model for BJT

Instructor bio

Prof. Digbijoy N. Nath

IISc Bangalore

Prof.Digbijoy N. Nath completed his B.E. (Hons) in Electrical and Electronics Engineering from BITS, Pilani (Rajasthan) and PhD in Electrical Engineering from Ohio State University, Columbus specializing in gallium nitride based semiconductor devices. He is currently an Associate Professor at Centre for Nano Science and Engineering (CeNSE) at Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bangalore. His research interests lie in wide band gap semiconductor devices for high power & RF electronics/deep-UV opto-electronics. He has authored/co-authored 90 publications so far. He taught a postgraduate level course Semiconductor Devices and IC Technology for PhD/Masters students at IISc for six years, a course titled Semiconductor Opto-Electronics and photovoltaics for three years, and a course titled Semiconductor Devices for RF/Microwave Electronics for two years. His NPTEL course titled Fundamentals of Semiconductor Devices is running for the 5th time (2019 to 2023) and has been well received.

Course certificate

The course is free to enroll and learn from. But if you want a certificate, you have to register and write the proctored exam conducted by us in person at any of the designated exam centres.

The exam is optional for a fee of Rs 1000/- (Rupees one thousand only).

Date and Time of Exams: April 27, 2025 Morning session 9am to 12 noon; Afternoon Session 2pm to 5pm.

Registration url: Announcements will be made when the registration form is open for registrations.

The online registration form has to be filled and the certification exam fee needs to be paid. More details will be made available when the exam registration form is published. If there are any changes, it will be mentioned then.

Please check the form for more details on the cities where the exams will be held, the conditions you agree to when you fill the form etc.

CRITERIA TO GET A CERTIFICATE

Average assignment score = 25% of average of best 8 assignments out of the total 12 assignments given in the course.
Exam score = 75% of the proctored certification exam score out of 100

Final score = Average assignment score + Exam score

Please note that assignments encompass all types (including quizzes, programming tasks, and essay submissions) available in the specific week.

YOU WILL BE ELIGIBLE FOR A CERTIFICATE ONLY IF AVERAGE ASSIGNMENT SCORE >=10/25 AND EXAM SCORE >= 30/75. If one of the 2 criteria is not met, you will not get the certificate even if the Final score >= 40/100.

Certificate will have your name, photograph and the score in the final exam with the breakup.It will have the logos of NPTEL and IISc Bangalore .It will be e-verifiable at nptel.ac.in/noc.

Only the e-certificate will be made available. Hard copies will not be dispatched.

Once again, thanks for your interest in our online courses and certification. Happy learning.

- NPTEL team

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