RFIC Design

By Prof. Imon Mondal | IIT Kanpur

Learners enrolled: 1114 | Exam registration: 115

ABOUT THE COURSE:

An open elective on radio-frequency integrated circuits aimed at giving students an exposure to state-of-the-art radio frequency interfaces in integrated circuit-based receivers taking into consideration the communication protocols and their impact on the circuit performance due to niche limitations and advantages of integrated circuits. The course is envisaged to be primarily project based where the student will be required perform simulation assignments using industry-standard design kits (where-ever applicable) for each relevant module

INTENDED AUDIENCE: 3^rd and final year UG and PG

PREREQUISITES: Basic Analog Circuits

INDUSTRY SUPPORT: Qualcomm, Texas Instruments, NXP, Apple + All wireless chip design companies

Summary

Course Status :	Completed
Course Type :	Elective
Language for course content :	English
Duration :	12 weeks
Category :	Electrical, Electronics and Communications Engineering VLSI design
Credit Points :	3
Level :	Postgraduate
Start Date :	21 Jul 2025
End Date :	10 Oct 2025
Enrollment Ends :	04 Aug 2025
Exam Registration Ends :	22 Aug 2025
Exam Date :	02 Nov 2025 IST
NCrF Level	4.5 — 8.0

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: Communication concepts for RF

Introduction to wireless communication protocols like ASK, PSK, GPSK, QAM, OFDM. Constellation diagram and their impact on the RF transmission.

Week 2: RF metrics of importance

Metrics of importance in RF design, and its distinction and similarities with respect to classical analog metrics on noise, distortion and matching. Importance of passives in RF design and the corresponding limitations in an integrated circuit implementation. Introduction to transmission lines and their effect on IC design as compared to lumped elements.

Week 3&4: Modelling of RF chain

Overview and modelling of wireless receiver and transmitter architectures using ideal elements taking into consideration out-of-band blockers/emissions and noise. Introduction to Super-heterodyne receiver and a homodyne receiver and their trade-offs

Week 5&6: Low Noise Amplifier

Low noise amplifier (LNA) design specifications from the communication protocols. Noise figure optimization. Review of state-of-the art architectures for narrowband and wideband LNAs.

Week 7&8: LPTV networks / mixers and filtering

Introduction to design of LPTV networks and evolution of Mixers as a special case. Introduction to N-path filters, their efficacy in high-Q filtering. Noise in mixers. Zadeh approximation to analyse LPTV networks,

Week 9&10: Oscillators and PLL

VCO and Oscillators: VCO fundamentals and basic principles. Feedback view of Oscillators. Modelling of phase-noise and its effect on the RF- chain. Importance of PLL and the effect of drift of center frequency between the transmitter and the receiver.

Week 11&12: Power Amplifier Design

Distinction between voltage and power amplification. Trade-offs between gain, efficiency and linearity. Introduction to stability of a power amplifier. Review of types of PA architectures and their use-cases.

Books and references

B. Razavi, “RF Microelectronics”, 2nd Ed, Pearson, 2020 2. Thomas H. Lee, “The Design of CMOS Radio-Frequency Integrated Circuits”, Cambridge University Press, 2004

Instructor bio

Prof. Imon Mondal

IIT Kanpur

Prof. Imon Mondal is an assistant professor in the Microelectronics and VLSI group of the department of Electrical Engineering in the Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur. He completed his Ph.D. from the department of electrical engineering at Indian Institute of Technology Madras in 2018 where he worked on integrated circuit based delay-lines for RF applications. He obtained his B.Tech in electronics and communication engineering from Kalyani Govt. Engineering College, and M.Tech in electrical engineering from Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur in 2005 and 2007 respectively. Between 2007 and 2011, he was with Cypress Semiconductor India Private Ltd., Bangalore, where he was involved with the IC design of analog circuits for power management of non-volatile SRAMs. His current research interests include high speed analog and RF circuit design.

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: November 02, 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 IIT Kanpur. 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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