Converters & High-Speed Logic Circuits

Analog-to-digital and digital-to-analog conversions are the processes that nowadays take place in any electronic system, connecting analog and digital worlds.

The research group pursues the goal of making this connection faster, more reliable, and more efficient. The IHP's SiGe BiCMOS semiconductor technologies are the baseline for performing research and development in the field of AD/DA converters and high-​speed logic ICs. One of the research activities addresses reliability improvement to enable ICs to function correctly in the space environment. In cooperation with IHP's System Architectures department, the group develops complex mixed-​signal systems.

Main targets

  • analog-to-digital and digital-to-analog converters in the GHz frequency range
  • high-speed logic circuits
  • serializer and deserializer ICs

Research topics

The research activities of the group are mainly focused on the following areas:

  • increasing speed and bandwidth
  • improving IC reliability in terms of temperature and radiation hardness
  • combining different technologies to achieve higher performance 

Research results

One of the recent projects dealt with the development of two complex mixed-signal ASICs for a THz-range spectrometer that is dedicated for operation in space. A 2-channel 16 GS/s arbitrary waveform generator was designed in the IHP's 0.13 µm SiGe BiCMOS technology. The ASIC incorporates SRAM memory, a combined CMOS/ECL logic serializer, as well as Digital-to-Analog Converters. The second ASIC is a 2-channel 1 GS/s data acquisition system that is manufactured in 65 nm CMOS technology. It contains 2-channel ADC, digital post-processing, and SRAM memory. Both developed ICs can operate in a wide temperature range and a harsh radiation environment.

Dr. Philip Ostrovskyy

IHP
Im Technologiepark 25
15236 Frankfurt (Oder)
Germany

Phone: +49 335 5625 408
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