1、  Introduction

  The research direction of microwave theory and technology is one of the main research directions of the School of Electronic, Information, and Electrical Engineering of Shanghai Jiao Tong University. The basic mission of this direction is to conduct cutting-edge research work and supervise graduate students in the area of microwave and high-speed circuits and systems in order to satisfy the increasing needs from wireless communication and military electronic technology. In present, there are 2 full professors, 3 associate professors and 3 assistant professors in the direction of microwave theory and technology. Due to the outstanding research achievements, the research group in this direction was honored with “Cheung Kong Scholar Innovation Group” in 2004 by the Ministry of Education of China, and with “National Natural Science Foundation Innovation Group” in 2005 by National Natural Science Foundation of China. The Subject of Electromagnetic Field and Microwave Technology of this direction is a National Key Subject of China.

The research work in microwave theory and technology mainly includes the following 5 areas: (1) signal integrity problem of high speed integrated circuits, (2) miniaturized high-performance microwave passive components and circuits, (3) novel antenna technology, (4) electromagnetic compatibility and protection of electronic systems, and (5) new interconnect technology for integrated circuits. Many high level projects have been obtained in this research direction, such as key projects from National Natural Science Foundation of China, projects of The National Basic Research Program and National High Technique Program, etc. The research fund of this group is about 1.4 million USD in recent 3 years. More than 60 IEEE journal papers and 70 international conference (such as IEEE IMS, IEDM, APS) papers have been published in recent 10 years. Research results in this direction earned the National Natural Science Award in 2004 and the National Technology Invention Award of China in 2008.

 In this direction there has been close collaboration with many reputable universities and transnational companies in the world, such as Georgia Institute of Technology, National University of Singapore, University of Wollongong in Australia, Chinese University of Hong Kong, Nokia, Motorola, Siemens, Fujitsu, CRL in Japan, Huawei in China. The group members often serve as chair, co-chair, session chair and invited speakers of international conferences.

     In this direction there are now more than 40 graduate students for Master degree and more than 15 graduate students for Ph.D degree. Most Ph.D graduate students can publish one or more papers in IEEE Transactions before graduation. Two best Ph.D thesis of China were earned in 2000 and 2002, respectively. 

In this direction, a key laboratory of “Design and Electromagnetic Compatibility of High Speed Electronic System” of Ministry of Education of China has been approved and is under construction. In this laboratory there are advanced instruments for measurement of microwave and high speed circuits up to 40 GHz and update software such as SPICE, Cadence, Synopsys, Sigrity, HFSS and CST.

 

2、   Faculty Members

In this research direction there are 2 full professors, 3 associate professors and 3 assistant professors. The resume of some professors are given below.

Mao Junfa was born in 1965. He received the Ph.D. degree from Shanghai Jiao Tong University in 1992. Since 1992, he has been a Faculty Member in the Department of Electronic Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, where he is currently a distinguished professor. He was a visiting scholar at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, from 1994 to 1995, and a postdoctoral researcher at the University of California, Berkeley, from 1995 to 1996. His research interests include the interconnect problem of high-speed integrated circuits, design and analysis of microwave circuits and systems. He has published more than 150 journal papers (including 37 papers of IEEE Transactions and 12 papers of IEEE Letters ) and more 90 international conference papers, and received 5 patents. He earned the National Natural Science Award of China in 2004 and the National Technology Invention Award of China in 2008, earned the Best Paper Award of 2008 APEMC in conjunction with 19^th International Zurich EMC. He is a Cheung Kong Scholar of the Ministry of Education, China, a chief scientist of The National Basic Research Program (973 Program) of China, an Associate Director of the Microwave Society of China Institute of Electronics, the founder and 2007–2009 Chair of IEEE Shanghai Section, the founder and 2009-2010 Chair of IEEE MTT Shanghai Chapter, an IEEE MTT-12 Subcommitte member, and an editorial member of International Journal of RF & Microwave CAE. He often serves as chair, co-chair or session chair and gives invited speech in international conferences.  

Jin Ronghong was born in 1963. He received the B.S. degree in electronic engineering, the M.S. degree in electromagnetics and microwave technology, and Ph.D degree in communication and electronic systems from Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China, in 1983, 1986 and 1993 respectively. He joined the faculty of the Department of Electronic Engineering of the Shanghai Jiao Tong University, in 1986. Now he is a professor of the department. He was at the Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Tokyo Institute of Technology, as a Visiting Scholar from 1997 to 1999, and an invited research fellow of Telecommunications Advancement Organization of Japan（TAO, Currently merged into NICT） from May 2001 to May 2002. He is the author and co-author of more than 170 papers at home and abroad, the author and co-author of two books. He received 12 patents and more than 50 pending patents. and main participant of a Natural Science Award from Chinese Government in 2004, and a Technology Innovation Award from Chinese Government in 2008. His main areas of research interest are antennas, electromagnetic theory, computational techniques of electromagnetics and RF techniques for wireless communication. Dr. Jin is the representative of IEICE Shanghai Session, a member of the committee of the Antenna Society, CIE.

  Xiao Gaobiao was born in 1965. He received B.E Degree from Huazhong University of Science Technology, Wuhan，China in 1988, M.E. Degree from the National University of Defense Technology, Changsha, China, in 1991. He joined Hunan University in May, 1991, where he was a lecturer since 1993 and an associate professor since 1996. From Oct. 1997 to Mar. 1999, he was a visiting scholar in Chiba University, Japan, and received Ph. D degree in 2002 from Chiba University. After two years of experience of working as a RF engineer in a Japanese company, he came back to China in 2004, and entered Shanghai Jiao Tong University in May 2004 as an associate professor. His main research interests are in microwave filter designs, electromagnetic theory, scattering and inverse scattering problems and computational electromagnetics. He has published many papers in international journals, including 11 papers on IEEE Transactions and one paper in SIAM-SC.

 Yuan Bin was born in 1968. He received the B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. degrees in electrical  engineering from Xian Jiaotong University, Xian, China, in 1989,  1991, and 1996, respectively.       He has more than 20 years experience in electro-magnetics research, application of soft computing techniques, and microwave devices. He is currently an associate professor in the center for microwave & RF technologies, Shanghai Jiaotong University. He is a senior member of IEEE. He has held invited positions at several academic and research institutions in Japan and China. His research interests are in the areas of microwave instrumentation, modeling of microwave devices and communications systems, design of smart antennas, and RFID system.

 Geng Junping was born in 1972. He received the Ph.D. degree in circuit and system from the Dept. of Electronic Engineering, Northwestern Polytechnic University, China in 2003. From 2003 to 2005, he had worked as Postdoctor in Shanghai Jiao Tong University. He joined the Shanghai Jiao Tong University in April 2005, and is currently an associate professor in Electronic Engineering Department. He has been involved with EMC for HAPS, multi antennae for terminal, and smart antenna. He has authored or co-authored over 110 refereed journal and conference papers, one book chapter, and one book. He received 12 patents and more than 40 pending patents. He is a main participant of a Technology Innovation Award from the Chinese Ministry of Education in 2007, and a Technology Innovation Award from Chinese Government in 2008. His main research interests include multi antenna, reconfigurable antenna, nano-antenna and the inverse problem of antenna.

 

3、    Representative Research Achievements

Achievement 1—Study of Signal Integrity Problem of High Speed Integrated Circuits

In integrated circuits (ICs), electronic devices are constituted by transistors and connected by interconnects. Interconnects previously were just ideal conductors and only transistors affected circuit performance. However, with the development of micro-electronic technology and the increase of circuit speed, interconnects exhibit microwave and electromagnetic effects influencing signal transmission, such as delay, decay, reflection, and crosstalk, etc. These effects break signal integrity and become one of the bottlenecks of development of advanced ICs. This research group has proposed several methods for electromagnetic modeling and parameters extraction of interconnects, set up a theoretical and methodological system based on the method of characteristics which can analyze signal integrity of interconnects, realize the principles of signal integrity, establish the foundation of distributed circuit synthesis of lossy interconnects, analyzed the time domain responses and sensitivity of various interconnects. Furthermore, an accurate dynamic power model including interconnect effects were built, and the best design parameters of global interconnects from the technology of 130nm to 45nm were obtained by optimization. In this research field, more than 20 papers have been published in IEEE Transactions, and a National Natural Science Award was won in 2004. Some research results have been applied in Cadence and Intel companies.

    8 representative papers published in recent 5 years supporting achievement 1:

1.     M. Tang and J. F. Mao, “A precise time-step integration method for transient analysis of lossy nonuniform transmission lines,” IEEE Transactions on Electromagnetic Compatibility, vol. 50, pp. 166-174, Feb. 2008.

2.     X. C. Li, J. F. Mao, and W. Y. Yin, “Dynamic power model of CMOS gate driving transmission lines based on Fourier analysis,” IEEE Transactions on Electron Devices, vol. 55, pp. 594-600, Feb. 2008.

3.     W. Y. Yin, K. Kang, and J. F. Mao, “Electromagnetic-thermal characterization of on-chip coupled (a)symmetrical interconnects,” IEEE Transactions on Advanced Packaging, vol. 30, pp. 851-863, Nov. 2007.

4.  L. L. Jiang, J. F. Mao and X. L. Wu, “Symplectic finite-difference time-domain method for Maxwell equations,” IEEE Transactions on Magnetics, vol. 42, pp. 1991-1995, Aug. 2006.

5.  M. Tang; J. F. Mao and X. C. Li, “Analysis of interconnects with frequency- dependent parameters by differential quadrature method,” IEEE Microwave and Wireless Components Letters, vol. 15, pp. 877-879, Dec. 2005.

6.  X-C Li, J. F. Mao, H. Huang, and Y. Liu, “Global interconnect width and spacing optimization for latency, bandwidth and power dissipation,” IEEE Transactions on Electronics Device, vol. 52, pp. 2272-2279, Oct. 2005.

7.  W. Dai, Z. F. Li, and J. F. Mao, “Parameter extraction for on-chip interconnects by double-image green’s function method combined with hierarchical algorithm,” IEEE Transactions on Microwave Theory and Technology, vol. 53, pp. 2416-2423, July 2005.

8.  X.-C. Li, J. F. Mao, and H.-F. Huang, “Accurate analysis of interconnect trees with distributed RLC model and moment matching,” IEEE Transactions on Microwave Theory and Techniques, vol. 52，pp. 2199-2206, Sept 2004.

 

Achievement 2—Miniaturized High-Performance Microwave Components and Circuits

RF microelectronic system mainly consists of integrated circuits and other RF/microwave passive components. The passive components are accounted for up to 80% of the total number of system components and occupied about 90% of the whole integrated circuit areas. Therefore, their performance and smaller size are most important in the RFIC designs. In this research group, EBG structures which have wide stopband and high isolations have been used to successfully improve the performance of the passive components and antennas. We investigated a type of X-band EBG structure based bandpass filter by using slow wave effect to reduce its size about 67% compared with conventional design methodology, its measured attenuation of the second harmonic is greater than 45dB. In order to overcome the difficulty that when decreasing the component size, the insertion loss increases in the conventional conductors, we investigated types of EBG microstrip filters based on high temperature superconducting materials. With this disign the advantages of both the high temperature superconductivities and EBGs can be combined. We have also investigated a series of silicon-based multilayer on chip differential inductor and transformers and resolved the frequency dependent effects of the inductors due to the leakage loss of the silicon base and insertion loss of the conductor. In this research field, more than 15 papers have been published in IEEE Transactions and more than 10 patents have been received, which constitute an important part of a National Technology Invention Award of China in 2008. Some research results have been applied in big companies and special Institutes.   

8 representative papers published in recent 5 years supporting achievement 2:

1.   L. Lin, W. Y. Yin, J. F. Mao, and K. Yang, “Performance characterization of circular silicon transformers,” IEEE Transactions on Magnetics, vol. 44, pp. 4684-4688, Dec. 2008

2.    K. Yang, W. Y. Yin, J. L. Shi, K. Kang, J. F. Mao, and Y. P. Zhang, “A study of on-chip stacked multi-loop spiral inductors,” IEEE Transactions on Electron Devices, vol. 55, pp. 3236-3245, Nov. 2008

3.    W. Y. Yin, J. Y. Xie, K. Kang, J. L. Shi, J. F. Mao, and X. W. Sun, “Vertical topologies of miniature multi-spiral stacked inductors,” IEEE Transactions on Microwave Theory and Technology, vol. 56, pp. 475-486, Feb. 2008.

4.    L. Liang, W.Y. Yin, J. F. Mao, and Y. Y. Wang, “New differential stacked spiral inductor on silicon with its application in VCO,” IEEE Microwave and Wireless Components Letters, vol. 17, pp. 727-729,Oct. 2007.

5.    Y. Y. Wang and Z. F. Li, “Group-cross symmetrical inductor (GCSI): A new inductor structure with higher self-resonance frequency and Q factor,” IEEE Transactions on Magnetics, vol. 42, pp. 1681-1686, Jun. 2006.

6.    H. F. Huang, J. F. Mao, X. C. Li, and Z. F. Li, “A photonic bandgap microstrip filter based on YBCO superconducting film,” IEEE Transactions on Applied Superconductivity, vol. 15, pp. 3827-3830, Sept. 2005.

7.    H. W. Liu, Z. F. Li, X. W. Sun, and J. F. Mao, “Harmonic suppression with photonic bandgap and defected ground structure for a microstrip patch antenna,” IEEE Microwave and Wireless Components Letters, vol.15, pp. 55-56, Feb. 2005.

8.    H. W. Liu, Z. F. Li, X. W. Sun, and J. F. Mao, “An improved 1-D periodic defected ground structure for microstrip line,” IEEE Microwave and Wireless Components Letters, vol. 14, pp. 180-182, April 2004.

 

Achievement 3—Novel Antenna Technology

In modern radar and wireless communication systems, the antenna with low profile and small dimensions is the key part, while high electrical performances, such as high gain and broad bandwidth, are required simultaneously. Some meaningful results have been achieved recently for hot applications. (1) The low profile and high gain antenna boarded on vehicles for terrestrial wireless DTV has been investigated. After a valuable model to describe the characteristic of UHF channel for DTV was obtained, several antennas were designed with the rate of gain to size 36~666.75dBi/λ³ and adopted in many Chinese cities, as Shanghai, Beijing, Hangzhou, etc. (2) For UWB systems, the undistortion of transmitting signals is much more important than its impedance matching. The methods to decrease the distortion by UWB antenna were studied. Then several prototypes have been designed and tested. Meanwhile, low profile UWB antennas with metal ground have been studied with stable directivity and radiation pattern. (3) To satisfy the requirements of MIMO systems, many kinds of multi-antennas with small dimensions and low coupling for AP and client terminals have been invented, in which not only the electromagnetic features of antennas are included, but also the requirements of systems are taken into account. (4) Based on the RF switch, several kinds of reconfigurable antennae, as the frequency reconfigurable antenna, pattern reconfigurable antenna and polarization reconfigurable antenna have been studied and deigned. (5) We combine the PSO or GA optimization algorithm with parallel EM computation method or EM software to study the automatic design methods of antenna. While several efficient modified PSO and GA are achieved, the optimization design model of antennas is established, which is verified by the experiments of several prototypes. This is a great improvement for antenna optimization. In this research field, more than 50 papers have been published in international journals and 12 patents have been received, which constitute an important part of a National Technology Invention Award of China in 2008. Some research results have been applied in big companies and special Institutes.  

8 representative papers published in recent 5 years supporting achievement 3:

1.   G. B. Xiao, J. F. Mao, and B. Yuan, “A novel surface integral equation formulation for analysis of complex electromagnetic systems”, IEEE Transactions on Antennas and Propagation, vol. 57, no. 3, Mar. 2009.

2.   G. M. Yang, R. H. Jin, G. B. Xiao, C. Vittoria, V. G. Harris, and N. X. Sun, “Ultra-wideband (UWB) antennas with multi-resonant split-ring loops”, IEEE Transactions on Antennas and Propagation, vol. 57, pp. 256-260, Jan. 2009

3.   G. B. Xiao, J. F. Mao, and B. Yuan, “Generalized transition matrix for arbitrarily shaped scatterers or scatterer groups,” IEEE Transactions on Antennas and Propagation, vol. 56, no. 12, pp. 3723-3732, Dec. 2008..

4.   Q. Wu, R H. Jin and J. P. Geng, “Printed omni-directional UWB monopole antenna with very compact size,” IEEE Transactions on Antennas and Propagation, vol.56, pp.896~899, March, 2008

5.   W. He, R. H. Jin, J. P. Geng “E-shape patch with wideband and circular polarization for millimeter-wave communication,” IEEE Transactions on Antennas and Propagation, vol.56, , pp.893~895, March, 2008.

6.   X. Y. Rui, R. H. Jin, and J. P. Geng: “Performance analysis of MIMO MRC systems in the presence of self-interference and co-channel interferences”, IEEE Signal Processing Letters, vol.14, pp.801-803, Nov. 2007.

7.   Q. Wu, R. H. Jin, J. P. Geng, and M. Ding, “Pulse preserving capabilities of printed circular disk monopole antennas with different grounds for the specified input signal forms,” IEEE Transactions on Antennas and Propagation, vol.55, pp.2866-2873, Oct. 2007

8.   Z. Y. Wang, R. H. Jin, J. P. Geng, “Finite mixture noise models for mobile digital television channel on urban terrestrial broadcasting,” IEEE Transactions on Broadcasting, vol.53, pp.738-745, April 2007.

 

Achievement 4— Electromagnetic Compatibility and Protection of Electronic Systems

The researches in electromagnetic compatibility, electromagnetic interference suppression, and electromagnetic protection are very important in the development of high-performance modern communication electronic systems. We have effectively carried out researches in these fields in the past few years. For example, we have developed “A new conformal technique for FDTD (2,4) scheme for modeling perfectly conducting composites”, which was granted the “Best Paper Award ”by 2008 Asia-Pacific Symposium on Electromagnetic Compatibility & 19^th International Zurich Symposium on Electromagnetic Compatibility in Singapore. Using hybrid nonlinear time-domain finite element method, we have also developed computational algorithms for fast capturing electromagnetic and thermal transient responses in various semiconductor devices, metallic multi-layer interconnects, and 3-D packaged structures as they are injected by high-power and ultra-wideband intentional electromagnetic pulses (EMPs), with their power handling capabilities, electrical & thermal breakdown thresholds characterized accurately. Further, we have developed some new methods for effectively protecting certain communication system and platform against intentional attack of EMPs, which are implemented in design and applied in some special areas related. On the other hand, we have developed some effective methods, such as application of asymptotic waveform evaluation to eigenmode expansion method and even-odd partition method, for analysis of simultaneous switching noise and bounces in various irregular power/ground plane structure in printed circuit boards, multi-chip modules and system in package.

8 representative papers published in recent 5 years supporting achievement 4:

1.   Q. F. Liu, W. Y. Yin, J. F. Mao, and Z. Z. Chen, "Accurate characterization of shielding effectiveness of metallic enclosures with thin wires and thin slots," IEEE Trans. Electromagnetic Compatibility, vol. 51, May 2009.

2.    M. F. Xue, W. Y. Yin, Q. F. Liu, and J. F. Mao, “Wideband pulse respones of metallic rectangular multi-stage cascaded enclosures illuminated by an EMP,” IEEE Trans. Electromagnetic Compatibility, vol. 50, pp. 928-939, Nov. 2008.

3.    J. F. Xu, W. Y. Yin, and J. F. Mao, “Transient thermal analysis of GaN heterojunction transistors (HFETs) for high-power applications”, IEEE Microwave And Wireless Components Letters, 2007, vol. 17, pp. 55~57, Jan. 2007

4.    J. L. Shi, W. Y. Yin, K. Kang, J. F. Mao, and L. W. Li, “Frequency-thermal characteristics of on-chip transformers with patterned ground shields,” IEEE Transactions on Microwave Theory and Techniques, vol. 55, pp. 1-12, Jan. 2007.

5.    P. Liu, Z. F. Li and G. B. Han, “Application of asymptotic waveform evaluation to eigenmode expansion method for analysis of simultaneous switching noise in printed circuit boards (PCBs),” IEEE Trans. Electromagnetic Compatibility, vol. 48, pp. 485-492, Aug. 2006.

6.    W. Y. Yin, S. J. Lin, J. F. Mao, and L. W. Li, “Experimental characterization of hybrid temperature and frequency effects on the performance of transformers on silicon substrates, ” IEEE Transactions on Magnetics, vol. 42, pp. 2107-2109, Aug. 2006.

7.    P. Liu and Z. F. Li, “An efficient method for calculating bounces in the irregular power/ground plane structure with holes in high-speed PCBs,” IEEE Trans. Electromagnetic Compatibility, vol. 47, no. 4, pp. 889-898, Nov. 2005.

8.    W. Y. Yin, X. T. Dong, J. F. Mao, and L. W. Li, “Average power handling capability of finite-ground thin-film microstrip lines over ultra-wide frequency ranges,” IEEE Microwave and Wireless Components Letters, vol. 15, pp. 715-717, Oct. 2005.

 

Achievement 5——New Interconnect Technology of Integrated Circuits

Besides the conventional copper interconnects, there are several new technologies that have the potential to change the way dealing with interconnection in modern high-speed integrated circuits. Some most likely are carbon nanotube-based interconnect on chips, wireless interconnect for interchip communication and superconducting interconnect for VLSI packaging. Firstly, carbon nanotubes (CNTs) have aroused a lot of interest in their applicability as VLSI interconnects of the future because of their extremely desirable electrical and thermal properties. For the first time, a compact equivalent circuit model of multi-walled CNT (MWCNT) is presented. The performance of MWCNT interconnects is evaluated and compared against traditional copper interconnects, as well as single-walled CNT (SWCNT)-based interconnects, at different interconnect levels for future technology nodes. We found that MWCNT interconnects as the intermediate and global levels application will show significant improvement in signal delay as well as crosstalk  compared to Cu wires (as low as 15% of Cu delay). The results are remarked by the reviewers as “the conclusion they obtain… will be of great importance for interconnect communities”. Secondly, antenna on chip promotes the wireless interconnect for interchip communications coming true. A compact 24-GHz ladder reflector antenna on chip has been developed using the standard 0.18-um six metal layers complementary metal–oxide–semiconductor (CMOS) process. The measured results show that the ladder reflector antenna has a 6.25-dBdc gain at 24 GHz and a 6-dB impedance bandwidth of 19.92–27.60 GHz. Thirdly, a simple analytical model of odd and even mode external inductance and kinetic inductance for coupled high-temperature superconducting (HTS) microstrip lines is developed and the frequency- dependent characteristics of HTS microstrip lines are investigated. Compared with copper interconnects, better electrical performance, especially lower crosstalk, of coupled HTS interconnects is demonstrated. The application of HTS conductors as high-speed VLSI interconnects is predicted to be promising.

6 representative papers published in recent 5 years supporting achievement 5:

1.   S. N. Pu, W. Y. Yin, J. F. Mao, and Q. H. Liu, "Crosstalk prediction of single and double-walled carbon nanotube(SWCNT/DWCNT) bundle interconnects," IEEE Transactions on Electron Devices, vol. 56, pp. 560-568, April 2009.

2.   8.  B. Jiang, J. F. Mao, and Wen-Yan Yin, "An efficient ladder reflector antenna for interchip communication," IEEE Antennas and Propagation Letters, vol. 77, pp. 777-780, Dec. 2008.

3.   H. Li, J. F. Mao, W. Y. Yin, and K. Banerjee, “Circuit modeling and performance analysis of multi-walled carbon nanotube(MWCNT) interconnects,” IEEE Transactions on Electron Devices, vol. 55, pp. 1328-1337, Jun. 2008.

4.    Y. Huang, W. Y. Yin, and Q. H. Liu, “Performance prediction of carbon nanotube bundle dipole antennas,” IEEE Transactions on Nanotechnologies, vol. 7, pp. 331-337, May 2008.

5.   H. Li, W. Y. Yin, and J. F. Mao, Comments on “Modeling of metallic carbon-nanotube interconnects for circuit simulations and a comparison with Cu interconnects for scaled technologies,” IEEE Transactions on Computer-Aided Design of Integrated Circuits and Systems, vol. 25, pp. 3042-3044, Dec. 2006.

6.   H. F. Huang, and J. F. Mao, “The Inductance Model of Coupled High Tc Superconducting Microstrip Lines,” IEEE Transactions on Applied Superconductivity, vol. 14, pp. 7-12, Mar. 2004.