December 2012 - URSI

Book Reviews for Radioscientists
[Editor’s note: The Young Scientists who received an award at the 2011 Istanbul URSI GASS were asked to review their
favorite textbook, even if it was a classic book. This is in contrast to our usual reviews, where we try to have new books
reviewed. The reviews in this issue are from Young Scientists.]
RF Microelectronics
By by Behzad Razavi, Upper Saddle River, NJ, Prentice Hall, 1998; ISBN: 0-13-887571-5 [new edition: 2011]
RF and microwave wireless communications have
become popular and been part of modern life: applications
include radios, cellular systems, and satellite systems.
RF engineering has become important and critical in the
wireless industry, which basically can be divided into system
design and hardware development. RF engineers should
have knowledge and technical skills in both fields. This
book presents the basic concepts of RF architecture and
circuit design. It can be regarded as an advanced textbook
for microelectronics and analog circuits, as most of the
presented concepts can be realized by various technologies,
such as CMOS and MMIC. This book demonstrates the
methods for implementing wireless systems through circuit
design. It details core components of RF systems, including
transceivers and amplifiers, which are essential to RF
circuits. Hence, this is an extremely useful book for RF folk.
This book can be divided into three parts: 1) background
and basics of wireless and RF design (Chapters 1-2);
2) overview of communication systems, including
modulation and multiple-access techniques (Chapters 3-4);
3) RF systems and components (Chapters 5-9). Although
communication systems may be learned by a different path,
the author of this book provides readers a good way to be
familiar with the design process, and to verify the accuracy of
the RF design by referring to the theory of communications.
Readers can thus understand how the theory and formulation
are implemented by the RF integrated circuit.
Chapter 1, “Introduction to RF and Wireless
Technology,” describes multiple disciplines used in
RF design such that an RF system is an integration of
communication theory, system architecture, and IC design.
An “RF design hexagon” shows the tradeoffs among design
parameters in order to meet specified targets. Since the same
concept can be applied to many applications, experience
is usually a key to making the decision in engineering to
balance performance, cost, and scheduling of products.
Chapter 2, “Basic Concepts in RF Design,” describes
the nonlinearity and time variability of the components
themselves, and then migrates to interference among
components. Many effects of nonlinearities, such as
harmonics, desensitization, and intermodulation, are key
factors in determining and debugging the accuracy of
outputs. Inter-symbol interference in a linear system results
in signal distortion due to insufficient bandwidth; Nyquist
signaling is then introduced to reduce that impact. After
briefly reviewing random processes, noise and dynamic
range are explained. It is shown how these two terms
provide a straight way for evaluating the performance of
the system and of circuit designs.
Chapter 3, “Modulation and Detection,” presents
the work performed by the RF transceiver, as a bridge
between RF and baseband. The pros and cons of analog
and digital modulations are emphasized, which reflects
on the merits and limitations in the design of RF circuits.
Each of these can provide unique signal quality, spectral
efficiency, and power efficiency. Optimum detection, and
why non-coherent detection is adopted in many RF systems,
are well introduced.
Chapter 4, “Multiple Access Techniques and Wireless
Standards,” describes how to build communications between
multiple transceivers, and what rules to follow in various
wireless systems. Definitions of general behaviors and
phenomena in mobile RF communications are given first.
The difference between TDD and FDD is explained. FDMA,
TDMA, and different types of CDMA are then introduced.
This is followed by 2G and 3G cellular systems, where
power control and diversity are briefly reviewed.
Chapter 5, “Transceiver Architectures,” explains
the criteria for selecting transceivers, such as bandwidth,
in-band loss, IP3, noise, sensitivity, and dynamic range.
Various receiver and transmitter architectures are reviewed.
The superiority of popularly used heterodyne receivers,
and the design concerns of spectrum image and IF issues,
are analyzed in great detail. Image-rejection techniques are
included, as well. Homodyne receivers are compared here.
Transmitters bridging baseband, RF, and the antenna are
then explained. The duplexer and switch in the RF front
end, used to separate the transmitted and received signals,
sometimes yield losses that cannot be compensated for in
the system. This chapter is concluded with some examples
of actual products used in FM and GSM radios.
Chapter 6, “Low-Noise Amplifiers and Mixers,”
presents their implementations using bipolar and CMOS
technologies, which are suitable for VLSI. The low-noise
amplifier’s performance is governed not only by the imagerejection
filter and mixer, but is also limited by the impedance
matching for the antenna. The noise behavior, power gain,
30 The Radio Science Bulletin No 343 (December 2012)