EE220
RFIC I - Offered in Spring semester only
Course and Contact Information
Instructor: Sang-Soo Lee
Office Location: ENGR 259
Telephone: (408) 924-3950
Email: sang-soo.lee@sjsu.edu
Office Hours: MW 5:00 PM – 5:45 PM, Other time by appointment
Class Days/Time: MW 7:30 PM – 8:45 PM
Classroom: Clark Building 234
Prerequisites: Graduate standing or instructor consent
Course Description
Study of transmitter and receiver architectures and their building blocks for modern
wireless communication standards, high frequency modeling of passive and active circuit
components realized in CMOS and BiCMOS technologies, networks theory, wideband matching,
nonlinearity, noise, and link budgets.
Course Format
This course will be delivered in-person format. In certain circumstances, however,
part of it will be delivered online through live zoom meeting, and the other part
will be conducted asynchronously through the learning materials presented in the course
Canvas. You are responsible for regularly checking the Canvas to learn any updates
on syllabus, handouts, notes, assignment instructions, etc. Students will have the
access to use the Cadence IC design lab computers if they want to or if they do not
have the equipment to run the Cadence software required for the course.
Faculty Web Page and MYSJSU Messaging
https://www.sjsu.edu/people/sang-soo.lee/
Course Learning Outcomes (CLO)
Upon successful completion of this course, students will be able to:
1. Understand the concept of wave propagation, loss, device noise, noise figure, and
nonlinearity effects in RF transceiver
2. Design wireless communication link budget and understand key RF parameters
3. Use Smith chart to design impedance matching network for maximum power transfer
4. Verify the theory with hands-on lab simulations using Cadence SpectreRF
5. Have sufficient RFIC design foundation to continue the next course on RFIC Design
II (EE230)
Required Texts/Readings
Textbook
There is no required textbook. Lecture notes, slides, and papers will be posted in
Canvas.
Other Readings
The following reference books are recommended as supplementary readings.
1. B. Razavi, RF Microelectronics, 2nd Edition, Upper Saddle River, New Jersey, Prentice
Hall, 2012.
2. T. H. Lee, The Design of CMOS RFIC, Cambridge, U.K., Cambridge University Press,
2004.
3. D.M. Pozar, Microwave Engineering, New York, John Wiley, 4th edition
Selected publications from journal of solid-state circuits (JSSC), transactions on
microwave theory and
techniques (MTT), RFIC symposium, international solid-state circuit conference (ISSCC)
and custom integrated circuits conference (CICC) may be provided for readings. Papers
can be downloaded from IEEE Xplore website.
Other technology requirements / equipment / material
To be successful in this course, make sure your computers or devices have:
• Reliable internet access
• VPN & remote access to connect to SJSU Cadence Lab computer
• Access to Canvas. Ensure your web browser and browser settings are Canvas compatible
Course Requirements and Assignments
Homework assignments and exams will be solving problems based on the concepts presented
in the class. The final course project is designing an RF circuit that is closely
related to the topics discussed in the class. The circuit architecture for the project
will be given by the instructor and the students are required to optimize the circuit
component values based on Cadence SpectreRF simulations. Information on how to setup
and run the Cadence simulation tools will be provided, and students are required to
master this CAD tool by practicing Cadence tutorials provided by the instructor. Each
student must write a project report in power point slide format and submit the pdf
version of the report including the design procedure on how to select the component
values, key simulation data, images, and graphs to Canvas to receive a credit. More
details on the design project will be provided in the course Canvas.
“Success in this course is based on the expectation that students will spend, for each unit of credit, a minimum of 45 hours over the length of the course (normally three hours per unit per week) for instruction, preparation/studying, or course related activities, including but not limited to internships, labs, and clinical practice. Other course structures will have equivalent workload expectations as described in the syllabus.”
Final Examination
The date of the exam is shown on the course schedule section of the course syllabus.
There will be no make-up exam and those absent will receive no credit. Students must
write their answers clearly in an organized fashion. Further instructions on exam
rule will be provided in the course Canvas.
Grading Information
Homework 30%
Design project 30%
Final exam 40%
Determination of Grades
90% and above A
89% - 85% A minus
84% - 82% B plus
81% - 79% B
78% - 75% B minus
74% - 72% C plus
71% - 69% C
68% - 65% C minus
64% - 62% D plus
61% - 59% D
58% - 55% D minus
below 55% F
Classroom Protocol
Students will turn their cell phones off or put them on vibrate mode while in class.
They will not answer their phones in the class. During the online class, students
will mute themselves unless they need to speak for questions and answers.
Classroom Recording Policy
Students are not allowed to record (audio or video) in this class except in accordance
with ADA accommodations. Students are not allowed to post class materials including
videos in any other online site.
University Policies
Per University Policy S16-9 ,relevant university policy concerning all courses, such
as student responsibilities, academic integrity, accommodations, dropping and adding,
consent for recording of class, etc. and available student services (e.g. learning
assistance, counseling, and other resources) are listed on Syllabus Information web
page (https://www.sjsu.edu/curriculum/courses/syllabus-info.php). Make sure to visit
this page to review and be aware of these university policies and resources.
Study Resources
SJSU has designated available classrooms for students to use for studying, attending
online classes, and collaborating with other students. The 21 classrooms are located
in buildings around the campus. In addition to the classrooms, study space is available
in the King Library and Peer Connections.
A Study Resources (https://www.sjsu.edu/learnanywhere/campus-resources/study-resources.php)
page has been added to the Campus Resources tab on the Learn Anywhere site to help
students find these spaces. The rooms are available August 19 through December 6,
2021. No reservations are required. The students can just go to the room, set themselves
up, and start working.
EE Department Honor Code
The Electrical Engineering Department will enforce the following Honor Code that must
be read and accepted by all students.
“I have read the Honor Code and agree with its provisions. My continued enrollment
in this course constitutes full acceptance of this code. I will NOT:
• Take an exam in place of someone else, or have someone take an exam in my place
• Give information or receive information from another person during an exam
• Use more reference material during an exam than is allowed by the instructor
• Obtain a copy of an exam prior to the time it is given
• Alter an exam after it has been graded and then return it to the instructor for
re-grading
• Leave the exam room without returning the exam to the instructor.”
Measures Dealing with Occurrences of Cheating
• Department policy mandates that the student or students involved in cheating will
receive an “F” on that evaluation instrument (paper, exam, project, homework, etc.)
and will be reported to the Department and the University.
• A student’s second offense in any course will result in a Department recommendation
of suspension from the University.
For More Information, contact:
Prof. Sang-Soo Lee at SJSU
sang-soo.lee@sjsu.edu