Basic Information
- Course Code: EE 619
- Course Name: Radio Frequency Microelectronics Chip Design
- Course Offered In: 2023-2024
- Semester Season: Spring
- Instructors: Prof. Rajesh H. Zele
- Prerequisites: EE204. EE618 is highly recommended. However, the professor allowed students who had only completed EE204 to take the course. The professor sometimes directly refers to the concepts taught in EE618 and expects students to know those concepts before. He also provides lecture notes/numbers of EE618 to revise those concepts.
- Difficulty (1 being easy and 5 being tough): 5
Course Content
If Prof. Zele teaches the course, you can expect the course to be heavier.
RLC networks and S-parameters Matching networks Distortion in RF systems Distortion + Passive Elements Layout Inductor design
MOSFET Basics and Noise Analysis Noise analysis+Sensitivity
LNA (Low Noise Amplifier) design Mixer Design Oscillators design Phase-locked loop design
Reveiw of some communiations concetps RX, TX architectures
Transmitter Amplifier Power Amplifier
Feedback on Lectures
The professor’s teaching skills are excellent. He goes through every concept in detail and tries to solve all the doubts of students in the lecture itself. The professor mainly teaches on a writing pad.
Feedback on Evaluations
2 Quizzes - Feedback on Evaluation (25 x 2) 2 Assignments - 12 (6 x 2) Midsem - 43 Endsem - 64 Project 1 - 15 Project 2 - 35 Attendance - 20 Total - 239
Attendance Quizzes: These are conducted at the end of each lecture. The quiz included basic questions taught in that lecture. Everyone who submitted the Google form got marks for attendance regardless of whether they answered attendance quiz questions correctly or not.
Projects: Both projects were on the heavier side, and you need to give a significant amount of your time to complete and meet all the specifications given in the project. Students who do not have prior exposure to Cadence Virtuoso (typically covered in EE618) may find these projects particularly time-consuming. Starting the project well before the deadline is very important if you want to complete the project. Sometimes, you may not get access to the software on the day of the deadline due to the limited number of licences available.
Professor Zele generally asks circuit diagrams/Schematics directly and some slight variation of the derivations proved in lectures. Hence, thoroughly reviewing lecture notes is very important to score good marks on Prof—Zele’s exams. Solving tutorial problems and solving examples of Razavi would also help score good marks. There were also some questions similar to the solved examples given in Razavi in exams.
Assignments were based on the content covered in lectures and were not complex.
Study Material and Resources
RF MICROELECTRONICS by Behzad Razavi The Design of CMOS Radio-Frequency Integrated Circuits by Thomas H. Lee
Follow-up Courses
NO
Final Takeaway
Completing EE618, EE619, and EE719 would be beneficial if you are looking into a career in the Analog domain.