dr. M. Spirito

Associate Professor
Electronic Circuits and Architectures (ELCA), Department of Microelectronics

PhD thesis (Jun 2005): Enhanced Techniques for the Design and Characterization of RF Power Amplifiers
Promotor: J.N. Burghartz

Expertise: (Sub)mm-wave electronics components and systems, (Sub)mm-wave characterization techniques and test benches, advanced RF calibration concepts for room-temperature and cryogenic applications.

Themes: mm-wave sensors, Characterization and modelling up to sub THz, Microwave circuits

Biography

Marco Spirito (S’01-M’08) received the M.Sc. degree (cum laude) in electrical engineering from the University of Naples “Federico II,” Naples, Italy, in 2000, and the Ph.D. degree from the Delft University of Technology, Delft, The Netherlands, in 2006. From 2000 to 2001, he was a guest at Infineon Technologies, Munich, Germany. In 2006, he joined the department of Electronics and Telecommunications Engineering, University of Naples “Federico II.”

In April 2008 he joined the Electronics Research Laboratory at the Delft University of Technology as an Assistant Professor, where he is an Associate Professor since April 2013.

Dr. Spirito was the recipient of the Best Student Paper Award for his contribution to the 2002 IEEE Bipolar/BiCMOS Circuits and Technology Meeting (BCTM) he received the IEEE MTT Society Microwave Prize in 2008, was a co-recipient of the best student paper award at IEEE RFIC 2011, and the GAAS Association Student Fellowship in 2012, the Best Student Paper Award in second place at the 2018 International Microwave Biomedical Conference, the Best Paper Award at the 2019 Winter ARFTG Conference, and the Best Student Paper Award at the 2019 Summer ARFTG Conference. Since 2018 he is a member of the Executive Committee (ExCom) of the The Automatic Radio Frequency Techniques Group (ARFTG) www.arftg.org.

My research focuses on the development of measurement techniques and test-benches, on the definition and implementation of novel system concepts and the improved calibration methods to reach the required performance in (sub)mm-wave frequency range. The investigation on measurement techniques starts with the implementation of novel high performance test-benches and develops into the realization of accurate measurements allowing to extract the key parameters of innovative device or sub-systems under test. The realization of unique tools (software and hardware) provides strategic know-how and infrastructures which enable the evaluation and further improvement of the system/device under test. Calibration techniques are the needed “recipes” to improve the characterization accuracy and/or provide new insight in the object under test.

Working on system level definition, calibration algorithms, and component level design allows me to effectively interact with complementary fields and colleagues, i.e., antenna and EM experts, device modelling specialists and circuit designers. Through an active co-operation, leveraging their skills, I am involved in the design, implementation and characterization of higher complexity systems operating at the frontier of high-frequency technologies.

EE2G1 Electrical Engineering for the Next Generation

BSc 2nd year project

EE4605 Integrated circuits and systems for wireless applications

Design and analysis of typical RF IC building blocks in a wireless transceiver

EE4730 High frequency wireless architectures

EE4C05 Electromagnetics

Basic introduction to the fundamental concepts of the Electromagnetics (EM)

EE4C13 Wireless systems for electrical engineering applications

Commonly used RF electronics architectures in wireless systems, with the requirements on their building blocks.

Education history

EE1L21 EPO-2: Smart Robot Challenge

(not running) Build, program and operate a functional autonomous mobile robot

EE3360TU Transmission Lines

(not running)

EE3385TU Phased Steering System

(not running) 5G and AutoRadar

Towards Energy-Efficient Tbps Wireless Links

TeraGreen will develop ultra wideband and low-power consumption BiCMOS transmitters and receivers integrated with lens array architectures at 300GHz, combined with baseband algorithms suitable for energy-efficient analog-to-digital conversion.

THz silicon-Integrated CAMera for low-cost imaging applications

Develop a real-time multi pixel passive radiometer, operating between 0.1 THz and 1THz, integrated in a silicon based technology, with temperature resolution better than 1K

Microwave measurements for planar circuits and components

PlanarCal aims to aim of the project is to enable traceable measurement of integrated planar circuits and components from radio-frequency (RF) to sub-mm frequencies.

Integrated Near Field sensOrs for high Resolution MicrowavE spectRoscopy

The goal of this project is the creation of a new class of sensors, enabling fast and accurate dielectric characterization of biological samples, with high-sensitivity and high-spatial resolution.

Non-Galvanic Contactless Connectors for Power and Data Transfer

The WiCon project will provide low-cost, highly-integrated system solutions for galvanic connectors replacement in the consumer and industrial market segments.

Projects history

WAtt LEvel transmitters at mm-waves

The WhALE project targets, employing complementary expertise in the field of electromagnetics, system integration and integrated circuit design, to develop the next generation of mmwave transmitters.

STW Take-off phase1: High gamma vector network analysis

HΓ-VNA targets the implementation of a new measurement technique, enabling accurate characterization of electronic devices as well as biological and organic materials, which share the common characteristic of presenting extreme loading condition in the RF/Microwave frequency range.

Metrology for optical and RF communication systems

To develop traceable methods for RF power and MIMO antenna measurements and cost-effective metrological solutions for smart, adaptive, reconfigurable and wearable antennas.

THz silicon-integrated camera for low-cost imaging applications