Abstract
The manufacturing test of integrated circuit is a crucial step in the production chain that permits to verify its performances in regard to its specifications. In case of Radio Frequency (RF) circuits, this test represents a significant part of the final cost. This is due to the required instrumentation that includes expensive RF resources installed in Automatic Test Equipments (ATE). The objective in this thesis is to propose a low-cost alternative for RF receivers testing.Previous research works propose solutions to reduce the testing cost of this type of circuits. Here, we propose an original approach based on the generation of an RF signal from a low-frequency digital signal directly available on the standard resources of an ATE. This method poses two main challenges: how to encode the baseband signal in order to obtain a specific spectrum at a chosen frequency and, how to adapt the generating frequency f_s to the available test equipment.To meet these challenges, we define a mathematical model corresponding to the operations performed by the test equipment: 1-bit quantization, sampling and hold. First, we have considered the simple case of monochromatic frequency modulation (FM). This is equivalent to frequency modulation of a digital carrier whose harmonics represent modified versions of the baseband modulation spectrum due to the multiplication of the modulation index by the harmonic order.Secondly, we study the effect of undersampling/hold on simple and frequency and phase modulated signals. Undersampling creates periodic images of the original spectrum around multiples of the frequency f_s and a harmonic pollution due to the foldings. With a smart choice of the sampling frequency, it is possible to retrieve the expected components. Zero order hold, in turn, imposes a cardinal sine envelope on the spectrum. We propose the definition of a corruption estimator permitting to quantify the pollution around a targeted harmonic frequency. It enables to identify favorable sampling conditions for the exploitation of a specific frequency band.This method is experimentally validated on concrete case studies. The developed test bench emulates the operation of a test equipment and enables us to validate the effectiveness of the corruption estimator. We obtain clean FM/PM spectra at high frequencies using baseband modulated digital signals by selecting the sampling conditions returned as favorable by the corruption estimator.We extend our theoretical and experimental study to digital modulations such as FSK (e.g. MSK) and PSK (e.g. BPSK). Additionally, we establish the link between the baseband signal and the high-frequency harmonics. The generation of FSK and PSK modulated signals in the 433MHz, 868MHz and 2.4GHz ISM bands is demonstrated in simulation and in hardware experiment using two test benches. The first relies on the use of a software radio, the second directly uses a baseband frequency digital output of a microcontroller.The various results obtained through simulation and experimentation support the validity of our proposed solution for generating high-frequency analog signals from low-frequency digital ones. The application of this approach in the context of industrial testing of radiofrequency integrated circuits generates production saving. The idea may be extended to other modulation schemes.