Curriculum

Antonio Raffo was born in Taranto, Italy, in 1976. He received the M.S. degree (with honors) in Electronic Engineering and the Ph.D. degree in Information Engineering from the University of Ferrara, Ferrara, Italy, in 2002 and 2005, respectively.

In 2002 he received a research grant from the Italian National Research Council (CNR), regarding reliability issues affecting nonlinear electron devices based on III-V compound semiconductors.

Since 2003 he has collaborated with the Department of Electronics, Computer Science and Systems (DEIS - University of Bologna) and with the CoRiTel Research Consortium between Ericsson and several Italian Universities.

From 2002 to 2005, he was a Research Fellow with the University of Ferrara.

From 2005 to 2007 he was involved in the framework of the network of excellence “Top Amplifier Research Groups in a European Team” (TARGET), supported by the Information Society Technologies Programme of the European Union. In this context, the international co-operation with the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven has been particularly important for the number of joint publications in international journals and conferences. Since 2007, Prof. Raffo spent different periods at the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, invited by Prof. Dominique Schreurs, responsible for the MMICs and circuits laboratory.

Prof. Raffo was the recipient of the Student Paper Prize presented at the 2005 European Gallium Arsenide and Other Compound Semiconductors Application Symposium.

From 2007 to 2010 he was with the Engineering Department, University of Ferrara, Italy, as a Post-Doctoral Researcher. In 2007 he was invited to lecture on his research activity at the: International Doctoral School on “Electronic technologies for software defined radio” (Lerici, Italy) and “3rd TARGET Winter School” (Santander, Spain).

 

From 2010 to 2019 Antonio Raffo was a Research Associate at the Engineering Department, University of Ferrara, where he is currently an Associate Professor teaching the courses of circuit theory and high-frequency electronics. He is a member of the council for the PhD course in Engineering Sciences (area of Information Engineering), University of Ferrara, and has been supervisor for several PhD students.

Prof. Raffo received the national scientific qualification to function as Associate (first call 2012) and Full Professor (first call 2016) in Electronics.

 

Prof. Raffo is the Chair of the IEEE Microwave Measurements Technical Committee.

 

Antonio Raffo has co-authored over 150 publications in international journals and conferences. His research activity is mainly oriented to nonlinear electron device characterization and modelling, circuit-design techniques for nonlinear microwave and millimetre-wave applications, and measurement uncertainty evaluation in transistor nonlinear characterization.

 

Bibliometric Indicators (by Scopus, May 08, 2021 - Author ID: 8328676700)

 

H-index: 21

Citations: 1563

Journal Papers: 66

Conference Papers: 89

Editorials: 4

Book: 1

Book Chapters: 2

 

Antonio Raffo has collaborated with outstanding research centres in both academic and industrial environments: Katholieke Universiteit Leuven (Belgium), Chalmers University (Sweden), National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST - USA), Interuniversity Micro Electronics Centre (IMEC - Belgium), Ericsson (Sweden), Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd. (China), Sumitomo Electric Industries (Japan), Integra (USA).

 

Prof. Raffo has been invited to present his research results on electron device characterization and modelling at the most important conferences of the microwave engineering community:

 

  • 2007, Workshop Speaker, IEEE European Microwave Integrated Circuits Conference (EuMiC). Invited talk on "Non-linear Characterization and Modelling of Microwave Power FETs Affected by Low-Frequency Dispersive Effects," Munich, Germany.
  • 2008, Workshop Speaker, IEEE European Microwave Conference (EuMC). Invited talk on "New Nonlinear Modeling Techniques for Microwave and Millimeter-wave Circuit Design," Amsterdam, the Netherlands.
  • 2008, Workshop Speaker, IEEE International Microwave Symposium (IMS). Invited talk on "Nonlinear Millimeter-Wave Modelling of Electron Devices in the Presence of Low-Frequency Dispersive Effects," Atlanta, Georgia, USA.
  • 2011, Workshop Speaker, IEEE European Microwave Conference (EuMC). Invited talk on "Waveform Engineering at the Current-Generator Plane: Power Amplifier Design Examples," Manchester, United Kingdom.
  • 2012, Workshop Speaker, IEEE International Microwave Symposium (IMS). Invited talk on "Non‐linear Modeling Based on Non-linear Measurements: Pros and Cons," Montréal, Canada.
  • 2015, Invited keynote Speaker, IEEE International Conference on Advanced Technologies, Systems and Services in Telecommunications (TELSIKS). Invited paper: "Nonlinear Modelling of GaN Transistors: Behavioural and Analytical Approaches," Niš, Serbia.
  • 2018, Workshop Speaker, IEEE International Microwave Symposium (IMS). Invited talk on "Power amplifier design using nonlinear embedding: waveform engineering at the current generator plane," Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA.

 

Prof. Raffo serves as reviewer of the following international journals:

 

  • IEEE - Transactions on Microwave Theory and Techniques
  • IEEE - Microwave and Wireless Components Letters
  • IEEE - Microwave Magazine
  • IEEE - Electron Device Letters
  • IEEE - Transactions on Instrumentation and Measurement
  • IEEE - Transactions on Circuits and Systems
  • IEEE - Transactions on Power Electronics
  • Wiley - International Journal of Numerical Modelling: Electronic Networks, Devices and Fields
  • Cambridge University Press - International Journal of Microwave and Wireless Technologies
  • IET - Circuits, Devices and Systems
  • Elsevier - Solid State Electronics
  • Elsevier - Microelectronics Reliability
  • Elsevier - Materials Science in Semiconductor Processing
  • Taylor & Francis - International Journal of Electronics

 

Antonio Raffo serves also as reviewer of the following international conferences:

 

  • IEEE - International Microwave Symposium (IMS) (workshop proposal review committee)
  • IEEE - European Microwave Conference (EuMC)
  • IEEE - Automatic RF Techniques Group Conference (ARFTG)
  • IEEE - European Microwave Integrated Circuits Conference (EuMIC)
  • IEEE - International Workshop on Integrated Nonlinear Microwave and Millimetre-wave Circuits (INMMiC)
  • IEEE - International Instrumentation and Measurement Technology Conference (I2MTC)

 

Prof. Raffo has been involved in different research projects founded by national and international institutions as: MIUR, ASI, UE. The most significant projects are listed below:

 

  • Preliminary design of high-efficiency power amplifiers for 2nd generation X-band T-R modules for SAR Payloads,” ASI, 2004-05.
  • Non-linear models and design approaches for low-noise high dynamic range integrated radio systems,” PRIN 2006.
  • Network of Excellence TARGET – Top Amplifier Research Groups in a European Team,” UE VI Framework Program, 2004-07.
  • Electron device models for the design of MMIC for high-performance radio links,” MIUR, Fund for Applied Research art. 11, 2004-08.
  • “Design and implementation of an MMIC X-band Chip Set for second generation T/R modules,” ASI, 2008-10.
  • “GaN Power Amplifiers for space applications: design, development and testing,” ASI, 2010-12.
  • High power RF Micro-modules Itar-free, smart and highly-integrated for SSPA market,” EUROSTARS 2 (Horizon 2020), 2016-18. – Responsible of research unit.
  • Empowering GaN-on-SiC and GaN-on-Si technologies for the next challenging millimeter-wave applications,” MIUR (Ministero dell'Istruzione dell'Università e della Ricerca) - PRIN 2017, 2020-22. - Responsible of research unit.
  • GaN Highly-Integrated MMICs for High-Power and High-Frequency Operation (Hi3GaN),” ASI, 2019-21. – Scientific responsible of research unit.
  • V-band inter satellite link solid state power amplifier module (VISTAM),” ESA (European Space Agency), 2020-23. – Responsible of research unit.

 

Prof. Raffo has been principal investigator for different Research contracts focused on the characterization and modelling of GaN devices, the most important ones are reported below:

 

  • GaN Transistor Characterization and Modelling under Low-Frequency Large-Signal Operation,” Sumitomo Electric Industries, Japan, 2017.
  • Multi-harmonic Characterization and Modelling of GaN transistors,” Leonardo S.p.A. (Finmeccanica), Italy 2017.
  • GaN Transistor Characterization by means of Low-Frequency Large-Signal Measurement Setups,” Sumitomo Electric Industries, Japan, 2018.
  • GaN Transistor Characterization and Modelling,” Sumitomo Electric Industries, Japan, 2020.

 

Antonio Raffo was also involved in several technology transfer projects with national enterprises. In the following are reported the projects for which he acted as principal investigator:

 

  • Design and Testing of a Power Amplifier for Ultrasound Treatment,” Emildue, Cento, Italy 2012.
  • Design and Testing of a Power Amplifier for Medical Diathermy,” Emildue, Cento, Italy 2013.
  • Design of 27 MHz high-power amplifiers,” Project Blue Generation, Cento, Italy 2014.
  • Characterization of coaxial cables under high-temperature operation,” MIST E-R scrl, Bologna, Italy 2018.

 

In 2004, Antonio Raffo was a co-founder of the academic spin-off MEC s.r.l. (Microwave Electronics for Communications). The society core business is the design, layout generation and characterization of microwave integrated circuits and modules exploited in both satellite and terrestrial communications. From 2012 to 2017, he was a member of the board of the directors.

 

Antonio Raffo is a member of IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) and of the IEEE MTT-3 Technical Committee (Microwave Measurements). He is also a member of the Technical Programme Committee of the IEEE International Workshop on Integrated Nonlinear Microwave and Millimetre-wave Circuits (INMMiC) and served as Technical Program Chair for the IEEE INMMiC conference, Leuven, Belgium, 2014. Prof. Raffo serves as Associate Editor of the Wiley International Journal of Numerical Modelling: Electronic Networks, Devices and Fields. In 2014, he was Guest Editor of the IEEE Transactions on Microwave Theory and Techniques for a special issue on “Integrated Nonlinear Microwave and Millimetre-wave Circuits”, and in 2017, he was Guest Editor of the Wiley International Journal of Numerical Modelling: Electronic Networks, Devices and Fields for a special issue on “Linear and Nonlinear Modelling of GaN Transistors and Circuits”.