A 400 MHz Low Noise Amplifier at Cryogenic Temperature for Superconductor Filter System

A cryogenic low noise amplifier （LNA） using Agilent high electron mobility transistor （HEMT） for 380 MHzto 480 MHz is designed and fabricated, and the excellent cryogenic performance in superconducting receiver front-end for communication system is achieved. A special input impedance matching topology is implemented to provide low noise figure （NF） and good input matching in this cryogenic LNA design. The measurement results show that the NF is within 0.25 dB from the minimum NF of a single transistor, the power gain is above 20 dB, the flatness is within 1 dB, and the maximum input return loss is lower than -20 dB in bandwidth.

Radio Frequency Low Noise Amplifier with Linearizing Bias Circuit

A 1.34 GHz-1=60 MHz low noise amplifier （LNA） designed in a 0.35 pm SiGe process is presented. The designed LNA exhibits a power gain of 21.46 dB and a noise figure （NF） of 1.27 dB at 1.34 GHz. The linearity is improved with an active biasing technique. The post-layout simulation shows an input referred 1-dB compression point （IPldn） of-11.52 dBm. Compared with the recent reported high gain LNAs, the proposed LNA has a much better linearity without degrading other performance. The LNA draws 10 mA current from a 3.3 V power supply.

A compact and reconfigurable low noise amplifier employing combinational active inductors and composite resistors feedback techniques

A compact and reconfigurable low noise amplifier(LNA)is proposed by combining an input transistor,composite transistors with Darlington configuration as the amplification and output transistor,T-type structure composite resistors instead of a simplex structure resistor,a shunt inductor feedback realized by a tunable active inductor(AI),a shunt inductor peaking technique realized by another tunable AI.The division and collaboration among different resistances in the T-type structure composite resistor realize simultaneously input impedance matching,output impedance matching and good noise performance;the shunt feedback and peaking technique using two tunable AIs not only extend frequency bandwidth and improve gain flatness,but also make the gain and frequency band can be tuned simultaneously by the external bias of tunable AIs;the Darlington configuration of composite transistors provides high gain;furthermore,the adoption of the small size AIs instead of large size passive spiral inductor,and the use of composite resistors make the LNA have a small size.The LNA is fabricated and verified by GaAs/InGaP hetero-junction bipolar transistor(HBT)process.The results show that at the frequency of 7 GHz,the gain S_(21)is maximum and up to 19 dB;the S_(21)can be tuned from 17 dB to 19 dB by tuning external bias of tunable AIs,that is,the tunable amount of S_(21)is 2 dB,and similarly at 8 GHz;the tunable range of 3 dB bandwidth is 1 GHz.In addition,the gain S_(21)flatness is better than 0.4 dB under frequency from 3.1 GHz to 10.6 GHz;the size of the LNA only has 760μm×1260μm(including PADs).Therefore,the proposed strategies in the paper provide a new solution to the design of small size and reconfigurable ultra-wideband(UWB)LNA and can be used further to adjust the variations of gain and bandwidth of radio frequency integrated circuits(RFICs)due to package,parasitic and the variation of fabrication process and temperature.

Optimum Design for a Low Noise Amplifier in S-Band

An optimum design of a low noise amplifier （LNA） in S-band working at 2-4 GHz is described. Choosing FHC40LG high electronic mobility transistor （HEMT）, the noise figure of the designed amplifier simulated by Microwave Office is no more than 1.5 dB, meanwhile the gain is no less than 20 dB in the given bandwidth. The simulated results agree with the performance of the transistor itself well in consideration of its own minimum noise figure （0.3 dB） and associated gain （15.5 dB）. Simultaneously, the stability factor of the designed amplifier is no less than 1 in the given bandwidth.

A full W-band low noise amplifier module for millimeter-wave applications

A full W-band low noise amplifier （LNA） module is designed and fabricated. A broadband transition is introduced in this module. The proposed transition is designed, optimized based on the results from numerical simulations. The results show that 1 dB bandwidth of the transition ranges from 61 to 117 GHz. For the purpose of verification, two transitions in back-to-back connection are measured. The results show that transmission loss is only about 0.9-1.7 dB. This transition is used to interface integrated circuits to waveguide components. The characteristic of the LNA module is measured after assembly. It exhibits a broad bandwidth of 75 to 110 GHz, and has a small signal gain above 21 dB. The noise figure is lower than 5.2 dB throughout the entire W-band （below 3 dB from 89 to 95 GHz） at room temperature. The proposed LNA module exhibits potential for millimeter wave applications due to its high small signal gain, low noise, and low DC power consumption.

A 0.18μm CMOS low noise amplifier using a current reuse technique for 3.1-10.6 GHz UWB receivers

A new,low complexity,ultra-wideband 3.1-10.6 GHz low noise amplifier（LNA）,designed in a chartered 0.18μm RFCMOS technology,is presented.The ultra-wideband LNA consists of only two simple amplifiers with an inter-stage inductor connected.The first stage utilizing a resistive current reuse and dual inductive degeneration technique is used to attain a wideband input matching and low noise figure.A common source amplifier with an inductive peaking technique as the second stage achieves high flat gain and wide -3 dB bandwidth of the overall amplifier simultaneously.The implemented ultra-wideband LNA presents a maximum power gain of 15.6 dB,and a high reverse isolation of—45 dB,and good input/output return losses are better than -10 dB in the frequency range of 3.1-10.6 GHz.An excellent noise figure（NF） of 2.8-4.7 dB was obtained in the required band with a power dissipation of 14.1 mW under a supply voltage of 1.5 V.An input-referred third-order intercept point（IIP3） is -7.1 dBm at 6 GHz.The chip area,including testing pads,is only 0.8×0.9 mm2.

Design of low power common-gate low noise amplifier for 2.4 GHz wireless sensor network applications

This paper presents a differential low power low noise amplifier designed for the wireless sensor network （WSN） in a TSMC 0.18μm RF CMOS process.A two-stage cross-coupling cascaded common-gate（CG） topology has been designed as the amplifier.The first stage is a capacitive cross-coupling topology.It can reduce the power and noise simultaneously.The second stage is a positive feedback cross-coupling topology,used to set up a negative resistance to enhance the equivalent Q factor of the inductor at the load to improve the gain of the LNA.A differential inductor has been designed as the load to achieve reasonable gain.This inductor has been simulated by the means of momentum electromagnetic simulation in ADS.A ＂double-π＂ circuit model has been built as the inductor model by iteration in ADS.The inductor has been fabricated separately to verify the model. The LNA has been fabricated and measured.The LNA works well centered at 2.44 GHz.The measured gain S_（21） is variable with high gain at 16.8 dB and low gain at 1 dB.The NF（noise figure） at high gain mode is 3.6 dB,the input referenced 1 dB compression point（IP1dB） is about -8 dBm and the IIP3 is 2 dBm at low gain mode.The LNA consumes about 1.2 mA current from 1.8 V power supply.

A 0.18μm CMOS dual-band low power low noise amplifier for a global navigation satellite system

This paper presents a dual-band low noise amplifier for the receiver of a global navigation satellite system. The differences between single band and multi-band design methods are discussed. The relevant parameter analysis and the details of circuit design are presented. The test chip was implemented in a TSMC 0.18 μm 1P4M RF CMOS process. The LNA achieves a gain of 16.8 dB/18.9 dB on 1.27 GHz/1.575 GHz. The measured noise figure is around 1.5-1.7 dB on both bands. The LNA consumes less than 4.3 mA of current from a 1.8 V power supply. The measurement results show consistency with the design. And the LNA can fully satisfy the demands of the GNSS receiver.

A 2.4-GHz low power dual gain low noise amplifier for ZigBee

This paper presents a fully differential dual gain low noise amplifier（DGLNA） for low power 2.45-GHz ZigBee/IEEE 802.15.4 applications.The effect of input parasitics on the inductively degenerated cascode LNA is analyzed.Circuit design details within the guidelines of the analysis are presented.The chip was implemented in SMIC 0.18-μm 1P6M RF/mixed signal CMOS process.The DGLNA achieves a maximum gain of 8 dB and a minimum gain of 1 dB with good input return loss.In high gain mode, the measured noise figure（NF） is 2.3-3 dB in the whole 2.45-GHz ISM band.The measured 1-dB compression point, IIP3 and IIP2 is-9, 1 and 33 dBm, respectively.The DGLNA consumes 2 mA of current from a 1.8 V power supply.

Design of a 0.5 V CMOS cascode low noise amplifier for multi-gigahertz applications

This paper presents the design of 0.5 V multi-gigahertz cascode CMOS LNA for low power wireless communication. By splitting the direct current through conventional cascode topology, the constraint of stacking- MOS structure for supply voltage has been removed and based on forward-body-bias technology, the circuit can operate at 0.5 V supply voltage. Design details and RF characteristics have been investigated in this paper. To verify the investigation, a 0.5 V 5.4 GHz LNA has been fabricated through 0.18 μm CMOS technology and measured. Measured results show that it obtains 9.1 dB gain, 3 dB NF with 0.5 V voltage and 2.5 mW power dissipation. The measured IIP3 is -3.5 dBm. Compared with previously published cascode LNA, it achieves the lowest supply voltage and lowest power dissipation with competitive RF performances.

A NOVEL SIMULTANEOUS NOISE AND INPUT VSWR MATCHING TECHNIQUE FOR BROADBAND LNA

The Simultaneous Noise and Input Voltage Standing Wave Ratio (VSWR) Matching (SNIM) condition for Low Noise Amplifier (LNA), in principle, can only be satisfied at a single fre-quency. In this paper, by analyzing the fundamental limitations of the narrowband SNIM technique for the broadband application, the authors present a broadband SNIM LNA systematic design technique. The designed LNA guided by the proposed methodology achieves 10 dB power gain with a low Noise Figure of 0.53 dB. Meanwhile, it provides wonderful input matching of 27 dB across the fre-quency range of 3～5 GHz. Therefore, broadband SNIM is realized.

A High Gain, Noise Cancelling 2515-4900 MHz CMOS LNA for China Mobile 5G Communication Application

With the development of the times,people’s requirements for communication technology are becoming higher and higher.4G communication technology has been unable to meet development needs,and 5G communication technology has emerged as the times require.This article proposes the design of a low-noise amplifier(LNA)that will be used in the 5G band of China Mobile Communications.A low noise amplifier for mobile 5G communication is designed based on Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company(TSMC)0.13μm Radio Frequency(RF)Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor(CMOS)process.The LNA employs self-cascode devices in current-reuse configuration to enable lower supply voltage operation without compromising the gain.This design uses an active feedback amplifier to achieve input impedance matching,avoiding the introduction of resistive negative feedback to reduce gain.A common source(CS)amplifier is used as the input of the low noise amplifier.In order to achieve the low power consumption of LNA,current reuse technology is used to reduce power consumption.Noise cancellation techniques are used to eliminate noise.The simulation results in a maximum power gain of 22.783,the reverse isolation(S12)less than-48.092 dB,noise figure(NF)less than 1.878 dB,minimum noise figure(NFmin)=1.203 dB,input return loss(S11)and output return loss(S22)are both less than-14.933 dB in the frequency range of 2515-4900 MHz.The proposed Ultra-wideband(UWB)LNA consumed 1.424 mW without buffer from a 1.2 V power supply.

Squeezed state generation using cryogenic InP HEMT nonlinearity

This study focuses on generating and manipulating squeezed states with two external oscillators coupled by an InP HEMT operating at cryogenic temperatures.First,the small-signal nonlinear model of the transistor at high frequency at 5 K is analyzed using quantum theory,and the related Lagrangian is theoretically derived.Subsequently,the total quantum Hamiltonian of the system is derived using Legendre transformation.The Hamiltonian of the system includes linear and nonlinear terms by which the effects on the time evolution of the states are studied.The main result shows that the squeezed state can be generated owing to the transistor’s nonlinearity;more importantly,it can be manipulated by some specific terms introduced in the nonlinear Hamiltonian.In fact,the nonlinearity of the transistors induces some effects,such as capacitance,inductance,and second-order transconductance,by which the properties of the external oscillators are changed.These changes may lead to squeezing or manipulating the parameters related to squeezing in the oscillators.In addition,it is theoretically derived that the circuit can generate two-mode squeezing.Finally,second-order correlation(photon counting statistics)is studied,and the results demonstrate that the designed circuit exhibits antibunching,where the quadrature operator shows squeezing behavior.

A 30-dB 1-16-GHz low noise IF amplifier in 90-nm CMOS

This paper presents a high-gain wideband low-noise IF amplifier aimed for the ALMA front end system using 90-nm LP CMOS technology.A topology of three optimized cascading stages is proposed to achieve a flat and wideband gain.Incorporating an input inductor and a gate-inductive gain-peaking inductor,the active shunt feedback technique is employed to extend the matching bandwidth and optimize the noise figure.The circuit achieves a flat gain of 30.5 dB with 3 dB bandwidth of 1-16 GHz and a minimum noise figure of 3.76 dB.Under 1.2 V supply voltage,the proposed IF amplifier consumes 42 mW DC power.The chip die including pads takes up 0.53 mm~2,while the active area is only 0.022 mm~2.

A Low Noise L-band Dispersion-Compensating Hybrid Fiber Amplifier with 1500 nm Raman Pumping

This report presents a low noise L-band dispersion-compensating hybrid fiber amplifier with 1500-nm Raman pumping. It describes the pre-stage optimization, Raman pump selection, and possible nonlinearity problems to achieve a practical low noise L-band optical amplifier.

Design of low noise class D amplifiers using an integrated filter

This paper investigates the noise sources in a single-ended class D amplifier（SECDA） and suggests corresponding ways to lower the noise.The total output noise could be expressed as a function of the gain and noises from different sources.According to the function,the bias voltage（V_B） is a primary noise source,especially for a SECDA with a large gain.A low noise SECDA is obtained by integrating a filter into the SECDA to lower the noise of the V_B.The filter utilizes an active resister and an 80 pF capacitance to get a 3 Hz pole.A noise test and fast Fourier transform analysis show that the noise performance of this SECDA is the same as that of a SECDA with an external filter.

Damage effect and mechanism of the GaAs high electron mobility transistor induced by high power microwave

In this paper, we present the damage effect and mechanism of high power microwave （HPM） on AIGaAs/GaAs pseudomorphic high-electron-mobility transistor （pHEMT） of low-noise amplifier （LNA）. A detailed investigation is carried out by simulation and experiment study. A two-dimensional electro-thermal model of the typical GaAs pHEMT induced by HPM is established in this paper. The simulation result reveals that avalanche breakdown, intrinsic excitation, and thermal breakdown all contribute to damage process. Heat accumulation occurs during the positive half cycle and the cylinder under the gate near the source side is most susceptible to burn-out. Experiment is carried out by injecting high power microwave into GaAs pHEMT LNA samples. It is found that the damage to LNA is because of the burn-out at first stage pHEMT. The interiors of the damaged samples are observed by scanning electron microscopy （SEM） and energy dispersive spectrometer （EDS）. Experimental results accord well with the simulation of our model.

A low noise CMOS RF front-end for UWB 6-9 GHz applications

An integrated fully differential ultra-wideband CMOS RF front-end for 6-9 GHz is presented.A resistive feedback low noise amplifier and a gain controllable IQ merged folded quadrature mixer are integrated as the RF front-end. The ESD protected chip is fabricated in a TSMC 0.13μm RF CMOS process and achieves a maximum voltage gain of 23-26 dB and a minimum voltage gain of 16-19 dB,an averaged total noise figure of 3.3-4.6 dB while operating in the high gain mode and an in-band IIP3 of-12.6 dBm while in the low gain mode.This RF front-end consumes 17 mA from a 1.2 V supply voltage.

C band microwave damage characteristics of pseudomorphic high electron mobility transistor

The damage effect characteristics of GaAs pseudomorphic high electron mobility transistor(pHEMT)under the irradiation of C band high-power microwave(HPM)is investigated in this paper.Based on the theoretical analysis,the thermoelectric coupling model is established,and the key damage parameters of the device under typical pulse conditions are predicted,including the damage location,damage power,etc.By the injection effect test and device microanatomy analysis through using scanning electron microscope(SEM)and energy dispersive spectrometer(EDS),it is concluded that the gate metal in the first stage of the device is the vulnerable to HPM damage,especially the side below the gate near the source.The damage power in the injection test is about 40 dBm and in good agreement with the simulation result.This work has a certain reference value for microwave damage assessment of pHEMT.

NBTI Impact on RF Front End in Wireless Sensor Networks

In wireless sensor network （WSN）, the communication node is the heart of the whole system. Negative bias temperature instability （NBTI） is becoming one of the most important factors that decide the life time of node chips, especially with the feature size declining. In this paper, the NBTI impact on the front-end circuits in the WSN nodes is studied, such as voltage-controlled oscillator （VCO）, charge pump （CP）, low noise amplifier （LNA）, and even the whole transceiver system. The circuit level NBTI degeneration models are built for the key modules and the entire transceiver. It is shown that the phase noise of the VCO will be deteriorated, the current mismatch of the CP and the noise figure of the LNA will both be increased, and the sensitivity and the adjacent channel selectivity （ACS） will be depressed by NBTI. The conclusions are proved by simulation results using HJTC 0.18 μm technology.