RF L OW N OISE A MPLIFIER D ESIGN

P RESENTATION L AYOUT

I. RF DESIGN INTRODUCTION
II. BASIC CONCEPTS IN RF DESIGN
III. FIGURES OF MERIT IN THE RF DESIGN
IV. LOW NOISE AMPLIFIER

2
RF D ESIGN I NTRODUCTION

3
 W HAT IS RF

Usually RF (radio frequency) design is referred to circuits operating from

around 800 MHz to 10 GHz
Almost all everyday use wireless device uses RF frequencies
GSM : 850/900/1800/1900 MHz
LTE : 800/1800/2600/3500 MHz
802.11n : 2400/5000 GHz

4
RF D ESIGN IS C HALLENGING

5
B ASIC C ONCEPTS IN RF D ESIGN

6
 S CATTERING PARAMETERS

S-Parameters approach an electrical network as a black box

Face the system as it is linear
Extracted from port theory
Represented by an NxN matrix

7
2 PORT S-PARAMETERS

S11 : Input Reflection Coefficient

S12 : Reflected Voltage Gain
S21 : Forward Voltage Gain
S22 : Output Reflection Coefficient

8
 I MPEDANCE M ATCHING

Maximum Power Transfer to Load : ZL = ZS*

Matching networks transform the input resistance
Categories
L-Sections
Pi-Sections
T-Sections
Transformation Q
Quality factor of the network
Shows R and R relation
In L-Sections
R=(1+Q2)R
9
 L-S ECTIONS

Reactive element in series with the resistor R

Resistance increases by D1=1+Q12
Q1 = X1/R
Reactive element in parallel with the resistor R
Resistance decreases by D1=1+Q12
Q1= - R/X1
For a purely resistive matching the reactance of the
of the second element :
X2 = R/Q1 if the first element is series
X2 = RQ1 if the first element is parallel
10
 L-S ECTION E XAMPLE

Specifications : Load Resistance > Source Resistance

Source Resistance = 50 Ohm First element in series
Load Resistance = 100 Ohm Upconversion by 2 : D1 = 2

DC Block Q12 = D1-1 => Q1 = 1

Frequency = 5 GHz Q1 = X1/R => X1 = 50

DC Block : First element Capacitor :
At 5 GHz : C = 637 fF
Second element parallel
Inductor
X2 = R/Q1 => X2=100
L=3.18 nH

11
 PI AND T-S ECTIONS

PI and T-Sections give control of the transformation Q

Q is directly related to bandwidth
Q = f0/BW
Transforms the resistance twice
Two transformation Qs

12
 S MITH C HART

A graphical aid for solving transmission line

problems
Essentially a polar plot
Visually represents :
How capacitive or inductive a load is across the
frequency
How difficult matching is at various frequencies
How well matched a component is

13
 RF N OISE PARAMETERS

Noise factor F : SNRout/SNRin

Noise figure NF = 10 log(F)
General Representation of F :
F = Fmin + Rn/Gs[(Gs-Gopt) + (Bs-Bopt)2]
Rn equivalent noise resistance
Gs source conductance
Fmin the lowest possible noise factor
Yopt the optimum source admittance for
minimum noise : Noise Matching

14
F IGURES OF M ERIT

15
 F IGURES OF M ERIT

3[] []
1 = 1 [] []

Uses many performance parameters

But strongly depends on the linearity (IIP3)
Other parameters are more important

16
 T RANSCONDUCTANCE E FFICIENCY

1
2 1/ = []

Describes the transconductance performance

at a specific current consumption
Do not contain any information about the RF
performance of the system
Best performance at weak inversion

17
 U NITY G AIN F REQUENCY

1
3 = 2 []

Describes the maximum frequency of

operation
Do not contain any information about the
power efficiency of the system
Best performance at strong inversion

18
 G M F T- TO C URRENT R ATIO

4 = []

Describes both the RF performance and the

power efficiency of the system
Best performance at moderate inversion
IC=1/c
c accounts for the velocity saturation effect

19
L OW N OISE A MPLIFIER

20
 L OW N OISE A MPLIFIER

Requirements :
Input Matching : Input impedance equal to 50 Ohm
Power/Voltage Gain
Low Noise Figure
Low Power Dissipation
Linearity
Reverse Isolation (-S12)

2 1 1
Friis Equation: = 1 + 1 1 + 1
+ +
1 1

21
 C OMMON S OURCE LNA

Resistive Load Inductive Load Inductive Load with source degeneration

High DC voltage drop Low (Ideally 0) DC voltage drop Higher Linearity

Large noise contribution Resonates with output capacitance Helps in the input matching
Lg is used to counter the effect of Cgs

22
 C OMMON S OURCE LNA ( CONT.)

1
Input Impedance : = + + +

Impedance Matching :
Re{Zin(j)} = Rs
Im{Zin(j)} = 0
0 2
= 1 +

0 : Radian operation frequency

T : Radian unity gain frequency
: Noise parameter
Voltage gain :

= =
2 0

23
 C ASCODE C OMMON S OURCE LNA

1
Input Impedance : = + + +

Impedance Matching :
Re{Zin(j)} = Rs
Im{Zin(j)} = 0
0 2
= 1 +

M2 noise contribution can be ignored

Voltage gain :

= = =
2 0 2 0

24
 C OMMON G ATE LNA

If channel length modulation and body effect are neglected

input impedance :
1
=
1

4RS
= 1 + + 1

R1 : Output inductor losses

Voltage gain :
1
= =
2

25
 C ASCODE C OMMON G ATE LNA

In the presence of CLM a second device is used to alleviate

this issue.
When gmrO>>1 Input Impedance :
1 1 1
= + +
1 1 1 2 2 1 1 2
1
If gm1 and gm2 roughly equal : =
1

26
 LNA TOPOLOGIES

Common Source LNA Cascode Common Source LNA

Pros
Low noise figure
Good Impedance Matching
High Gain
Cons
Moderate Linearity
Poor Reverse Isolation
Pros
Low Noise Figure
Good Impedance Matching
High Gain
High Reverse Isolation
Cons
Poor Linearity
Lower Voltage Headroom :
VDD > VGS + 2(VGS+VTH)
27
 LNA TOPOLOGIES ( CONT )

Common Gate LNA Cascode Common Gate LNA

Pros Pros

High Linearity High Linearity

Moderate Noise Figure High Reverse Isolation

Wideband
Wideband
Cons
Cons
Low noise figure and input
Low noise figure and input matching cannot be achieved
matching cannot be achieved simultaneously
simultaneously
Low Gain
Low Gain Lower Voltage Headroom :
Poor Reverse Isolation VDD > VGS + 2(VGS+VTH)
28