RF Receivers Components (Part-I)

Lecture-4

Outlines
RF Receiver Component
o RF Limiter
Operation, Characteristics and
Design

o Low Noise Amplifier (LNA)

Design Consideration
Noise Approximation, Noise factor
(NF ), Power Matching, and Stability
etc

Types
Cascade, Narrowband and Wideband
2

RF Limiter

RF Limiter Application

Limit the signal amplitude at a suitable point in

the receiver
Alimiteris a circuit that allows signals
below a specified input power to pass
unaffected whileattenuatingthe peaks of
stronger signals that exceed this input4

Limiter in RF Receiver

Limiter in Transcevier

RF Limiter
Limiters are used to protect sensitive electronics from
damage due to exposure to high levels of RF signal.
The most common application of limiters is to protect
the Radar receiver from damage from its own
transmitter.
RF energy is transmitted
through
the
Receiver
Protector (RP) during this
turn-on
delay;
this
phenomenon is termed as
spike leakage.
Reduction in spike leakage ---- increases the
receivers
sensitivity.
PIN diode are used extensively in Limiter circuits.

Limiters Operation

Limiters Types

Limiter Characteristics

10

Limiter Design
Var
Eqn

HARMONIC BALANCE

VAR
Pin
RFPower=-80

HarmonicBalance
HB1
Freq[1]=2 GHz
Order[1]=5
SweepVar="RFPower"
Start=-80
Stop=40
Step=1

Pin

Pout

P_1Tone
PORT2
Num=2
Z=50 Ohm
P=dbmtow(RFPower)
Freq=2 GHz

PIN_diode
PinDiode1

C
C2
C=1 pF {t}

Term
Term1
Num=1
Z=50 Ohm

L
L1
L=5 nH {t}
R=

20
0

dBm(Pout[::,1])

C
C1
C=1 pF {t}

m1

-20
-40
-60

m1
RFPower=-20.000
dBm(Pout[::,1])=-20.149

-80
-100
-80

-60

-40

-20

RFPower

20

40

Start=-80
Stop=40
Step=1

Limiter Design

Pin

Pout
PIN_diode
PinDiode1

L
L1
L=5 nH {t}
R=

C
C2
Term
C=1 pF {t}
di_sms_bas125_19930908 Term1
Num=1
D2
Z=50 Ohm

20

dBm(Simple1..Pout[::,1])
dBm(Pout[::,1])

C
C1
P_1Tone C=1 pF {t}
PORT2
Num=2
Z=50 Ohm
P=dbmtow(RFPower)
Freq=2 GHz

cont.

m1

-20
-40
-60

m1
RFPower=-20.000
dBm(Pout[::,1])=-20.149

-80
-100
-80

-60

-40

-20

RFPower

20

40
12

RF Limiter Products

13

Low Noise Amplifier (LNA)

14

Basic Issues in LNA

Input and output matching

Noise (NF)
Gain (over the band)
Linearity (IP3, SFDR)
Stability

15

Low-Noise Amplifier
First Gain Stage in Receiver
Amplify weak signal

Significant Impact on Noise Performance

Dominate input-referred noise of front end

NF frontend NFLNA

NFsubsequent 1
GLNA

Impedance Matching
Efficient power transfer
Better noise performance
Stable circuit

16

LNA Design
Consideration

Noise performance
Power transfer
Impedance matching
Power consumption
Bandwidth
Stability
Linearity

17

Noise Approximation
Noise spectral
density

1/f noise
Thermal noise
dominant
Thermal noise

Band of interest

Frequency
18

Sources of Amplifiers
Noise
e main sources of amplifier noise are:
Thermal Noise
Resistive components

Shot Noise
Semiconductor junctions

Flicker Noise
All components
Thermal noise and shot noise are both white and are irreducible.
Flicker noise is pink and can be controlled.
The noise performance of an amplifier can be quantified by either
its Noise Figure or Noise Temperature.

Thermal Noise
Random motion of electrons in a conductor
(Brownian motion) causes thermal noise.
It is a white Gaussian noise voltage of
magnitude:

vn 4kTRB

k = Boltzmanns constant
T = Temperature [Kelvin]
R = Resistance
B = Bandwidth

White Noise

Flat spectrum extending to infinity implies a signal

with infinite r.m.s. voltage obviously impossible.
In practice, interest is restricted to a finite band of
frequencies.
The r.m.s. voltage level of a band-limited white

Shot Noise
Dominates in semiconductor devices when
carriers are diffusing. (In conductors,
thermal noise is usually much bigger)
-

Current number of carriers per second

Eg. 1 A 6 million carriers per s

Shot Noise Current

The average number of carriers flowing
past a point per second is proportional
to the current.
In any observation interval, the actual
number of carriers will vary around this
average this variation is shot noise.

in 2qIB [A rms ] or in 2qI [A rms / Hz ]

Flicker Noise
Imperfections in the fabrication of a
component cause flicker noise. Unlike
thermal noise and shot noise, flicker noise is
not white; it is pink.
Also, it can be reduced depending on the
quality of the component.
KIB
KI
in
[A rms ] or in
[A rms / Hz ]
f
f
f = frequency,
K = component dependent constant.
Noise power is inversely proportional to
frequency i.e. pink noise.

Noise Figure
Definition

SNRin
Sin N in
NF

SNRout S out N out

As a function of device
N device G N source
NF
G N source

G: Power gain of the device

25

NF in Cascaded Stages
Sin/Nin

Sout/Nout
G1, N1,
NF1

Gi, Ni,
NFi

GK, NK,
NFK

G G1 G2 G3 Gn
NF2 1 NF3 1
NFK 1
NF 1 NF1 1

...
G1
G1G2
G1G2 ...GK 1

Overall NF dominated by26NF1

Simple Noise Model

k
V (f)
WLCox f
2
g

Flicker noise

Vg
Id

Dominant at low frequency

I d2 ( f ) 4kT g m

Thermal noise
Vi

: empirical constant 2/3 for

long channel much larger
for short channel
PMOS has less thermal noise

k
Input-inferred
V 2 ( f ) 4kT
noise
i

gm

WLCox f
27

Power Matching

28

Power Matching

cont.

29

NF and IP3

o NF and gain of LNA decide NFtot

o Without LNA the total NF worse (NFMix >
NFLNA)
o High IIP3 of LNA reduces in-band IMDs
o For zero IF also IP2 important
o Total IIP3 is decided by Mixer and the
following blocks, not by LNA performance
o Matching provides for overall signal
30
performance in front-end

NF and IP3

cont.

31

S - parameters

32

Stability
Stern stability factor (k)

33

Simulated Results

34

Power Consumption
L2 Rs2
1
P 2 3
0 Ls (1 Lg / Ls )

NF

Technology constant

4 Ls
1
Lg Ls

L: minimum feature size

: mobility, avoid mobility saturation
region

Standard specification
Rs: source impedance
0: carrier frequency

Circuit parameter
Lg, Ls: gate and source degeneration
inductance
35

Cascode LNA
LL
Vbias
Rs

M2

Vo

Vd1

Lg
M1

Vs

Isolation to improve
S12 @ high frequency
Small range at Vd1
Reduced feedback
effect of Cgd

Ls

Improve noise
performance
36

Common Source Cascode LNA

A common source cascode LNA

is mostly used in the industry. It
has: Low Noise
High Gain
High Reverse Isolation.

A common source cascode LNA

can be considered as a two stage
First Stage: a Common Source
amplifier.

Second Stage: a Common Gate

If sizes of the devices and their

operating points are selected
properly, this LNA can achieve a
good performance at low voltage
and low power.

Figure 3. Circuit diagram of a

common source cascode
LNA.

NF scaling coefficient vs. Q

38

Example
Assume Rs = 50 Ohms, Q = 2, fo = 1.8 GHz, ft = 47.8 GHz,
calculate the parasitic capacitance and inductances , such as
Cgs, Ldeg, Lg.
1
From

2 Rs0C gs

1
1
C gs

442 fF
2 Rs0Q 2(50)2 1.8e9(2)
Ldeg

Rs C gs
gm

Rs
50

0.17 nH
T 2 47.8e9

1
1

Lg 2
Ldeg 17.5nH
( Lg Ldeg )C gs
0 C gs
2
0

39

Types of Narrowband
LNAs
Differential cascade LNA
Differential cascade LNA with tuned
LC tank
Cascade with inter-stage matching
Cascode for low voltage

40

Single-Ended & Differential

Cascode LNA

41

Differential LNA

Differential LNA
Value of Ldeg is now much better controlled
Much less sensitivity to noise from other circuits

But:
Twice the power as the single-ended version
Requires differential input at the chip

42

Differential cascode LNA

(with tuned LC tank)

43

Cascode LNA with inter-stage matching

Inter-stage inductor with parasitic capacitance form

impedance match network between input stage and
cascoded stage boost gain lower noise figure.
Input match condition will be affected !!!

44

Folded cascode
Low supply
voltage
Ld reduces or
eliminates
Effect of Cgd1
Good fT

45

Wideband LNAs

46

Wideband LNA with feedback

47

Summary
Sensitive front-end receiver is a commercial
applications, e.g. as Global Positioning Systems
(GPS), need to protect by using limiter circuit
against excessive RF and microwave power levels (
8-10 W).
The limiter circuit can consist of single or multiple
cascaded diodes separated by /4. Adding a directional
coupler and Schottky detector diode to the system can
lower the threshold level.
LNAs useful to reduce the overall NF of Rx, usually two
transistor stages needed for gain and in/out isolation
/e.g. cascode/
Narrowband LNAs are flexible in design to achieve lower NF
due to LC circuits and negative feedback.

Nonlinearities

are

difficult

to

estimate,

circuit
48

Thank you !

49