RF Transceiver Design

Lecture 36
Low Noise Amplifier Design - I

Prof. Darshak Bhatt

Department of Electronics and Communication Engineering

1
Low noise amplifier design
NF of two-port amplifier can be expressed as:
+ 𝑉𝑛 -
Noiseless +
𝑖𝑠 𝑖𝑛 Two-port 𝑉2
𝑌𝑆 network
-

Total output noise power is proportional to the mean square of the short-circuit current
at the input port of noise free amplifier.
The noise power due to source alone is proportional to mean square
of source current.
2
𝑖𝑠𝑐
𝐹= 2
𝑠𝑖ഥ

2
 𝑖𝑠𝑐 = −𝑖𝑠 + 𝑖𝑛 + 𝑣𝑛 𝑌𝑠

2 2
𝑖𝑠𝑐 = −𝑖𝑠 + 𝑖𝑛 + 𝑣𝑛 𝑌𝑠
Noise from the source and noise from two port are uncorrelated,
2
𝑖𝑠 (𝑖𝑛 + 𝑣𝑛 𝑌𝑠 )=0 𝑖𝑠𝑐 = 𝑖𝑠2 +(𝑖𝑛 + 𝑣𝑛 𝑌𝑠 )2

(𝑖𝑛 + 𝑣𝑛 𝑌𝑠 )2
𝐹 =1+
𝑣𝑛 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑖𝑛 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑐𝑜𝑟𝑟𝑒𝑙𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑖𝑠2
Uncorrelated to 𝑣𝑛 (𝑖𝑛𝑢 )

𝑖𝑛
correlated to 𝑣𝑛 (𝑖𝑛𝑐 )

𝑖𝑛 = 𝑖𝑛𝑢 +𝑖𝑛𝑐
𝑖𝑛𝑐 = 𝑌𝑐 𝑣𝑛

3
After multiplying 𝑖𝑛 by 𝑣𝑛∗ ,
𝑣𝑛∗ 𝑖𝑛 = 𝑌𝑐 𝑣𝑛2

(𝑖𝑛𝑢 + 𝑣𝑛 (𝑌𝑐 + 𝑌𝑠 )2
𝐹 =1+
𝑖𝑠2
4𝑘𝑇𝑜 𝐺𝑢 𝐵 + 𝐺𝑠 + 𝑗𝐵𝑠 + 𝐺𝑐 + 𝑗𝐵𝑐 2 4𝑘𝑇𝑜 𝑅𝑛 𝐵
𝐹 = 1+
4𝑘𝑇𝑜 𝐺𝑠 𝐵
𝑌𝑐 = 𝐺𝑐 + 𝑗𝐵𝑐 and 𝑌𝑠 = 𝐺𝑠 +𝑗𝐵𝑠

The noise factor can be minimized by selecting 𝐵𝑠 = - 𝐵𝑐

𝐺 𝑅𝑛 2
𝐹|𝐵𝑠= − 𝐵𝑐 = 1 + 𝐺𝑢 + 𝐺𝑠 + 𝐺𝑐
𝑠 𝐺𝑠

𝑑𝐹|𝐵𝑠 = − 𝐵𝑐 𝐺𝑢 2𝐺𝑠 𝐺𝑠 +𝐺𝑐 − 𝐺𝑠 +𝐺𝑐 2

=- + 𝑅𝑛 =0
𝑑𝐺𝑠 𝐺𝑠2 𝐺𝑠2

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 𝐺𝑢
𝐺𝑠 = 𝐺𝑐2 +
𝑅𝑛
Value of 𝐺𝑠 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝐵𝑠 gives source admittance (𝑌𝑜𝑝𝑡 ), which results in minimum noise figure.
𝐺𝑢 𝑅𝑛 2
𝐹𝑚𝑖𝑛 = 𝐹|𝑌𝑠 =𝑌𝑜𝑝𝑡 = 1 + + 𝐺 + 𝐺𝑐
𝐺𝑜𝑝𝑡 𝐺𝑜𝑝𝑡 𝑜𝑝𝑡
𝑅𝑛 2 2
𝐹 = 𝐹𝑚𝑖𝑛 + 𝐺𝑠 − 𝐺𝑜𝑝𝑡 + 𝐵𝑠 − 𝐵𝑜𝑝𝑡
𝐺𝑠

𝑟 2
𝐹 = 𝐹𝑚𝑖𝑛 + 𝑔𝑛 𝑦𝑠 − 𝑦𝑜𝑝𝑡
𝑠

𝑌 𝐺𝑠 +𝑗𝐵𝑠
𝑦𝑠 = 𝑌𝑠 = 𝑌𝑜
= 𝑔𝑠 + 𝑗𝑏𝑠
𝑜

𝑌𝑜𝑝𝑡 𝐺𝑜𝑝𝑡 +𝑗𝐵𝑜𝑝𝑡

𝑦𝑜𝑝𝑡 = = = 𝑔𝑜𝑝𝑡 + 𝑗𝑏𝑜𝑝𝑡
𝑌𝑜 𝑌𝑜

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Converting admittance to reflection coefficient.

1 1 − ᴦ𝑆 1 1 − ᴦ𝑜𝑝𝑡
𝑌𝑆 = 𝑌𝑜𝑝𝑡 =
𝑍𝑜 1 + ᴦ𝑆 𝑍𝑜 1 + ᴦ𝑜𝑝𝑡

2
2 4 ᴦ𝑆 − ᴦ𝑜𝑝𝑡
𝑌𝑆 − 𝑌𝑜𝑝𝑡 = 2 2 2
𝑍𝑜 1 + ᴦ 1 + ᴦ𝑜𝑝𝑡
𝑜𝑝𝑡

1 1−ᴦ𝑆 1−ᴦ𝑆 ∗ 1 1− ᴦ𝑆 2
𝐺𝑠 = 𝑅𝑒 𝑌𝑠 = + 1+ᴦ ∗ =
2𝑍𝑜 1+ᴦ𝑆 𝑆 𝑍𝑜 1+ᴦ𝑆 2

2
4𝑅𝑁 ᴦ𝑆 − ᴦ𝑜𝑝𝑡
𝐹 = 𝐹𝑚𝑖𝑛 + 2
𝑍𝑜 1 − ᴦ 2 1 + ᴦ
𝑆 𝑜𝑝𝑡

6
For the fixed value of the NF,this equation will represent the circles in 𝝘S plane.

Noise figure parameter N is given by:

2
ᴦ𝑆 −ᴦ𝑜𝑝𝑡 𝐹−𝐹𝑚𝑖𝑛 2
𝑁= = 4𝑅 1 + ᴦ𝑜𝑝𝑡
1− ᴦ𝑆 2 𝑁 Τ𝑍0

The circle equation is given by:

2
ᴦ𝑜𝑝𝑡 𝑁(𝑁+1− ᴦ𝑜𝑝𝑡 )
ᴦ𝑆 − 𝑁+1 = (𝑁+1)

ᴦ𝑜𝑝𝑡
𝐶𝐹 =
𝑁+1
2
𝑁(𝑁 + 1 − ᴦ𝑜𝑝𝑡 )
𝑅𝐹 =
(𝑁 + 1)
7
Examples
S-parameters at 4 GHz.
𝑆11 = 0.6∟ − 60 𝑆12 = 0.05∟26

𝑆21 = 1.9∟81 𝑆22 = 0.5 ∟ − 60

𝐹𝑚𝑖𝑛 = 1.6𝑑𝐵 ᴦ𝑜𝑝𝑡 = 0.62∟100 and RN = 20

Assume device is unilateral, find error in GT.

Design an amplifier with 2 dB of NF.
1) Find stability. K = 2.78 and Δ = 0.37
2) Calculate Unilateral Figure of merit
𝑆12 𝑆21 𝑆11 𝑆22
𝑈= = 0.059
1− 𝑆11 2 1− 𝑆22 2

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 1 𝐺𝑇 1
2
< < 2
1+𝑈 𝐺𝑇𝑈 1−𝑈

𝐺𝑇
0.891 < <1.130
𝐺𝑇𝑈

0.891 < 𝐺𝑇 − 𝐺𝑇𝑈 <1.130

𝐹−𝐹𝑚𝑖𝑛 2 1.58−1.445 2
N = 4𝑅 1 + ᴦ𝑜𝑝𝑡 = 1 + 0.62∟100°
𝑁 Τ𝑍0 4(20Τ50)

ᴦ𝑜𝑝𝑡
𝐶𝐹 = = 0.56∟100°
𝑁+1
2
𝑁(𝑁+1− ᴦ𝑜𝑝𝑡 )
𝑅𝐹 = = 0.24
(𝑁+1)

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 −0.50 < 𝐺𝑇 − 𝐺𝑇𝑈 < 0.53 𝑑𝐵

𝐹 − 𝐹𝑚𝑖𝑛 2 1.58 − 1.445 2

𝑁= 1 + ᴦ𝑜𝑝𝑡 = 1 + 0.62∟100° = 0.0986
4𝑅𝑁 Τ𝑍𝑜 4 20Τ50
ᴦ𝑜𝑝𝑡
𝐶𝐹 = 𝑁+1 =0.56∟100°

2
𝑁(𝑁+1− ᴦ𝑜𝑝𝑡 )
𝑅𝐹 = (𝑁+1)
=0.24

𝑮𝒔 (𝒅𝑩) 𝒈𝒔 𝑪𝑺 𝑹𝑺
1 0.805 0.52∟60° 0.3
1.5 0.904 0.56∟60° 0.205
1.7 0.946 0.58∟60° 0.150

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 Noise figure
circle Gain circle

1
𝐺𝐿 = 1− 𝑆 2 = 1.25dB
22
2 𝐹 = 2.0 𝑑𝐵
𝐺𝑜 = 𝑆21 = 5.58𝑑𝐵 𝐺𝑆 = 1.7𝑑𝐵
ᴦ𝑜𝑝𝑡
𝐹 = 1.6𝑑𝐵 𝐺𝑆 = 1.5𝑑𝐵
𝐺𝑇𝑈 = 𝐺𝑆 + 𝐺𝑜 + 𝐺𝐿 = 8.53 𝑑𝐵 𝐺𝑆 = 1.0𝑑𝐵

ΓS =0.53<75◦

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