L 波段宽带低温低噪声放大器的设计与测量*

高电子迁移率晶体管(HEMT)的小信号等效电路低温模型是研制致冷低噪声放大器(LNA)与研究晶 体管微波特性的基础。该文通过测量HEMT 器件在低温环境下直流参数与散射参数(S 参数),构建了包含噪声参 量的小信号等效电路,并据此设计了一款覆盖L 波段的宽带低温低噪声放大器(LNA),工作频率1 ~2GHz,相对带宽 达到66. 7%。在常温下放大器功率增益大于28dB,噪声温度小于39K;当环境温度制冷至11K 时,噪声温度为1. 9 ~3. 1K,输入输出端口的回波损耗S11 和S22 均优于-10dB,1dB 压缩点输出功率为9. 2dBm,功耗仅为54mW。     

A 0.7-7 GHz wideband reconfigurable receiver RF front-end in CMOS

In this paper,a 0.7-7 GHz wideband RF receiver front-end SoC is designed using the CMOS process.The front-end is composed of two main blocks:a single-ended wideband low noise amplifier (LNA) and an inphase/quadrature (I/Q) voltage-driven passive mixer with IF amplifiers.Based on a self-biased resistive negative feedback topology,the LNA adopts shunt-peaking inductors and a gate inductor to boost the bandwidth.The passive down-conversion mixer includes two parts:passive switches and IF amplifiers.The measurement results show that the front-end works well at different LO frequencies,and this chip is reconfigurable among 0.7 to 7 GHz by tuning the LO frequency.The measured results under 2.5-GHz LO frequency show that the front-end SoC achieves a maximum conversion gain of 26 dB,a minimum noise figure (NF) of 3.2 dB,with an IF bandwidth of greater than 500 MHz.The chip area is 1.67 × 1.08 mm2.     

A 0.1–5 GHz Cryogenic SiGe MMIC LNA

In this letter, the design and measurement of the first SiGe integrated-circuit LNA specifically designed for operation at cryogenic temperatures is presented. At room temperature, the circuit provides greater than 25.8 dB of gain with an average noise temperature $(T_{e})$ of 76 K $(NF=1 {rm dB})$ and $S_{11}$ of $-$ 9 dB for frequencies in the 0.1–5 GHz band. At 15 K, the amplifier has greater than 29.6 dB of gain with an average $T_{e}$ of 4.3 K and $S_{11}$ of $-$14.6 dB for frequencies in the 0.1–5 GHz range. To the authors' knowledge, this is the lowest noise ever reported for a silicon integrated circuit operating in the low microwave range and the first matched wideband cryogenic integrated circuit LNA that covers frequencies as low as 0.1 GHz.      

Cryogenic wide-band ultra-low-noise IF amplifiers operating at ultra-low DC power

This paper describes cryogenic broad-band amplifiers with very low power consumption and very low noise for the 4-8-GHz frequency range. At room temperature, the two-stage InP-based amplifier has a gain of 27 dB and a noise temperature of 31 K with a power consumption of 14.4 mW per stage, including bias circuitry. When cooled to 15 K, an input noise temperature of 1.4 K is obtained at 5.7 mW per stage. At 0.51 mW per stage, the input noise increases to 2.4 K. The noise measurements have been repeated at different laboratories using different methods and are found consistent.     

A low-noise cryogenically-cooled 8–12 GHz HEMT Amplifier for future space applications

A two-stage 8–12 GHz (X-band) cryogenically-cooled Low-Noise Amplifier (LNA) has been developed with a commercial pseudomorphic HEMT on AsGa substrate. In a first step, different commercial transistors have been fully characterized from 300 K to 20 K using a new method to measure the four noise parameters. Preliminary results have allowed the selection of the best device. This enabled the design of the two-stage LNA with the help of a microwave CAD software. In a second step, the LNA has been characterized at 300 K, 30 K and 4 K. As the physical temperature decreased from 300 K to 30 K, the LNA exhibited an average gain increase of 2 dB and as much as a fourfold reduction of noise temperature. A noise figure of 22.5 K and a gain of 23 dB have been achieved at 30 K around 10 GHz. The noise temperature has been furthermore reduced to 20 K by cooling the amplifier at the liquid helium temperature (4.2 K). Different methods to measure the noise characteristics of the amplifier are widely developed in this paper.     

Cryogenic 2?4 GHz f.e.t. amplifier

A cryogenic single-stage broadband f.e.t. amplifier with an average noise temperature of 34 K (0.5 dB) over a bandwidth of 2 GHz has been developed. The average gain is 12 dB. The best spot noise temperature is 17 K (0.25 dB) at 3.2 GHz, which is competitive with cryogenic parametric amplifiers.     

Precision measurement method for cryogenic amplifier noise temperatures below 5 K

We report precision measurements of the effective input noise temperature of a cryogenic (liquid-helium temperature) monolithic-microwave integrated-circuit amplifier at the amplifier reference planes within the cryostat. A method is given for characterizing and removing the effect of the transmission lines between the amplifier reference planes and the input and output connectors of the cryostat. In conjunction with careful noise measurements, this method enables us to measure amplifier noise temperatures below 5 K with an uncertainty of 0.3 K. The particular amplifier that was measured exhibits a noise temperature below 5.5 K from 1 to 11 GHz, attaining a minimum value of 2.3 K/spl plusmn/0.3 K at 7 GHz. This corresponds to a noise figure of 0.034 dB/spl plusmn/0.004 dB. The measured amplifier gain is between 33.4 dB/spl plusmn/0.3 dB and 35.8 dB/spl plusmn/0.3 dB over the 1-12-GHz range.     

32-GHz cryogenically cooled HEMT low-noise amplifiers

The cryogenic noise temperature performances of a two-stage and a three-stage 32-GHz HEMT (high-electron-mobility transistor) amplifier were evaluated. The amplifiers utilize quarter-micrometer conventional AlGaAs/GaAs HEMT devices, hybrid matching input and output microstrip circuits, and a cryogenically stable DC biasing network. The noise temperature measurements were performed in the frequency range of 31 to 33 GHz over a physical temperature range of 300 to 12 K. Across the measurement band, the amplifiers displayed a broadband response, and the noise temperature was observed to decrease by a factor of ten in cooling from 300 to 15 K. The lowest noise temperature measured for the two-stage amplifier at 32 GHz was 35 K with an associated gain of 16.5 dB, while for the three-stage amplifier it was 39 K with an associated gain of 26 dB. It was further observed that both amplifiers were insensitive to light     

SiGe HBT X-Band LNAs for Ultra-Low-Noise Cryogenic Receivers

We report results on the cryogenic operation of two different monolithic X-band silicon-germanium (SiGe) heterojunction bipolar transistor low noise amplifiers (LNAs) implemented in a commercially-available 130 nm SiGe BiCMOS platform. These SiGe LNAs exhibit a dramatic reduction in noise temperature with cooling, yielding of less than 21 K (0.3 dB noise figure) across X-band at a 15 K operating temperature. To the authors' knowledge, these SiGe LNAs exhibit the lowest broadband noise of any Si-based LNA reported to date.     

Cryogenic noise performance of HEMTs and MESFETs between 300 and700 MHz

The authors present the noise performance of amplifiers using HEMTs and MESFETs at room temperature and cryogenic temperatures, in the frequency range 300-700 MHz. Results demonstrate that these microwave devices can be applied at frequencies down to at least 300 MHz, giving amplifier noise temperatures below 2 K at 20 K ambient temperature     

3.1～5.2GHz超宽带可变增益低噪声放大器设计

低噪声放大器是超宽带接收机系统中最重要的模块之一,设计了一种可应用于3.1～5.2GHz频段超宽带可变增益低噪声放大器。电路输入级采用共栅结构实现超宽带输入匹配,并引入电流舵结构实现了放大器的可变增益。仿真基于TSMC 0.18μm RF CMOS工艺。结果表明,在全频段电路的最大功率增益为10.5dB,增益平坦度小于0.5dB,噪声系数小于5dB,输入反射系数低于-15dB,在1.8V电源电压下,功耗为9mW。因此,该电路能够在低功耗超宽带射频接收机系统中应用。     

微波毫米波宽带单片低噪声放大器

推导了反馈电路理论,利用0.25μmGaAs PHEMT工艺,研制了两种并联反馈单片低噪声放大器。第一种放大器的工作频带为6～18GHz,测得增益G≥21dB,带内增益波动ΔG≤±1.0dB,噪声系数NF典型值为2.0dB,输入驻波VSWRin≤1.5,输出驻波VSWRout≤2.0,1分贝压缩点输出功率P1dB≥11dBm。第二种放大器的工作频带为26～40GHz,测得增益G≥17dB,噪声系数NF约为2.0dB,输入、输出驻波VSWR≤2.5,1分贝压缩点输出功率P1dB≥10dBm。两种电路的测试结果验证了设计的正确性。     

3．1～10．6GHz超宽带低噪声放大器的设计

基于SIMC0．18μmRFCMOS工艺技术,设计了可用于3．1—10．6GHzMB—OFDM超宽带接收机射频前端的CMOS低噪声放大器（LNA）。该LNA采用三级结构：第一级是共栅放大器,主要用来进行输入端的匹配;第二级是共源共栅放大器,用来在低频段提供较高的增益;第三级依然为共源共栅结构,用来在高频段提供较高的增益,从而补偿整个频带的增益使得增益平坦度更好。仿真结果表明：在电源电压为1．8v的条件下,所设计的LNA在3．1～10．6GHz的频带范围内增益（521）为20dB左右,具有很好的增益平坦性f±0．4dB）,回波损耗S11、S22均小于-10dB,噪声系数为4．5dB左右,IIP3为-5dBm,PIdB为0dBm。     

Design and Analysis of Broadband Dual-Gate Balanced Low-Noise Amplifiers

In this paper, we present three MMIC low-noise amplifiers using dual-gate GaAs HEMT devices in a balanced amplifier configuration. The designs target three different frequency bands including 4-9 GHz, 9-20 GHz, and 20-40 GHz. These dual-gate balanced designs demonstrate the excellent qualities of balanced amplifiers in terms of stability and matched characteristics, while demonstrating higher bandwidth than designs with a single-stage common-source device. Additionally, noise performance is excellent, with the 4-9 GHz LNA demonstrating <1.75 dB noise figure (NF), the 9-20 GHz LNA <2.75 dB NF and the 20-40 GHz LNA <2.5 dB NF. Demonstrating high gain and excellent bandwidth, the dual-gate devices seem a logical choice for the balanced amplifier topology.     

0.1～2.8 GHz超宽带低噪声放大器的研制

选用噪声较小、增益较高且工作电流较低的放大管ATF55143,利用两种负反馈和宽带匹配技术,结合ADS软件的辅助设计,研制出宽带低噪声放大器。在0.1～2.8GHz范围内,其增益大于30dB,平坦度小于±1.3dB,噪声系数小于1.45dB,工作电流小于60mA,驻波比小于1.8。该放大器成本较低,体积较小,可应用于各种微波通讯领域。     

Analysis and Design of Two Low-Power Ultra-Wideband CMOS Low-Noise Amplifiers With Out-Band Rejection

Two 3–5-GHz low-power ultra-wideband (UWB) low-noise amplifiers (LNAs) with out-band rejection function using 0.18- $mu{hbox{m}}$ CMOS technology are presented. Due to the Federal Communications Commission's stringent power-emission limitation at the transmitter, the received signal power in the UWB system is smaller than those of the close narrowband interferers such as the IEEE 802.11 a/b/g wireless local area network, and the 1.8-GHz digital cellular service/global system for mobile communications. Therefore, we proposed a wideband input network with out-band rejection capability to suppress the out-band properties for our first UWB LNA. Moreover, a feedback structure and dual-band notch filter with low-power active inductors will further attenuate the out-band interferers without deteriorating the input matching bandwidth in the second UWB LNA. The 55/48/45 dB maximum rejections at 1.8/2.4/5.2 GHz, a power gain of 15 dB, and 3.5-dB minimum noise figure can be measured while consuming a dc power of only 5 mW.      

An 8-20-GHz wide-band LNA design and the analysis of its input matching mechanism

A wide-band low-noise amplifier (LNA) design is presented with -10 dB input reflection coefficient and 100-K noise temperature over the 8-20-GHz frequency range at room temperature. This LNA can be cooled down in a liquid helium cryostat to have 10-K noise temperature for the purpose of radio-astronomy application. To achieve its wide-band characteristics, a novel input matching mechanism is proposed, which combines the high-frequency inductive feedback and the low-frequency capacitive feedback. The recognition and comprehensive interpretation of this new input matching mechanism is crucial for future development of ultra-wide-band LNAs.     

ESD-Protected Wideband CMOS LNAs Using Modified Resistive Feedback Techniques With Chip-on-Board Packaging

A novel modified resistive feedback structure for designing wideband low-noise amplifiers (LNAs) is proposed and demonstrated in this paper. Techniques including feedback through a source follower, an R–C feedback network, a gate peaking inductor inside the feedback loop, and neutralization capacitors are used. Bond-wire inductors and electrostatic devices (ESDs) are co-designed to improve the chip performance. Two LNAs, LNA1 and LNA2, were fabricated using a TSMC digital 90-nm CMOS technology. Both chips were tested on board using chip-on-board packages with ESD diodes added at the inputs and outputs. LNA1 achieves a 3-dB bandwidth of 9 GHz with 10 dB of power gain and a minimum noise figure (NF) of 4.2 dB. LNA2 achieves a 3-dB bandwidth of 3.2 GHz with 15.5 dB of power gain and a minimum NF of 1.76 dB. The two LNAs have third-order intermodulation intercept points of $-$8 and $-$9 dBm. Their power consumptions are 20 and 25 mW with a 1.2-V supply, respectively.      

A BiCMOS Ultra-Wideband 3.1–10.6-GHz Front-End

This paper presents a direct-conversion receiver for FCC-compliant ultra-wideband (UWB) Gaussian-shaped pulses that are transmitted in one of fourteen 500-MHz-wide channels within the 3.1–10.6-GHz band. The receiver is fabricated in 0.18-$mu$m SiGe BiCMOS. The packaged chip consists of an unmatched wideband low-noise amplifier (LNA), filter, phase-splitter, 5-GHz ISM band switchable notch filter, 3.1–10.6-GHz local oscillator (LO) amplifiers, mixers, and baseband channel-select filters/buffers. The required quadrature single-ended LO signals are generated externally. The average conversion gain and input$P_1 dB$are 32 dB and$-$41 dBm, respectively. The unmatched LNA provides a system noise figure of 3.3 to 5 dB over the entire band. The chip draws 30 mA from 1.8 V. To verify the unmatched LNA's performance in a complete system, wireless testing of the front-end embedded in a full receiver at 100 Mbps reveals a$10^-3$bit-error rate (BER) at$-$80 dBm sensitivity. The notch filter suppresses out-of-band interferers and reduces the effects of intermodulation products that appear in the baseband. BER improvements of an order of magnitude and greater are demonstrated with the filter.     

Super low-noise GaAs MESFET's with a deep-recess structure

Super low-noise GaAs MESFET's for replacement of parametric amplifiers have been successfully developed by adopting a deep-recess structure. The structure of a 0.5-µm gate in a deeply recessed region with a cylindrical edge shape has enabled reduction of the source resistance to a half of that of conventional flat-type MESFET's. The noise figure was improved by more than 0.5 dB by this reduction of the source resistance, and less than 2.0-dB noise figure has been reproducibly obtained at 12 GHz. The best noise figures were 0.7 dB (14.9-dB gain) at 4 GHz and 1.68 dB (10.7-dB gain) at 12 GHz. The developed MESFET's were applied to two-stage amplifiers of 11.7-12.2-GHz band, and the noise figure obtained was 2.16 dB (T_{e}: 185K) at room temperature and 1.94 dB (T_{e}: 163K) at 0°C. This performance is good enough to replace some of parametic amplifiers.