High Noise Figure Research Articles

A 26-28 GHz, Two-Stage, Low-Noise Amplifier for Fifth-Generation Radio Frequency and Millimeter-Wave Applications.

This paper presents a high-gain low-noise amplifier (LNA) operating at the 5G mm-wave band. The full design combines two conventional cascode stages: common base (CB) and common emitter (CS). The design technique reduces the miller effect and uses low-voltage supply and low-current-density transistors to simultaneously achieve high gain and low noise figures (NFs). The two-stage LNA topology is analyzed and designed using 0.25 µm SiGe BiCMOS process technology from NXP semiconductors. The measured circuit shows a small signal gain at 26 GHz of 26 dB with a gain error below 1 dB on the entire frequency band (26-28 GHz). The measured average NF is 3.84 dB, demonstrated over the full frequency band under 15 mA current consumption per stage, supplied with a voltage of 3.3 V.

A High Gain Concurrent Dual-band Low-Noise Amplifier in 130-nm BiCMOS Technology

This paper presents a fully integrated concurrent 15/30-GHz dual-band low-noise amplifier (LNA). The proposed concurrent LNA IC is designed and simulated in 130-nm BiCMOS technology. The new passive LC notch filter is proposed to realize high gain and low noise figure over dual-band frequency, simultaneously. The simulated BiCMOS LNA IC has exhibited peak gains of 30.1/23.7 dB at 15/30-GHz, respectively, with 20-mW power consumption from 1-V supply. The concurrent dual-band LNA achieves noise figure of 2.2/2.9-dB and IIP3 of -18.2/-8.8 dBm at the respective passbands. Therefore, the proposed dual band concurrent LNA IC is applicable to front-end RF receivers for Ku-Band and Ka-Band systems.

High efficient net gain and low noise figure based vertical cavity semiconductor optical amplifiers for wavelength division multiplexing applications

Abstract This paper has demonstrated the high efficient net gain and low noise figure based vertical cavity semiconductor light amplifiers for wavelength division multiplexing applications. Previous study on the chip reflective gain variations versus SOA current under temperature effects is clarified. We have transferred light semiconductor amplifiers for wavelength multiplexing schemes applications. Amplifier output power is demonstrated with bias current and amplifier active layer region length variations based input signal power of 3, 6.5, 10 dBm, 1550 nm wavelength and optimum amplifier confinement factor of 0.45. The amplifier output noise variations are clarified against the bias current and amplifier active layer region width variations based input signal power of 3, 6.5, 10 dBm, 1550 nm wavelength and optimum amplifier confinement factor of 0.45. The output OSNR variations are studied clearly and deeply against the bias current and amplifier active layer region length variations based input signal power of 3, 6.5, 10 dBm, 1550 nm wavelength and optimum amplifier confinement factor of 0.45. The signal loss is demonstrated versus both active layer width/length and temperature based optimum 30 % gallium core dopant ratio and 28 % arsenide cladding dopant ratio at optimum input signal power of 10 dBm, 1550 nm wavelength and optimum amplifier confinement factor of 0.45. SOA amplifier output power can be enhance with the management of both bias current and input signal power and the reduction of active amplifier length. The amplifier output noise can be enhance with the management of both bias current and input signal power and the reduction of active amplifier width. Output OSNR system can be improved with the management of both bias current and input signal power and the reduction of active amplifier length. The SOA amplifier gain can be improved with the management of both bias current and input signal power and the reduction of active amplifier length. The SOA amplifier noise figure can be improved with the management of both bias current and input signal power and the reduction of active amplifier width. The signal loss can be controlled and managed by adjusting optimum 30 % gallium core dopant ratio and 28 % arsenide cladding dopant ratio, optimum active layer/with and the presence of room temperature.

DESIGN OPTIMIZATION OF LOW NOISE AMPLIFIER FOR 900MHZ GSM BAND APPLICATIONS USING GREY WOLF ALGORITHM

In this work, the design of a high-performance single-stage Low Noise Amplifier (LNA) for GSM applications is taken into consideration. LNA design is one of the key stages of a wireless communication system due to its dominance over the whole system's noise figure performance. Although it is possible to achieve a very high gain and low noise figure with the usage of multi-stage transistors, such designs would also have a high complexity and manufacturing cost. The main aim of this work is to propose a single transistor LNA design for GSM application with a gain level of 14.3 dB, return loss level of less than 15 dB, and noise figure of 1.8 dB over the operation band of 820-980 MHz. the optimal design variables of the model is obtained via Grey Wolf optimization procedure.

Gain Maximization of BDFA between the Wavelength of 1700nm to 1800nm

Fiber optic communication technology is becoming increasingly important in various fields, and high-speed, large-capacity fiber optic transmission systems are urgently needed. The design of fiber amplifiers is influenced by both fiber length and doping concentration. Although the Erbium-doped fiber amplifier (EDFA) is one of the most widely used components in fiber optic communication systems, its working area cannot meet the growing demand for network traffic.This paper presents a new fiber amplifier operating in the spectral region of 1700-1800 nm, pumped by commercially available laser diodes, highlighting the potential benefits of developing optical amplifiers for new spectral regions.This paper constructs a model to optimize gain at the central wavelength by finding relevant parameters, fitting a binary function of gain as a function of doping concentration and fiber length using Matlab, and optimizing the maximum gain using a simulated annealing algorithm. The proposed fiber amplifier has potential applications in telecommunications, sensing, and spectroscopy. The design of the amplifier has been optimized to achieve high gain and low noise figures, which are crucial for practical applications. Furthermore, the amplifier can be easily integrated into existing fiber optic networks, making it a promising candidate for future optical communication systems.

A sub‐6GHz wideband low noise amplifier with high gain and low noise figure in 110‐nm SOI CMOS

AbstractThis letter presents a sub‐6 GHz wideband low noise amplifier (LNA) based on a double L‐type load network and utilizes the negative feedback technique. Using the cascode structure, along with the aforementioned techniques, it is possible to achieve a single‐stage wideband LNA with high gain and low noise figure (NF). Fabricated in 110‐nm SOI CMOS technology, the proposed LNA achieves a maximum power gain of 15.2 dB, noise figure of 1.0–1.56 dB. The 3‐dB bandwidth ranges from 3.05 to 4.55 GHz. The minimum power input at 1 dB compression point (IP1dB) is −17.1 dBm. The LNA area is 0.18 mm2 and dissipates a total power of 11.5 mW from a 1.4‐V power supply.

A V‐band digitally controlled low noise variable gain amplifier with 3.5° phase variation in 28‐nm bulk CMOS

AbstractThis paper presents a V‐band digitally controlled low noise variable gain amplifier (LNVGA) in 28‐nm bulk CMOS process. The amplifier includes three stages and the first stage is used to realize wideband high gain and low noise figure (NF). The gain control is implemented in the second and third stages with current steering and split cascode topology, respectively. A source degeneration inductor and a series inductor are introduced to reduce the phase variation in the second stage. The phase response function is analyzed, and the phase reduction of 1.2° is achieved. Moreover, with the combination of these two different topologies, the phase variation can be further reduced. The measurement results show the LNVGA has a peak gain of 16 dB with a 3‐dB bandwidth of 45–59 GHz. The measured gain control range is 0–16 dB in 16 different gain states and the minimum phase variation is 3.5° with power consumption of 23 mW.

THz Systems Exploiting Photonics and Communications Technologies

Terahertz (THz) systems open up the possibility of new applications of electromagnetic waves. Enormous bandwidths up to several terahertz enable the development of powerful spectroscopy systems that can provide insights into the structure and material of objects with micrometer resolution. New high power and compact THz time-domain spectroscopy (TDS) systems will be presented. The wide bandwidth also enables high-resolution imaging under far-field conditions to analyze arbitrary objects from a distance. In addition, a near-field system-on-a-chip imaging system is presented that achieves a resolution of 10 μm. Additionally, the application of terahertz waves presents challenges due to the low transmit power of the sources, high attenuation in free space, and the high noise figures of the receivers. These challenges can be overcome by antennas with high gain. Since - depending on the application - spatial scanning or focusing in a time-varying direction is required, beam steering is an essential component of many THz systems. In terms of communications, terahertz carrier frequencies offer wide bandwidths, enabling correspondingly high data rates of 100 Gbit/s and more. As a result, the frequency bands between 250 GHz and 450 GHz have already been identified and/or allocated for communication services and are being discussed as a component of 6G mobile communications. Concepts and demonstrations for 6G terahertz mobile communications will be presented. The high bandwidth of terahertz waves can also be used for high-accuracy indoor localization.

A 90‐ to 115‐GHz superheterodyne receiver front‐end for W‐band imaging system in 28‐nm complementary metal‐oxide‐semiconductor

SummaryIn this paper, a broadband superheterodyne receiver (RX) front‐end for millimeter‐wave (mm‐Wave) imaging radar is presented. Realized in 28‐nm CMOS technology, the proposed RX incorporates a wideband low‐noise amplifier (LNA), double‐balanced passive mixers for the dual down‐conversion, a differential power divider, a differential intermediate frequency filters, a current‐mode‐logic divider‐by‐2, and a local oscillator buffers. Wideband technique and layout optimization are taken into consideration in the RX. A four‐stage LNA is devised to realize the high gain and low noise figure (NF) with a common‐gate input stage and three pseudodifferential common‐source stages. Optimized transistor layout and capacitor neutralization technique are developed to improve gain and noise performance. Transformer‐based matching networks with the peak‐staggered technique are adopted in the LNA to achieve a flatter gain response with a wider bandwidth (BW). The passive double‐balanced mixers are implemented with a highly symmetrical layout for broadband down‐conversion. Simulation results show that the mm‐Wave RX front‐end exhibits a BW ranging from 90 to 115 GHz. The simulated NF of our RX is 4.7 dB at 86 GHz. With a supply voltage of 1 V, the presented RX consumes 88.2‐mW power and occupies a chip size of 1.6 × 0.5 mm2 including all the testing pads. The proposed RX is suitable for W‐band imaging systems.

Design of Common Gate Current-Reuse Noise Cancellation UWB Low Noise Amplifier in 90nm CMOS

In this paper, an ultra-wide band (UWB) low noise amplifier (LNA) is implemented by using 90nm RF CMOS technology. The designed LNA achieves high flat band gain (S21) and low noise figure (NF) in the frequency of interest. The proposed LNA operates in the frequency range of 3GHz to 8GHz. In this work, wide band matching is achieved by designing common gate configuration at the input stage. The current reuse and noise cancellation techniques are introduced to improve flat band gain and minimize both noise figure and power consumption. The noise figure is improved by cancelling dominant noise sources with additional hardware. The proposed LNA attains flat band gain of 26.5dB and input matching less than -12dB for entire UWB band. This work achieves noise figure of 2.1dB to 2.59dB in frequency band of interest. Additionally, power consumption of the circuit is 20mW at 1.8V supply voltage.

A 220‐GHz CMOS passive subharmonic downconverter for low‐IF applications

This paper presents a 220-GHz subharmonic downconverter with high conversion gain (CG) and low noise figure (NF) implemented in 28 nm bulk CMOS, including a core mixer and an intermediate frequency (IF) amplifier. Based on the traditional quasi-subharmonic mixer, new gate-shorted technology is presented to improve NF and CG by adding a source inductor to reduce the loss of radiofrequency signals. In addition, the impedance transformation network provides passive voltage gain to suppress the noise of the IF amplifier. The downconverter achieves a minimum single-sidebandNF of 15.5 dB and a maximum CG of 21.3 dB when the IF frequency is 10 MHz. The 1 dB compression point of the downconverter is −30 dBm and consumes 8 mA current with an operating voltage of 0.9 V. The core area of the chip is 200 × 160 µm2

Design of L + U‐band Erbium‐doped fiber amplifier based on a single S‐band forward pump source

SummaryThe multi‐band transmission (MBT) technique is one of the most cutting‐edge approaches to increase the capacity of fiber‐optic transmission systems and meeting the growing bandwidth demand. MBT technique considers the transmission in C + L‐ and U‐bands based on Erbium‐doped fiber amplifiers (EDFAs). Therefore, we propose a high gain and low noise figure EDFA for L + U‐band amplification having gain bandwidth of more than 82 nm in the spectral range of 1578–1660 nm, based on a single standard S‐band forward pump source. The L + U‐band amplification is obtained by pumping the gain medium which is heavily doped with Er3+. The results based on numerical simulations show that an efficient amplification is obtained over L + U‐band with an average small signal gain of around 39 dB covering 1578–1660 nm wavelength range while incorporating a short 12 m length of Erbium‐doped fiber (EDF) at an optimized pump power of 300 mW. A maximum noise figure of 4.46 dB is observed at 1593 nm. In addition, power conversion efficiency (PCE) of different C‐band pump wavelengths has also been evaluated, and the findings show that the PCE of 1560 nm pump wavelength is 70% higher than standard 1480 nm pump wavelength at the expense of cost efficiency. Finally, the system level performance of the designed L + U‐band EDFA is investigated in a five channel wavelength division multiplexed (WDM) link.

Wideband RF Transmit-Receive Switch for Multi-Nuclei NMR Spectrometers

The utility of wideband high field nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectrometers is significant in many applications. Wideband radio frequency (RF) front-ends are critical for the realization of multi-nuclei spectrometers. To realize such systems, wideband Transmit-Receive (TR) switches and low noise amplifiers (LNA) should be implemented at the RF front-end (FE) of the system. Most of the common designs used nowadays on NMR spectrometers are either inherently narrowband and/or of relatively high noise-figure which limit the overall system performance to a large extent. To improve upon the conventional FE performance, a new design of wideband high-power TR switch which could be devised for multi-nuclei NMR spectrometers is introduced in this brief. The developed wideband TR switch employs PIN diode switching technique and a dual-driver circuit. A prototype was constructed and experimentally characterized. The small-signal measurement results show that the switch has a bandwidth from 30 – 200MHz where the return loss is maintained below 18 dB with insertion loss of 0.09 - 0.2dB in the transmit mode and 0.11 – 0.37dB in the receive mode. It also exhibits a very high isolation of 63 - 80dB over the entire bandwidth. It is demonstrated that the switch can withstand continuous-wave RF input with power levels as high as 125 W while maintaining low insertion loss and high isolation.

An Inverter Amplifier with Resistive Feedback Current Mirror Gilbert Mixer

ABSTRACT A low-voltage, low-power, high-conversion-gain, short-range up-conversion Gilbert mixer for the licence-free band (865–867 MHz) in India is presented. In this work, the Gilbert cell transconductance stage is replaced by an inverter amplifier with a resistive feedback current mirror. The current bleeding technique is also applied to attain high conversion gain (CG) and low noise figure (NF). The design is realised in 180 nm CMOS SCL process technology and powered by 0.9 V. The proposed design offers a CG of 26.62 dB and an NF of 6.48 dB@866.5 MHz at the expense of an OIP3 of −3.3 dBm with the total power consumption of 1.94 mW. Its layout occupies a core area of 52 µm × 53 µm.

Performance Comparison of Serial and Parallel Hybrid Fiber Amplifier under Optimum Pump Conditions

In this work, two different configurations of hybrid fiber optic amplifiers are investigated and simulated via OptiSystem 7.0 software, namely, serial and parallel hybrid fiber optical amplifiers (S– and P–HFOAs). The investigation involves performance comparison for the S– and P–HFOA under optimum pump conditions to demonstrate the advantages and disadvantages of each configuration. The simulation results show that the serial configuration has a high average gain level of 19.2 dB, an appropriate noise figure about 4.3 dB, but low saturation power, and limited gain bandwidth of approximately 40 nm, which is considered a primary issue in S–HOFA design, in addition to the pump conversion efficiency still insufficient in the Raman amplifier stage. While in P–HFOA design, a wide 3–dB gain bandwidth of more than 60 nm is maintained, along with an average gain level of 13.5 dB, high average noise figure about 8.3 dB and high saturation power due to the absent of cascading effect in parallel configuration

22nm FINFET Based High Gain Wide Band Differential Amplifier

Differential Amplifier is a primary building block of analog and mixed signal circuit for pre-processing and signal conditioning of analog signal. FINFET devices with high-k gate oxide at 22nm technology are predominantly used for high speed and low power complex VLSI circuits. FINFET based differential amplifiers are widely used in ADC’s and signal Processing applications due to their advantages in terms of power dissipation. Analog front end of complex VLSI circuits need to offer high gain, higher stability and low noise figure. Designing of FINFET based VLSI sub-circuits requires proper design procedure that can provide designers flexibility in controlling the circuit performances. In this paper, differential amplifier is designed using model parameters of high-k FINFET in 22nm technology. The conventional procedures for designing MOSFET based differential amplifier are modified for designing FINFET based differential amplifier. Schematic capture is carried out in Cadence environment and simulations are obtained considering 22nm FINFET PDK. The performance metrics are evaluated and optimized considering multiple iterations. The designed differential amplifier has slew rate of 6V/µSec and settling time of 0.9 µSec which is a desired metric for ADCs. Power Supply Rejection Ratio (PSRR) is 83 dB and dynamic range is 1.6754 V. Open loop DC gain of DA is achieved to be 103 dB with phase margin of 630 that demonstrates the advantages of DA designed in this work suitable for analog front end

Design and Analysis of Simultaneous Wideband Input/Output Matching Technique for Ultra-Wideband Amplifier

A simultaneous wideband input/output matching technique for ultra-wideband (UWB) low-noise amplifier (LNA) is proposed in this paper. Feedback resistors leading the gate inductors combined with inductive dividers at output ports achieve an extended bandwidth and good input/output return loss. Moreover, Q-factor improved vertical solenoid inductors are used in the matching networks for high gain and low noise figure (NF). The proposed matching technique, not only enhances the bandwidth, but also achieves a high gain and a low NF for the fabricated 3.1-10.6-GHz monolithic 180-nm CMOS UWB amplifier. Operating at low supply voltage, the measured power consumption is 18.9 mW, the measured gain of the UWB LNA is 15.02 dB, and the NF is 3.1 dB. Moreover, the measured input/output reflection coefficients S <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">11</sub> and S <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">22</sub> are lower than -9.4 dB and -15.8 dB, respectively, covering the full-band UWB frequencies. Compared to previously published full-band 3.1-10.6-GHz 180-nm CMOS UWB LNAs, the proposed LNA measurements demonstrate high gain, low NF, low supply voltage, low power dissipation, and good input/output reflection coefficients.

A Ku-Band GaAs Multifunction Transmitter and Receiver Chipset

This paper presents a Ku-band monolithic multifunction transmitter and receiver chipset fabricated in 0.25-μm GaAs pseudomorphic high-electron mobility transistor technology. The chipset achieves a high level of integration, including a 4-bit 360° digital phase shifter, 5-bit 15.5-dB digital attenuator, amplifier and 9-bit digital serial-to-parallel converter for digital circuit control. Since the multifunction chipset includes a medium power amplifier and a low-noise amplifier, it features high P1dB and low noise figures over the full Ku-band frequencies. The multifunction transmitter shows a peak gain of 16.5 dB with output P1dB of 19.2 dBm at 15 GHz. The multifunction receiver shows a peak gain of 17.3 dB with noise figure of 2.5 dB at 15 GHz. The attenuation range is 15.5 dB with a step of 0.5 dB and the phase shift range is 360° with a step of 22.5°. Each chip area of the transmitter and receiver is 4.2 × 2.8 mm2.

Wavelength-number-tunable multi-wavelength SOA fiber laser based on NPR effect

Abstract A wavelength-number-tunable multi-wavelength SOA fiber laser incorporating a double pass Mach–Zehnder interferometer (MZI) is experimentally demonstrated in this paper. Due to the nonlinear polarization rotation (NPR) effect of SOA, the intensity-dependent loss (IDL) is induced by the combination consisting of SOA and polarization devices to achieve stable multiwavelength output with ultra-narrow wavelength spacing. In addition, the degree of IDL can be controlled by adjusting PCs for the purpose of tuning the number of wavelengths. Stable multiwavelength output with power equality have been achieved at room temperature, which have no obvious power fluctuation. The wavelength spacing is ultra-narrow, which is as small as 0.081 nm, and the number of lasing lines is tuned from 168 to 250. However, due to the high noise figure of SOA, the optical signal-to-noise ratios (OSNR) is less than 8.85 dB.

A Low-Noise Amplifier Utilizing Current-Reuse Technique and Active Shunt Feedback for MedRadio Band Applications

In this work, a low-power 0.18-μm CMOS low-noise amplifier (LNA) for MedRadio applications has been designed and verified. Cadence IC5 software with Silterra’s C18G CMOS Process Design Kit were used for all design and simulation work. This LNA utilizes complementary common-source current-reuse topology and subthreshold biasing to achieve low-power operation with simultaneous high gain and low noise figure. An active shunt feedback circuit is used as input matching network to provide a suitable input return loss. For test and measurement purpose, an output buffer was designed and integrated with this LNA. Inductorless design approach of this LNA, together with the use of MOSCAPs as capacitors, help to minimize the die size. On post-layout simulations with LNA die area of 0.06 mm2 and simulated total DC power consumption of 0.5 mW, all targeted specifications are met. The simulated gain, input return loss and noise figure of this LNA are 16.3 dB, 10.1 dB and 4.9 dB respectively throughout the MedRadio frequency range. For linearity, the simulated input-referred P1dB of this LNA is -26.7 dBm while its simulated IIP3 is -18.6 dBm. Overall, the post-layout simulated performance of this proposed LNA is fairly comparable to some current state-of-the-art LNAs for MedRadio applications. The small die area of this proposed LNA is a significant improvement in comparison to those of the previously reported MedRadio LNAs.