Intermediate Frequency Amplifier Research Articles

A RF receiver frontend for SC-UWB in a 0.18-μm CMOS process

A radio frequency (RF) receiver frontend for single-carrier ultra-wideband (SC-UWB) is presented. The front end employs direct-conversion architecture, and consists of a differential low noise amplifier (LNA), a quadrature mixer, and two intermediate frequency (IF) amplifiers. The proposed LNA employs source inductively degenerated topology. First, the expression of input impedance matching bandwidth in terms of gate-source capacitance, resonant frequency and target S11 is given. Then, a noise figure optimization strategy under gain and power constraints is proposed, with consideration of the integrated gate inductor, the bond-wire inductance, and its variation. The LNA utilizes two stages with different resonant frequencies to acquire flat gain over the 7.1–8.1 GHz frequency band, and has two gain modes to obtain a higher receiver dynamic range. The mixer uses a double balanced Gilbert structure. The front end is fabricated in a TSMC 0.18-μm RF CMOS process and occupies an area of 1.43 mm2. In high and low gain modes, the measured maximum conversion gain are 42 dB and 22 dB, input 1 dB compression points are −40 dBm and −20 dBm, and S11 is better than −18 dB and −14.5 dB. The 3 dB IF bandwidth is more than 500 MHz. The double sideband noise figure is 4.7 dB in high gain mode. The total power consumption is 65 mW from a 1.8 V supply.

A multi-mode multi-band RF receiver front-end for a TD-SCDMA/LTE/LTE-advanced in 0.18-μm CMOS process

A fully integrated multi-mode multi-band directed-conversion radio frequency (RF) receiver front-end for a TD-SCDMA/LTE/LTE-advanced is presented. The front-end employs direct-conversion design, and consists of two differential tunable low noise amplifiers (LNA), a quadrature mixer, and two intermediate frequency (IF) amplifiers. The two independent tunable LNAs are used to cover all the four frequency bands, achieving sufficient low noise and high gain performance with low power consumption. Switched capacitor arrays perform a resonant frequency point calibration for the LNAs. The two LNAs are combined at the driver stage of the mixer, which employs a folded double balanced Gilbert structure, and utilizes PMOS transistors as local oscillator (LO) switches to reduce flicker noise. The front-end has three gain modes to obtain a higher dynamic range. Frequency band selection and mode of configuration is realized by an on-chip serial peripheral interface (SPI) module. The front-end is fabricated in a TSMC 0.18-μm RF CMOS process and occupies an area of 1.3 mm2. The measured double-sideband (DSB) noise figure is below 3.5 dB and the conversion gain is over 43 dB at all of the frequency bands. The total current consumption is 31 mA from a 1.8-V supply.

Low‐power 24 GHz CMOS receiver front‐end using isolation enhancement technique for automatic radar systems

AbstractThis article describes a monolithic receiver front‐end comprising a low‐noise amplifier, a dual‐gate mixer, and an intermediate‐frequency (IF) amplifier implemented in a standard 0.18 μm CMOS technology. Over the frequency band of interest, flat and high conversion‐gain (CG) and flat and low noise‐figure (NF) are achieved simultaneously by adopting slightly under‐damped Q‐factors for the second‐order CG and NF frequency responses. To suppress the high‐frequency noise and to enhance the RF–IF and LO–IF isolation, RC low‐pass filters (i.e., IF filters) are added at output of the dual‐gate mixer and the cascode IF amplifier. The receiver front‐end dissipates 16.4 mW and exhibits an NF of 6.86 dB and a CG of 22.26 dB at 24 GHz. In addition, excellent isolation is also achieved. The measured LO–IF, RF–IF, and LO–RF isolation is −31.31, −49.36, and −58.93 dB, respectively, at 24 GHz. The chip area is only 1.21 × 0.7 mm2, that is, 0.847 mm2, excluding the test pads. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Microwave Opt Technol Lett 54:1471–1476, 2012; View this article online at wileyonlinelibrary.com. DOI 10.1002/mop.26835

The EMIR multi-band mm-wave receiver for the IRAM 30-m telescope

Aims. The prime motivation of this project was to design and build a state-of-art mm-wave heterodyne receiver system to enhance the observing throughput of the IRAM 30-m radiotelescope. More specifically, the requirements were i) state-of-art noise performance for spectroscopic observations; ii) simultaneous dual polarization and dual-frequency observing; iii) coverage of the atmospheric transmission windows from 83 to 360 GHz; iv) compact footprint and minimal maintenance.Methods. Key elements for low noise performance of heterodyne mixers are the superconducting Niobium junctions, operating at ≃4 K. These junctions are embedded in carefully designed coupling structures; furthermore, since atmospheric radiation is a significant contributor to the system noise budget, all mixers are either sideband separating or sideband rejecting. To achieve low noise, it is also essential to maximize the coupling of the receiver to the astronomical source, and to minimize the coupling to thermal radiation from the ground-based environment; this is achieved through mirror optics that realize a wavelength-independent coupling to the telescope. A flexible configuration of mirrors and frequency selective surfaces permits various combinations of frequency bands, as well as dual-load radiometric calibration. Low noise intermediate frequency amplifiers and bias electronics also play an important role in the system performance.Results. The EMIR receiver in operation at the 30 m telescope offers four frequency bands: B1: 83−117 GHz, B2: 129−174 GHz, B3: 200−267 GHz, and B4: 260−360 GHz. In each band, the two orthogonal polarizations are observed simultaneously. Dual-band combinations B1/2 B1/3, and B2/4 are available. Bands 1 and 4 (also 3 as of Nov.-2011) feature sideband separation. In dual-band configuration, including sideband separation and polarization diplexing, up to eight IF channels are delivered to the spectrometers, totaling up to 64 GHz of signal bandwidth (of which 32 GHz can be transported and processed by spectrometers, status Nov.-2011). The EMIR receiver has been in continuous operation for more than two years and has allowed, through a qualitative jump in performance, observations not possible before, as shown by a few selected examples of astronomical results.

Low power and high conversion gain 21‐GHz receiver front end in a standard 0.18 μm CMOS technology

AbstractThis article describes a monolithic receiver front end comprising a low‐noise amplifier (LNA), a mixer, an intermediate‐frequency (IF) amplifier, and an IF filter implemented in a standard 0.18 μm CMOS technology.Current‐reused technique is used in the LNA to reduce power dissipation. Current bleeding technique is used in the mixer to improve conversion gain and power linearity. To enhance RF–IF and LO–IF isolation, an RC low‐pass filter (i.e., IF filter) is added in the drain terminal of the input transistor of the cascode IF amplifier. At an RF of 21 GHz and IF of 2.4 GHz, the receiver front end dissipated 43.2 mW and exhibited a noise figure (NF) of 8.6 dB, and a conversion gain of 20.3 dB. In addition, excellent isolation was also achieved. The measured LO–IF and LO‐RF isolation is −30.9 dB and −51.1 dB, respectively, at LOin of −1 dBm. The measured RF–IF isolation is −57.3 dB at RFin of −30 dBm. The chip area is only 0.97 × 0.9 mm2, that is, 0.873 mm2, excluding the test pads. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Microwave Opt Technol Lett 53:2875–2879, 2011; View this article online at wileyonlinelibrary.com. DOI 10.1002/mop.26423

The Logarithmic Amplifier with I/O Characteristic Approaching Horizontal Line

A special logarithmic amplifier, which input signal dynamic range is 0-90 dB and output signal dynamic range is 1-1.2 times, is described in the key point of the current design compared with conventional methods. The I/O characteristic of the logarithmic amplifier shows approximately a horizontal line. Instead of the main intermediate frequency amplifier circuit with automatic gain control of radar, the special logarithmic amplifier was applied to track the plane and test it in airport. It is superior to common automatic gain control circuit for its much lower failure rate, inexpensive in some occasion, especially the perfect function of anti-jamming ability. Experimental results and data analysis illustrating the performance of the design are presented. Meanwhile, this circuit can be applied in military and civil products that need automatic control system of open loop.

An energy detection receiver for non-coherent IR-UWB

A non-coherent receiver for impulse radio ultra-wide band (IR-UWB) is presented. The proposed receiver front-end consists of a high gain LNA, a high frequency detector and an intermediate frequency (IF) amplifier to amplify the recovered signal and drive an external test instrument. To meet the requirements of high gain and a low noise figure (NF) under moderate power consumption for the LNA, capacitor cross coupled (CCC) and current reuse techniques were adopted. The detector consists of a squarer and an integrator. The overall circuit consumes 41.2 mA current with a supply voltage of 1.8 V at a 400 MHz pulse rate. The resulting energy efficiency is 0.19 nJ/pulse. A chip prototype is implemented in 0.18-μm CMOS. The die area is 2.1 × 1.4 mm2 and the active area is 1.7 × 0.98 mm2.

Fully integrated 60 GHz transceiver in SiGe BiCMOS, RF modules, and 3.6 Gbit/s OFDM data transmission

A fully integrated transmitter (TX) and receiver (RX) front-end chipset, produced in 0.25 µm SiGe:C bipolar and complementary metal oxide semiconductor (BiCMOS) technology, is presented. The front-end is intended for high-speed wireless communication in the unlicensed ISM band of 9 GHz around 60 GHz. The TXand RX features a modified heterodyne topology with a sliding intermediate frequency. The TX features a 12 GHz in-phase and quadrature (I/Q) mixer, an intermediate frequency (IF) amplifier, a phase-locked loop, a 60 GHz mixer, an image-rejection filter, and a power amplifier. The RX features a low-noise amplifier (LNA), a 60 GHz mixer, a phase-locked loop (PLL), and an IF demodulator. The measured 1-dB compression point at the TX output is 12.6 dBm and the saturated power is 16.2 dBm. The LNA has measured noise figure of 6.5 dB at 60 GHz. Error-free data transmission with a 16 quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM) orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) signal and data rate of 3.6 Gbit/s (without coding 4.8 Gbit/s) over 15 m was demonstrated. This is the best reported result regarding both the data rate and transmission distance in SiGe and CMOS without beamforming.

High‐integrated and small‐sized X‐band image rejection down‐converter MMIC using InGaP/GaAs HBT process

AbstractA fully differential X‐band image rejection down‐converter is fabricated using Hartley architecture with a total chip area of 2.6 × 1.1 mm2 in InGaP/GaAs HBT monolithic microwave integrated circuit technology.This down‐converter consists of two single‐balanced mixers, a differential intermediate frequency (IF) amplifier, a local oscillator quadrature generator, a three‐stage polyphase filter, and a differential voltage‐controlled oscillator. This down‐converter yields an image rejection ratio of over 30 dB, a conversion gain of over 30 dB, a noise figure of less than 3.5 dB, and an output‐referred 1 dB compression power (P1dB,OUT) of 2.5 dBm in the IF range 0.9‐2 GHz. The broadband image rejection characteristics over a frequency range of 1.1 GHz with a current consumption of 35 mA are achieved. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Microwave Opt Technol Lett 53:789–793, 2011; View this article online at wileyonlinelibrary.com. DOI 10.1002/mop.25852

An intermediate-frequency amplifier for a radio-astronomy superheterodyne receiver

Results of designing ultralow-noise coolable amplifiers intended for operation in a 0.5- to 3.0-GHz wavelength range are presented. Schematic diagrams are given, and special features of the design are indicated. The noise factor of the amplifier is ∼0.4 dB without cooling and ≤0.05 dB at 15 K. The commercially available electronic components are used. The amplifiers are recommended as functional modules for building radio-astronomy and measuring units.

A low‐power 2.4‐GHz receiver front‐end for wireless sensor networks

AbstractA low‐power 2.4‐GHz SiGe HBT receiver front‐end for wireless sensor networks utilizing current‐ reuse technique is reported for the first time. The proposed receiver comprises the low‐noise amplifier (LNA), the passive mixer, and the intermediate frequency (IF) amplifier. To reduce the power consumption, the dc bias current of the IF amplifier is reused by the LNA. The receiver front‐end dissipated 13.8 mW, and achieved input return loss (S11) of −22 dB, conversion voltage gain of 34 dB, noise figure of 6.3 dB, and input third‐order intermodulation point (IIP3) of −21 dBm at IF of 1 MHz. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Microwave Opt Technol Lett 51: 3021–3024, 2009; Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI 10.1002/mop.24812

Mixing Properties of NbN-Based SIS Mixers With NbTiN Wirings

We report on the mixing properties of waveguide SIS mixers with epitaxial NbN/AlN/NbN junctions and NbN/SiO2/NbTiN microstrips on MgO substrates. The superconducting transition temperature and 20-K resistivity of NbTiN film on the SiO2 dielectric were 14.7 K and 175 muOmega cm, respectively. The junction tuning circuit was composed of an NbN/SiO2/NbTiN microstrip and two parallel-connected NbN/AlN/NbN junctions 0.9 mum in diameter. The critical current density and normal-state resistance of the fabricated NbN junction were 13 kA/cm2 and 22 Omega, respectively. The heterodyne response was measured using 295- and 77-K blackbody sources, a local oscillator (LO) source, and a 25-mum-thick Kapton film as a beam splitter. An intermediate frequency (IF) amplifier with a bandwidth of 4-12 GHz was used in the measurements. The receiver noise temperature corrected for losses in the beam splitter and in the vacuum window of the cryocooler was 370 K at 860 GHz and was comparable to that of all-NbN mixes with NbN/MgO/NbN microstrips.

A COMPACT X-BAND RECEIVER FRONT-END MODULE BASED ON LOW TEMPERATURE CO-FIRED CERAMIC TECHNOLOGY

This letter presents a compact low temperature co-fired ceramic (LTCC) receiver front-end module integrating 9 building blocks. The receiver is a twice-frequency-conversion front-end module with image rejection, works at X-band, consists of an X-band embedded image rejection band-pass filter (BPF), an L- band multilayer image rejection quasi-ellipitc BPF, two monolithic microwave integrated circuit (MMIC) low noise amplifiers (LNAs), two intermediate frequency (IF) amplifiers, two mixers, a IF BPF, and some lumped passive components. All MMICs are mounted into pre- making cavities in the three layers LTCC substrate of the top surface, and the interconnection between MMICs and surface microstrip-line is established by bond wires. A multilayer five-pole Chebyshev interdigital BPF is developed as the first image rejection filter, and a four-pole quasi-elliptic BPF composed of stepped-impedance hairpin resonator and miniaturized hairpin resonators that can be coupled through the apertures on the common ground plane is proposed for as the second image rejection filter. The developed X-band receiver front-end module is fabricated using twenty layers LTCC dielectric substrate, which has a compact size of 30 × 20 × 20 mm 3 (including the metal cavity). The measured receiver gain and noise figure are more than 32 dB and less than 4 dB, respectively. The first and second image rejection is better than 28 dB and 40 dB, respectively. Compared with conventional receiver front-end module using hybrid microwave integrated circuit (HMIC) technology, the proposed receiver module not only has compact size, but also has good performance.

Profile of Francisco Bezanilla

In the 1950s and 1960s, most electronics hobbyists learned the trade by building radios. Francisco Bezanilla went a step further: he made his own television. Bezanilla grew up in Santiago, Chile, and when Chile hosted the World Cup in 1962, the country broadcast soccer games around the globe from new transmitters installed on the campuses of the national universities. Television sets were extremely rare, so Bezanilla and a friend decided to build their own. “We even had to design the coils of the intermediate frequency amplifiers,” he says. “There was a table full of electronics and a little oscilloscope tube for a screen.” Bezanilla's parents dreamed of watching Brazil's Pele perform his magic, in flickering green and black if necessary. Unfortunately, the “television” was completed shortly after the World Cup's final games. Later, Bezanilla's parents sent their son to Argentina to buy commercial parts, out of which he fashioned a new set that they used for many years. Bezanilla, whose intimate knowledge of electronic hardware was acquired during his childhood, is now a biophysicist whose advanced experiments on neurons and ion channels earned his election to the National Academy of Sciences in 2006.In addition to his work on ion channel gating, Bezanilla is a pathfinder in the use of fluorescent labeling techniques for studying dynamic rearrangement in channel proteins, and codiscoverer of gating current in sodium channels. Francisco Bezanilla In his Inaugural Article, published in this issue of PNAS (1), Bezanilla reports on ion channels. Although Bezanilla concedes that his research on the molecular basis of voltage sensing does not have direct application in any one particular area, it is fundamentally important to many fields. “It is the basis of the nerve impulse, the heart beating, brain activity,” he says. “Even enzymes are activated by voltage.” Certain genetic abnormalities affect voltage sensing, such as the “long QT syndrome,” a sometimes-fatal heart condition characterized by arrhythmias and associated with exercise or excitement. “People exercising can suddenly drop dead because there is a problem with the repolarization of the action potential of the heart,” he says. His research could lead to the development of new drugs to treat long QT syndrome and related conditions. Bezanilla recognizes that his expertise with electronics has been key to his research success and wishes that young scientists today had a deeper understanding of the instruments they employ. “Today, people doing patch clamping just buy the system with a computer and everything. They run the program. But they have very little idea what is going on behind the scenes.” This is a problem, he says, because the complex equipment can generate artifacts that a novice might think represent an experimental result. To ground his own graduate students in the basics, Bezanilla, along with Julio Vergara, initiated a special course in electronics at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA, Los Angeles, CA), that he and Vergara taught for a quarter of a century and is still offered today. “If you look at the history of physiology,” Bezanilla says, “every big advance came after somebody invented some new equipment.” He knows of what he speaks; his first major discovery occurred after he designed and built a device to measure ion channel gating currents superior to any on the market at the time.

Highly Packaged Terahertz Down-Converter Modules Using 3-D Integration

This letter describes the design of highly packaged heterodyne receivers for terahertz applications. The 3-D integration of a terahertz mixer with a low-noise intermediate frequency amplifier is implemented for the first time using off-the-shelf components. Thereby, an-order-of-magnitude volume and weight reduction are accomplished. We validate our packaging approach experimentally, demonstrating performance comparable to that of a similar receiver assembled with planar interconnects. These 3-D receivers can in principle constitute the basis of close-fitting, densely populated focal plane arrays.

Development of integrated HEB/MMIC receivers for near-range terahertz imaging

We present measurement results for a new type of integrated terahertz receiver, as an extension to previous work by the authors. The receiver we developed integrates quasi-optically coupled phonon-cooled NbN hot electron bolometric (HEB) mixers in close proximity with InP monolithic microwave integrated circuit (MMIC) intermediate-frequency (IF) amplifiers. We have measured antenna radiation pattern, receiver noise temperature, and bandwidth, as well as short-term stability of the integrated receivers. The measurements were performed at 1.6 and 2.5 THz over a very broadband IF frequency range. We have been able to extend the effective bandwidth of these receivers up to 5 GHz, the widest reported for any integrated configuration operating above 1 THz. The suitability of the HEB/MMIC approach for imaging applications has been confirmed through the development of a prototype system for near-range scanning. The results presented here are very promising for the future development of heterodyne focal plane arrays for space-based receivers, medical applications, and surveillance

A frequency detector with a balance amplitude modulator and with a shift generator

The paper describes a new single-channel microwave frequency detector equipped with a balance amplitude modulator and a shift generator. Analysis of operation of the frequency detector shows that it is able to compensate the intrinsic phase noise of the mixer and of the intermediate-frequency amplifier.

A low-power Ku-band downconverter in InGaP-GaAs HBT technology

We have developed a low-voltage, low-power Ku-band microwave monolithic integrated circuit (MMIC) downconverter using InGaP-GaAs heterojunction bipolar transistor technology. It consists of a preamplifier, a double-balanced mixer, and an L-band wideband intermediate-frequency (IF) amplifier. The downconverter achieves a conversion gain of 31 dB, with a gain flatness within /spl plusmn/ 1 dB, and an output-referred 1-dB compression power (P/sub 1dB,OUT/) of +2.5dBm. This downconverter dissipates 33mA from a 3-V supply. We believe that the operating voltage and power consumption are lower than those of previously published Ku-band MMIC downconverters.

Simple 1 MM Receivers with a Fixed Tuned Double Sideband SIS Mixer and a Wideband INP MMIC Amplifier

We report on techniques to broaden the intermediate frequency (IF) bandwidth of the Berkeley‐Illinois‐Maryland Array (BIMA) 1mm Superconductor‐Insulator‐Superconductor (SIS) heterodyne receivers by combining fixed tuned Double Side Band (DSB) SIS mixers and wideband Monolithic Microwave Integrated Circuit (MMIC) IF amplifiers. To obtain the flattest receiver gain across the IF band we tested three schemes for keeping the mixer and amplifier as electrically close as possible. In Receiver I, we connected separate mixer and MMIC modules by a 1 ″ stainless steel SMA elbow. In Receiver II, we integrated mixer and MMIC into a modified BIMA mixer module. In Receiver III, we devised a thermally split block in which mixer and MMIC can be maintained at different temperatures–in this receiver module the mixer at 4 K sees very little of the 10–20 mW heat load of the biased MMIC at 10 K. The best average receiver noise we achieved by combining SIS mixer and MMIC amplifier is 45 ‐50 K DSB for νLO = 215–240 GHz and below 80 K DSB for νLO = 205 ‐ 270 GHz. Over an IF frequency band of 1 – 4 GHz we have demonstrated receiver DSB noise temperatures of 40 – 60 K. Of the three receiver schemes, we feel Receiver III shows the most promise for continued development.

Superconducting quantum interference device amplifiers at gigahertz frequencies

A series of five dc superconducting quantum interference devices (SQUIDs) have been operated as microstrip amplifiers at frequencies ranging from 2.2 to 7.4 GHz. In these devices, the signal is connected between the SQUID washer and coil, which acts as a microstrip resonator. The gain measured at 4.2 K ranged from 12±1 to 6±1 dB. The noise temperature of three devices at 4.2 K in the frequency range 2.2–4 GHz was between 1 and 2 K, and the saturation temperature was between 150 and 250 K. Applications of these devices include readout for axion detectors, and intermediate-frequency amplifiers for superconductor–insulator–superconductor and hot-electron bolometer mixers.