Low Noise Figure Research Articles

Artificial Neural Network Modeling of a CMOS Differential Low-Noise Amplifier Using the Bayesian Regularization Algorithm.

The purpose of this communication is to present the modeling of an Artificial Neural Network (ANN) for a differential Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor (CMOS) Low-Noise Amplifier (LNA) designed for wireless applications. For satellite transponder applications employing differential LNAs, various techniques, such as gain boosting, linearity improvement, and body bias, have been individually documented in the literature. The proposed LNA combines all three of these techniques differentially, aiming to achieve a high gain, a low noise figure, excellent linearity, and reduced power consumption. Under simulation conditions at 5 GHz using Cadence, the proposed LNA demonstrates a high gain (S21) of 29.5 dB and a low noise figure (NF) of 1.2 dB, with a reduced supply voltage of only 0.9 V. Additionally, it exhibits a reflection coefficient (S11) of less than -10 dB, a power dissipation (Pdc) of 19.3 mW, and a third-order input intercept point (IIP3) of 0.2 dBm. The performance results of the proposed LNA, combining all three techniques, outperform those of LNAs employing only two of the above techniques. The proposed LNA is modeled using PatternNet BR, and the simulation results closely align with the results of the developed ANN. In comparison to the Cadence simulation method, the proposed approach also offers accurate circuit solutions.

Wheel‐based 5G fronthaul/backhaul hybrid MDM‐NGPON/FSO system under Gamma‐Gamma turbulence and weather effects

SummaryThis work presents the bidirectional and symmetric 40 Gbps wheel architecture comprising 16 channels‐based bidirectional hybrid next generation passive optical network with free space optics (NGPON/FSO) system using mode division multiplexing (MDM) scheme. The system incorporates a low‐cost high bandwidth and integrated time and wavelength division multiplexing with orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (TWDM‐OFDM) for data transmission over mixed fiber‐FSO links to various end users at donut modes 0 and 1. This system enhances the fifth generation (5G)‐based networks reliability, survivability, and flexibility, especially in rural places where the core fiber link may be damaged/destroyed under diverse turbulent and weather conditions. The obtained results depict the faithful multimode fiber range of 100 km with fixed FSO range of 100 m at −17 dBm receiver sensitivity and low power penalty of 0.2 dB at 10−9 bit error rate. Maximum FSO range of 2800 m under weak‐to‐strong Gamma‐Gamma turbulence and the effect of fog, rain, snow, and snow with rain can be obtained successfully with fixed 50 km fiber length. Also, the proposed wheel architecture provides superior performance over hybrid ring‐mesh architecture with high split ratio of 1:64. Moreover, the system can sustain up to 70 remote nodes at symmetric 10 Gbps throughput providing high gain, high optical signal‐to‐noise ratio, and low noise figure. The comparative literature work also reveals that the proposed architecture offers high bandwidth, security, long‐reach, and cost‐effectiveness in 5G fronthaul/backhaul networks.

Low-noise phase-sensitive optical parametric amplifier with lossless local pump generation using a digital dither optical phase-locked loop.

The low noise figure of phase-sensitive amplifiers (PSAs) is attractive for optically pre-amplified measurement and communication systems. However, a major practical implementation difficulty pertains to the requirement of phase-locked signal, idler, and pump waves. Previously, injection locking to a co-propagating weak pump pilot or tapping portions of the received signal (lossy) for carrier re-generation have been used. Here we present a novel, lossless approach without any pump pilot, that generates a phase-locked receiver-local pump within the PSA using a digital dither-based optical phase-locked loop. We experimentally demonstrate a 2 dB noise figure with a low 0.3 dB penalty due to imperfect locking. By comparing the phase-locking performance in a PSA to that in a 50/50-coupler, we discuss and predict potential performance improvements connected to loop delay and laser phase characteristics.

Ultralow noise C + L wideband WDM-IMDD transmission at 18 × 112 Gbps by using hybrid second-order distributed Raman and first-order lumped Raman amplification.

We experimentally investigated and demonstrated an ultralow noise hybrid amplifier that combines second-order distributed Raman amplifier (DRA) and first-order lumped Raman amplifier (LRA) in a cascaded approach. This approach allows for the reutilization of pump light from the LRA as the seed light in the second-order DRA, and simultaneous full-band dispersion compensation is realized by using dispersion compensation fiber in the LRA. This approach also supports broadband gain flattening based on the separated DRA and LRA configuration. The transmission application of the proposed amplifier was investigated using a set of 10 external cavity lasers (ECLs) in the C-band and 8 ECLs in the L-band. Ranging from 1531.12 nm to 1595.49 nm across C + L band, the proposed hybrid amplifier gives a maximum on-off gain of 27.2 dB and an average gain of 23.4 dB, with an extremely low effective noise figure (NF) of lower than -2.9 dB. Intensity modulation direct detection (IMDD) signal transmission is carried out at two different data rates across these 18 wavelengths in the C + L band: (1) 56 Gbps/λ PAM-4 signal; (2) 112 Gbps/λ PAM-4 signal. The results show that the error free transmissions are demonstrated over 101.6 km EX2000 fiber using both signals with 7% HD-FEC and 20% SD-FEC, respectively.

Current Re-Use Architecture and Pre-Distortion Technique Employing Re-Configurable Low Noise Amplifier for the Design of Nano-Electronic Sensors

This study presents the design of reconfigurable CMOS Low Noise Amplifier (LNA) topologies to achieve acceptable linearity, gain, and low noise for Nano-sensor applications. The frequency bands at 2.4 GHz, 5 GHz and 28 GHz are taken into consideration for employing the Pre-distortion and current reuse technique. Millimeter Wave (MMW) frequency bands include excellent impedance matching, good isolation between the ports, To improve the futuristic applications of RADAR sensors, low noise figures and significant gain are preferred. The designed re-configurable structure achieved At 2.4 GHz, the gain is modest with a low NF of 2.6 dB, less than 2 dB at 5 GHz, and more than 10 dB at 28 GHz frequencies. The Stability of the amplifier greater than 1 dB, The arrangement of the layout with a chip measuring 0.5×0.2 mm2 and a moderate power increase make it appropriate for nanosensor creation.

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.

Low Noise Amplifier at 60 GHz Using Low Loss On-Chip Inductors

This paper proposes the technique of using low loss on-chip inductors in the design of low noise amplifier (LNA) that offers high gain and lower noise figure. Upon the substrate of octagonal spiral inductors, a surface of patterned ground shield is inserted that significantly reduces the substrate loss. This effect limits the penetration of electric filed into the substrate, thereby improving the inductor’s Quality (Q) factor and decouples the substrate parasitic that results with smaller series resistance. These effects result with improved gain and noise figure of LNA at 60 GHz when the designed inductors are included in it to serve as gate, source, and load inductances. The proposed work uses an inductively degenerated 3-stage common-source LNA in a 65-nm CMOS process. Simulation results show that the LNA using custom designed inductors achieves the peak gain of 17.02 dB at 56 GHz with a noise figure of 5 dB at 60 GHz for the power consumption of 10 mW. The figure-of-merit (FOM) is 14.56 which is 0.8 times more than the LNA design using off-chip inductors. A complete LNA layout using custom designed inductor footprints has been presented and analyzed.

A Review of High-Power Semiconductor Optical Amplifiers in the 1550 nm Band.

The 1550 nm band semiconductor optical amplifier (SOA) has great potential for applications such as optical communication. Its wide-gain bandwidth is helpful in expanding the bandwidth resources of optical communication, thereby increasing total capacity transmitted over the fiber. Its relatively low cost and ease of integration also make it a high-performance amplifier of choice for LiDAR applications. In recent years, with the rapid development of quantum-well (QW) material systems, SOAs have gradually overcome the shortcomings of polarization sensitivity and high noise. The research on quantum-dot (QD) materials has further improved the noise characteristics and transmission loss of SOAs. The design of special waveguide structures-such as plate-coupled optical waveguide amplifiers and tapered amplifiers-has also increased the saturation output power of SOAs. The maximum gain of the SOA has been reported to be more than 21 dB. The maximum saturation output power has been reported to be more than 34.7 dBm. The maximum 3 dB gain bandwidth has been reported to be more than 120 nm, the lowest noise figure has been reported to be less than 4 dB, and the lowest polarization-dependent gain has been reported to be 0.1 dB. This study focuses on the improvement and enhancement of the main performance parameters of high-power SOAs in the 1550 nm band and introduces the performance parameters, the research progress of high-power SOAs in the 1550 nm band, and the development and application status of SOAs. Finally, the development trends and prospects of high-power SOAs in the 1550 nm band are summarized.

An MMIC LNA for Millimeter-Wave Radar and 5G Applications with GaN-on-SiC Technology.

This paper presents a monolithic microwave integrated circuit (MMIC) low noise amplifier (LNA) that is compatible with n257 (26.5-29.5 GHz) and n258 (24.25-27.5 GHz) frequency bands for fifth-generation mobile communications system (5G) and millimeter-wave radar. The total circuit size of the LNA is 2.5 × 1.5 mm2. To guarantee a trade-off between noise figure (NF) and small signal gain, the transmission lines are connected to the source of gallium nitride (GaN)-on-SiC high electron mobility transistors (HEMT) by analyzing the nonlinear small signal equivalent circuit. A series of stability enhancement measures including source degeneration, an RC series network, and RF choke are put forward to enhance the stability of designed LNA. The designed GaN-based MMIC LNA adopts hybrid-matching networks (MNs) with co-design strategy to realize low NF and broadband characteristics across 5G n257 and n258 frequency band. Due to the different priorities of these hybrid-MNs, distinguished design strategies are employed to benefit small signal gain, input-output return loss, and NF performance. In order to meet the testing conditions of MMIC, an impeccable system for measuring small has been built to ensure the accuracy of the measured results. According to the measured results for small signal, the three-stage MMIC LNA has a linear gain of 18.2-20.3 dB and an NF of 2.5-3.1 dB with an input-output return loss better than 10 dB in the whole n257 and n258 frequency bands.

0.18 dB Low-Noise Figure at 10 GHz for GaN MIS-HEMT With Plasma-Enhanced Atomic Layer Deposition SiN Layer

Investigation into the noise performance of GaN metal-insulator-semiconductor HEMT with 5-nm SiN dielectric layer has been performed in this work. The fabricated MIS-HEMT exhibits a minimum noise figure ( <italic xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">NF</i> <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">min</sub> ) of 0.18 dB at 10 GHz and 0.45 dB at 18 GHz with a 10 V drain voltage and ~70 mA/mm drain current, which is considerably smaller than the corresponding values (1.0 dB and 1.9 dB respectively) obtained for the controlled HEMT. A corrected physical base noise model has been conducted to evaluate the improvement. The influence of the suppressed gate leakage current and reduced channel resistance on <italic xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">NF</i> <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">min</sub> is stronger than that of the parasitic capacitance, which finally contributes to a decreased <italic xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">NF</i> <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">min</sub> for MIS-HEMT. Moreover, the dependences of noise characteristics on the bias voltages are also monitored, achieving a tiny <italic xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">NF</i> <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">min</sub> < 0.8 dB at 18 GHz with a 20 V drain bias. These findings sufficiently reveal the potential of GaN MIS-HEMT utilizing in low-noise amplifiers.

Backward pumped distributed Raman amplifier: enhanced gain

The backward Raman amplifier (RA) can considered as one of the best solutions for optical communication, especially in Wavelength Division Multiplexing technology. They reduce the nonlinear effects, have low noise figure and a wide frequency range. The work in this paper aims to reduce the attenuation of optical signal due to its propagation optical fiber and increase both amplifier gain and output signal power. Two backward Raman models are proposed. Proposal one model consists of two cascaded RAs and the other (proposal two) consists of three cascaded RAs. Three backward pump power levels 200, 400, and 600 mW are used to simulate the models with the three types of fibers: single-mode fiber, Truewave, and Freelight, at an amplifier length of 100 km. Proposal two achieves a maximum gain of 31 dB at 600 mW pump power 600 mW using Truewave optical fiber, with 27.7 dBm maximum output signal power. This proposal is evaluated showing 11.15% gain enhancement and 200 mW saved power when compared to previously published work.

A 2.4 GHz Reconfigurable Cascode/Folded-Cascode Inductive Source Degenerated LNA With Enhanced OP1dB and OIP3 Over Gain Reduction

A 2.4 GHz reconfigurable cascode/folded-cascode inductive source degenerated LNA (ISDLNA) is proposed to implement the variable-gain functionality with enhanced output 1 dB compression point (OP1dB) and output third-order intercept point (OIP3) over the gain reduction, ensuring low noise figure (NF) of sub-1 dB at high gain mode. Depending on the channel condition, the LNA is designed to be operated as the cascode and folded-cascode ISDLNA through the digital switch control to have low NF of around 1 dB at high gain mode and high input P1dB (IP1dB) of greater than -5 dBm at low gain mode, respectively. To avoid the reliability issues caused by the overdriving control voltage of greater than the nominal supply voltage, the transmission gate switch is employed as the common gate stage of the cascode amplifier. In experiments, the proposed variable-gain LNA shows a power gain (S21), input return loss (S11), and NF of 11.8 dB, -31.8 dB, and 1.1 dB at high gain mode, and 5.0 dB, -14.4 dB, and 1.96 dB at low gain mode. In case of the linearity, the proposed LNA shows an IP1dB and input IP3 (IIP3) of -19.2 dBm and -5 dBm at high gain mode, and -5.1 dBm and +4.8 dBm at low gain mode, respectively. The power consumption for two operation modes is the same as 9.6 mW from a 1.2 V supply voltage.

A 0.15 μm GaN HEMT device to circuit approach towards dual-band ultra-low noise amplifier using defected ground bias technique

This work presents a GaN HEMT device to circuit approach towards low noise amplifier (LNA) using defective ground bias (DGB) technique. This is the first MMIC GaN HEMT LNA design to offer dual-band of operation in both L and S-bands to the author’s best knowledge.The proposed 0.15-μm GaN HEMT device fabrication achieves a high output power of 20 W using slot radiation phenomenon. The proposed DGB technique consists of gate and drain biasing topologies which achieves a dual-band of operation using microwave approach. The DGB technique is incorporated into GaN HEMT LNA which achieves high input and output power with good stability.To achieve an optimal noise, high I/O power, and almost flat gain at both L and S-bands, the defective ground structure of bias topologies is modeled and optimized. An artificial ground defect is created to offer resonant properties for the DGS of a microstrip line, which utilizes frequency-selective properties to improve the performance of the LNA circuit by suppressing the harmonics and scaling the size. The dedicated LNA shows the benefits of compact size, extremely low noise figure of 0.74/1.6 dB, high output power of 44 dBm and nearly flat gain of 14/11 dB at 1.17/2.49 GHz with the unique methodologies suggested. The compact GaN HEMT LNA could overcome the weak signal strength received by RF receiver for smart rail transport system.

Design of a GaAs-Based Ka-Band Low Noise Amplifier MMIC with Gain Flatness Enhancement

This paper presents a GaAs-based Ka-band low noise amplifier (LNA) with gain flatness enhancement. Active device optimization and inductive degeneration techniques were employed to obtain a low noise figure (NF) and good input/output return loss. In order to achieve a flat gain response over a wide bandwidth, the stagger tuning technique was utilized. The proposed LNA was implemented by 0.15 μm GaAs pHEMT process, and the chip area is only 1.5 × 0.9 mm2. Measurement results show that the presented LNA exhibits a small signal gain of 21.5 ± 0.3 dB, and the NF of the LNA is less than 2.2 dB from 32 to 40 GHz at room temperature.

Improved performance HEMT device with backup bulk for LNA application

This study proposes a 30 nm gate length double-gate InAlN/GaN on a 4H-SiC substrate high-electron-mobility transistor. Different electrical characteristics such as DC, AC, capacity and noise analysis were performed through TCAD device simulations. The proposed device exhibited a maximum drain current of 2.15 A mm−1, a transconductance of 1308 mS/mm, (350/610) GHz of FT/FMAX and a maximum noise figure of NFMax = 9.5 dB at 1 THz. Thus, LNA-HEMT has been designed considering the main characteristics of power with a new structure, in terms of temperature and low noise figure effect. Adopting the backup bulk in the optimization procedure, the proposed device obtained an outstanding performance with appropriate low power consumption for the GEO satellite application.

Small signal and noise analysis of T-gate HEMT with polarization doped buffer for LNAs

Small signal behavior and RF noise performance of T-gate InAlN/GaN HEMT with polarization doped buffer (PDB-HEMT) have been examined in this paper and compared to conventional HEMTs at GHz frequency range. Enhancement mode operation is possible in the PDB-HEMT device, which has a recessed T-gate structure with a gate length of 10 nm and delivers the threshold voltage (Vth) of 0.9 V and a high transconductance of 1.55 S/mm. This study examines the auto/cross-correlation factor, minimum noise figure, reflection/transmission coefficients, noise conductance, and optimal noise resistance and reactance. The enhanced transconductance of PDB-HEMT has resulted in a considerable increase in the forward transmission coefficient and a decrease in the input/output reflection coefficient compared to traditional HEMTs. It has also been shown that the PDB- HEMT has a lower noise figure and noise conductance than the GaN buffer HEMT by 57% and 20%, respectively. This research demonstrates that the T-gate polarization doped buffer (PDB-HEMT) structure is an excellent choice for Low Noise Amplifiers (LNA) operating at higher frequencies.

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.

A 0.38 V Fully Differential K-Band LNA with Transformer-Based Matching Networks

The implementation of a 0.38 V K-band low-power fully differential low-noise amplifier (LNA) in a 45 nm silicon-on-insulator (SOI) process is presented. The proposed architecture employs a two-stage approach with transformer-based interstage matching networks to minimize circuit area. The proposed LNA covers the frequency range from 20.3 to 24.1 GHz, it achieves a noise figure (NF) as low as 2.2 dB, and a gain of 12.9 dB, with a power consumption of 11.7 mW from a 0.38 V DC supply in a very compact area (0.15 mm2) excluding pads. Non-linearity simulations show the proposed circuit achieves a Po1dB of −7.3 dBm, and an OIP3 (Output Third Order Intercept) of 7 dBm. The transformers allow improved area use since they are simultaneously used as matching networks, RF chokes to bias the active devices, baluns at the input and output terminals to convert the single-ended signal into differential mode, and vice versa, and facilitates the interconnection with the upcoming stages. We used a state-of-the-art tool that generates the desired inductances to perform impedance matching for a given frequency and coupling factor value. A comparison with similar works proves the proposed LNA achieves a very low NF and the lowest power consumption reported in a differential circuit.