Typical Noise Figure Research Articles

A 4.5–7.5 GHz highly integrated transceiver front‐end for UWB application

AbstractIn this letter, a 4.5–7.5 GHz highly integrated transceiver front‐end, incorporating two single‐pole three‐throw (SP3T) transmit/receive (T/R) switches, a low‐noise amplifier (LNA), a power amplifier (PA), and a bypass path for UWB positioning and communication systems applications, is reported. The mode switches among transmitting, receiving, and bypass are achieved by utilizing two control voltages through integrating a 2–4 decoder. Meanwhile, to ensure low‐power dissipation in different modes, the LNA and PA work in different modes (enable or disable) for transmitting and receiving status while both the LNA and PA are disabled for bypass mode. Fabricated by using 0.5‐μm GaAs pHEMT process, the presented FEM achieves 20‐dB gain, and 2.5‐dB typical noise figure for receiving mode, 8‐dB gain, and 16‐dBm OP1dB for transmitting mode, and 1.8 dB insertion loss for bypass mode, with a compact chip area of 1.5 mm × 1.7 mm. To the best of authors' knowledge, the presented circuits are the highest integrated and smallest chip area transceiver front‐end for UWB application among all previously reported UWB‐related RF front‐end chips.

Analysis and design of a 1.7‐ to 27.1‐GHz low‐noise amplifier

AbstractThis letter illustrates a 1.7‐ to 27.1‐GHz single‐stage cascode low‐noise amplifier (LNA) with high and flat gain response. In the presented LNA, to obtain high and flat gain response in the broad bandwidth, the Micro‐strip type pHEMT is utilized as the common‐source stage so as to alleviate the gain bandwidth degradation caused by parasitic parameters. Meanwhile, multiple inductive‐peaking inductors are employed to enhance the gain. By optimizing the combination of several bandwidth extension techniques, the experimental results indicate that the exhibited LNA achieves high average gain up to 14.6 dB with ±1.5 dB variation, 2.4 dB typical noise figure, and 14‐dBm OP1dB in the frequency range from 1.7 to 27.1 GHz. Fabricated by using 0.15‐μm GaAs pHEMT process, the presented LNA occupies a chip area of 0.96 mm2.

Analysis and Design of a Broadband Receiver Front End for 0.1-to-40-GHz Application

In this paper, a broadband receiver front end for 0.1 to 40 GHz application, fabricated using 0.15-μm GaAs E-mode pHEMT process, is reported. The receiver front end consists of a broadband low-noise amplifier (LNA) and a broadband mixer. To achieve low noise and significant bandwidth extension, a three-stage LNA, cascading one stage cascode amplifier with feedback and bandwidth extension techniques, to two stage cascode Darlington amplifiers with feedback, is proposed. The bandwidth extension principles of LNA are analyzed theoretically and verified experimentally. Measurement results show that the proposed LNA exhibits an average gain of 23.7 dB with ± 1.5-dB variation, a typical noise figure of 3.8 dB, maximum OP <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">1dB</sub> of 8.7 dBm in the frequency range from 0.1 to 40 GHz. A symmetric distributed drain mixer (SDDM) is proposed to provide broad bandwidth while ensuring an IP <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">1dB</sub> of up to 5.8 dBm. The design procedure of SDDM is presented in detail. Experimental results indicate that the SDDM features a less than 7-dB conversion loss, an IP <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">1dB</sub> of up to 5.8 dBm with zero dc dissipation and better than 15-dB isolation of LO-to-RF and IF-to-RF ports from 0.1 to 40 GHz. Finally, the LNA and SDDM are integrated as a 0.1 to 40-GHz receiver front end. Measurements illustrate that the receiver front end shows good matching with better than 10-dB return loss at RF and LO ports, and larger than 15-dB conversion gain in 0.1 to 40-GHz frequency range. The receiver occupies only 1.89-mm <sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">2</sup> chip area including test pads. To the best of the authors' knowledge, the designed receiver front end has the widest bandwidth among reported receivers fabricated by using GaAs process.

Effects of signal power control strategies and wavelength assignment algorithms on circuit OSNR in WDM networks

Software-defined networking is enabling wavelength-division multiplexed (WDM) networks to be programmable down to individual components. While taking into account typical gain and noise figure profiles of erbium-doped fiber amplifier (EDFA) components, the authors consider a number of signal power control strategies and compare their performance in terms of achievable lightpath optical signal-to-noise ratio (OSNR). These strategies are applied network-wide to concurrently control the gain of each individual amplifier and the signal power equalization at each reconfigurable optical add/drop multiplexer. Simulation and (in part) experimental results show that the lightpath OSNR is affected by three factors: the EDFA gain control strategy, power equalization strategy and wavelength assignment (WA) algorithm. A trade-off between lightpath average OSNR and OSNR variance across the WDM channels is also noted. Experimental work is conducted using a five-node meshed WDM network testbed proving both feasibility and effectiveness of a coordinated use of signal power control strategies and WA algorithms.

An integrated CMOS high data rate transceiver for video applications

This paper presents a 5 GHz CMOS radio frequency (RF) transceiver built with 0.18 μm RF-CMOS technology by using a proprietary protocol, which combines the new IEEE 802.11n features such as multiple-in multiple-out (MIMO) technology with other wireless technologies to provide high data rate robust real-time high definition television (HDTV) distribution within a home environment. The RF frequencies cover from 4.9 to 5.9 GHz: the industrial, scientific and medical (ISM) band. Each RF channel bandwidth is 20 MHz. The transceiver utilizes a direct up transmitter and low-IF receiver architecture. A dual-quadrature direct up conversion mixer is used that achieves better than 35 dB image rejection without any on chip calibration. The measurement shows a 6 dB typical receiver noise figure and a better than 33 dB transmitter error vector magnitude (EVM) at −3 dBm output power.

An RCP Packaged Transceiver Chipset for Automotive LRR and SRR Systems in SiGe BiCMOS Technology

We present a transceiver chipset consisting of a four channel receiver (Rx) and a single-channel transmitter (Tx) designed in a 200-GHz SiGe BiCMOS technology. Each Rx channel has a conversion gain of 19 dB with a typical single sideband noise figure of 10 dB at 1-MHz offset. The Tx includes two exclusively-enabled voltage-controlled oscillators on the same die to switch between two bands at 76-77 and 77-81 GHz. The phase noise is -97 dBc/Hz at 1-MHz offset. On-wafer, the output power is 2 × 13 dBm. At 3.3-V supply, the Rx chip draws 240 mA, while the Tx draws 530 mA. The power dissipation for the complete chipset is 2.5 W. The two chips are used as vehicles for a 77-GHz package test. The chips are packaged using the redistribution chip package technology. We compare on-wafer measurements with on-board results. The loss at the RF port due to the transition in the package results to be less than 1 dB at 77 GHz. The results demonstrate an excellent potential of the presented millimeter-wave package concept for millimeter-wave applications.

DECAY OF NONLOCALITY DUE TO ADIABATIC AND QUANTUM NOISE IN THE SOLID STATE

We study the decay of quantum nonlocality, identified by the violation of the Clauser-Horne-Shimony-Holt (CHSH) Bell inequality, for two noninteracting Josephson qubits subject to independent baths with broadband spectra typical of solid state nanodevices. The bath noise can be separated in an adiabatic (low-frequency) and in a quantum (high-frequency) part. We point out the qualitative different effects on quantum nonlocal correlations induced by adiabatic and quantum noise. A quantitative analysis is performed for typical noise figures in Josephson systems. Finally we compare, for this system, the dynamics of nonlocal correlations and of entanglement.

A fully integrated SOC for 802.11b in 0.18-/spl mu/m CMOS

A fully integrated system-on-a-chip (SOC) intended for use in 802.11b applications is built in 0.18-/spl mu/m CMOS. All of the radio building blocks including the power amplifier (PA), the phase-locked loop (PLL) filter, and the antenna switch, as well as the complete baseband physical layer and the medium access control (MAC) sections, have been integrated into a single chip. The radio tuned to 2.4 GHz dissipates 165 mW in the receive mode and 360 mW in the transmit mode from a 1.8-V supply. The receiver achieves a typical noise figure of 6 dB and -88-dBm sensitivity at 11 Mb/s rate. The transmitter delivers a nominal output power of 13 dBm at the antenna. The transmitter 1-dB compression point is 18 dBm and has over 20 dB of gain range.

176–200‐GHz receiver module using indium phosphide and gallium arsenide MMICs

AbstractThis paper describes an integrated circuit‐based, down‐converting receiver module operating in the 176–200‐GHz range. The multichip module incorporates a cascaded pair of indium phosphide (InP) monolithic microwave integrated circuit (MMIC) amplifiers, providing a combined gain of more than 30 dB over the 176–200‐GHz band. The output from the amplifiers is fed to a subharmonically pumped InP passive‐HEMT block down‐converter that provides an IF output in the 0.5–15‐GHz range with a local oscillator (LO) signal between 46 and 50 GHz. A gallium arsenide (GaAs) medium‐power amplifier provides the LO drive for the mixer. For RF frequencies in the 176–185‐GHz band, the receiver exhibits a typical CW down‐conversion gain between 0 and 3 dB and a typical noise figure of 9 dB when operating at room temperature. For RF frequencies in the 190–196‐GHz band, the receiver exhibits a typical CW down‐conversion gain between 2 and 5 dB and a typical noise figure of 11 dB. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Microwave Opt Technol Lett 43: 458–462, 2004; Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI 10.1002/mop.20501

W‐band receiver module using indium phosphide and gallium arsenide MMICs

AbstractThis paper describes a low‐noise, high‐gain, single‐sideband, downconverting receiver module developed for point‐to‐point telecommunications in the 82–104‐GHz range. Two indium phosphide (InP) and two gallium arsenide (GaAs) monolithic microwave integrated circuits (MMICs) are used in the multi‐chip module. For RF frequencies in the 82–104‐GHz range and within a 1–3‐GHz IF band, the receiver exhibits a typical single‐sideband down‐conversion gain between 15 and 20 dB and a typical noise figure of between 4 and 5 dB. In the same frequency range, the suppression of the unwanted sideband is typically −15 dB or more. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Microwave Opt Technol Lett 42: 92–95, 2004; Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI 10.1002/mop.20218

The modern trends in space electromagnetic instrumentation

The future trends of the experimental plasma physics development in outer space demand more and more exact and sophisticated scientific instrumentation. Moreover, the situation is complicated by constant reduction of financial support of scientific research, even in leading countries. This resulted in the development of mini; micro and nanosatellites with low price and short preparation time. Consequently, it provoked the creation of new generation of scientific instruments with reduced weight and power consumption but increased level of metrological parameters. The recent state of the development of electromagnetic (EM) sensors for microsatellites is reported. For flux-gate magnetometers (FGM) the reduction of weight as well as power consumption was achieved not only due to the use of new electronic components but also because of the new operation mode development. The scientific and technological study allowed to decrease FGM noise and now the typical noise figure is about 10 picotesla rms at 1 Hz and the record one is below 1 picotesla. The super-light version of search-coil magnetometers (SCM) was created as the result of intensive research. These new SCMs can have about six decades of operational frequency band with upper limit ∼ 1 MHz and noise level of few femtotesla with total weight about 75 grams, including electronics. A new instrument.- wave probe (WP) - which combines three independent sensors in one body - SCM, split Langmuir probe and electric potential sensor - was created. The developed theory confirms that WP can directly measure the wave vector components in space plasmas.

SiGe-HBTs for mobile communication

SiGe-HBTs are the most favored candidates for mobile communication systems. They demonstrated excellent high frequency and noise performances on research level, but now the production era of SiGe technologies is starting. First production-ready SiGe-DECT front-end will be presented including an LNA with a typical noise figure of 1.6 dB and a gain of 20 dB, and a power amplifier with 27.5 dBm output power and up to 47% on packaged devices at 1.9 GHz.

InGaAs MESFET's for millimeter-wave low-noise applications

It is reported that excellent device performance and uniformity can be achieved with 0.25- mu m gate InGaAs MESFET fabricated by the mixed manufacturing technology of metalorganic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) and ion implantation. An average unity gain cutoff frequency of 102 GHz with a standard deviation of 12 GHz is derived from the S-parameter measurements of 139 devices uniformly distributed on a 3-in-diameter GaAs wafer. Two-stage low-noise amplifiers fabricated by using these InGaAs MESFETs demonstrate a typical noise figure of 3.6 dB with an associated gain of 14.4 dB at 44 GHz.< <ETX xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">&gt;</ETX>

GaAs MESFET's by molecular beam epitaxy

The noise performance of T shaped Ti/W/Au gate GaAs Schottky-barrier field-effect transistors fabricated on channel layers grown by molecular-beam epitaxy (MBE) is reported. The nominal gate length was about 0.7 µm with a total gate width of 250 µm. Typical noise figure and the associated gain were 1.2 and 14 dB at 4 GHz, and 1.9 and 8.5 dB at 12 GHz. To out knowledge these are the best results reported to date on devices fabricated using MBE-grown GaAs. These preliminary results show the promise of MBE for high-quality GaAs FET's.

Low-noise GaAs field-effect transistors prepared by molecular beam epitaxy

The noise performance of ’’T’’ shaped Ti/W/Au gate GaAs Schottky-barrier field-effect transistors (FET’s) fabricated on channel layers grown by molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) is reported. The nominal gate length was about 0.7 μm with a total gate width of 250 μm. Typical noise figures and the associated gains at room temperature were 1.2 and 14 dB at 4 GHz, and 1.9 and 8.5 dB at 12 GHz. To our knowledge, these are the best results reported to date by MBE. These preliminary results, while not reaching the state of the art, do show the promise of MBE for high-quality GaAs FET’s.

The Ka-Band Communication Systems of the Lincoln Experimental Satellites LES-8 and LES-9

Introduction L INCOLN Experimental Satellites LES-8 and LES-9 are a pair of experimental communication satellites designed and built to operate in a synchronous ecliptic orbit and to communicate on a crosslink from satellite to satellite as well as with surface terminals. At synchronous-orbit altitude, each satellite has a groundvisibility area about 8000 miles in diameter. With crosslink communication between two satellites spaced thousands of miles apart, a single pair of satellites could provide communications among terminals anywhere in an area covering more than 3/4 of the surface of the Earth. Communication links are possible at both UHF and Ka-band at approximately 37 GHz. Figure 1 shows a cutaway drawing of LES-9. The side facing the Earth is the forward platform, which is used for mounting and precision alignment of the Ka-band antennas and the Earth sensors. The Ka-band receiver diplexer filters and front ends are mounted as close as possible to the diplexer polarizer mounted on each antenna. The Ka-band transmitter power amplifiers are mounted on sections of the internal decagon adjacent to the forward platform to minimize the length of the waveguide runs to the antennas. LES-8 and LES-9 each utilize two independent Ka-band communication systems (see Fig. 2). The Ka-dish system uses a fixed paraboloidal reflector in conjunction with a steerable flat reflector to provide a narrow beam, tracking antenna for crosslink or uplink/downlink communications. The Ka-horn system includes a fixed horn to provide a wide-beam antenna coverage. Local oscillator requirements for both systems are provided by a single Ka-band local oscillator. Each receiver subsystem features a broadband low-noise mixer utilizing Schottky-barrier diodes to achieve a typical system noise figure of less than 8 dB. Each transmitter includes an array of solid-state amplifiers which utilize IMPATT diodes, and delivers 0.5 W of power to the antenna. The transmitter signal is modulated at a lower frequency and is upconverted to Kaband using a mixer similar to that used in the low-noise receiver. This paper will discuss the Ka-band systems carried on LES8 and LES-9, which were built to demonstrate component and

Analysis and Design of a Low-Noise X-Band MIC Mixer 1-GHz IF Amplifier

The analysis and design of a low-noise 500-MHz bandwidth MIC image- and sum-enhanced 12-GHz mixer-IF amplifier is described. Typical midband noise figures of 6.3 dB have been achieved.

Design and Performance of Microwave Amplifiers with GaAs Schottky-Gate Field-Effect Transistors

The design and performance of an X-band amplifier with GaAs Schottky-gate field-effect transistors are described. The amplifier achieves 20 /spl plusmn/ 1.3-dB gain with a 5.5-dB typical noise figure (6.9 dB maximum) over the frequency range of 8.0-12.0 GHz. The VSWR at the input and output ports does not exceed 2.5:1. The minimum output power for 1-dB gain compression is +13 dBm, and the intercept point for third-order intermodulation products is +26 dBm. The design of practical wide-band coupling networks is discussed. These networks minimize the overall amplifier noise figure and maintain a constant gain in the band.

Low-Noise Microwave Down-Converter with Optimum Matching at Idle Frequencies (Short papers)

A low-noise balanced down-converter for microwave radio-link applications is described. Down-converters of this type have been realized with typical noise figures of 3.5 dB at 4 GHz, 4 dB at 7 GHz, and 5 dB at 13 GHz. These results are obtained mainly by taking into account high order sideband frequencies of the pump harmonics up to the third, by properly terminating the image frequency, by matching the input port of the mixer and by optimizing the mixer-preamplifier interface. The experimental results are compared with the theoretical ones obtainable with ideal purely resistive diodes.

Design and performance of small-signal microwave transistors

Recent advances in microwave transistor technology, including 1 μm mask resolution, arsenic diffused emitters, and low-resistance contacts compatible with shallow junctions, have resulted in significant improvements in the high-frequency performance of small-signal npn bipolar silicon transistors. These improvements are described and, in particular, the high-frequency performance of arsenic diffused emitter and phosphorus diffused emitter devices are compared in detail in terms of ƒ T, ƒ max , noise figure and available power gain. The effect of collector thickness and doping on ƒ T and ƒ max is discussed and experimental results are compared with computed values. By suitable choice of collector thickness and doping either ƒ T or ƒ max may be optimized: ƒ T = 15 GHz and ƒ max = 26 GHz have been observed. The minimum noise figure is found to be independent of collector thickness and a typical noise figure of 4 dB at 4 GHz is obtained.