Wideband SiGe-HBT Low-Noise Amplifier with Resistive Feedback and Shunt Peaking

Abstract

In this work, the design of a wideband low-noise amplifier (LNA) using a resistive feedback network is proposed for potential multi-band sensing, communication, and radar applications. For achieving wide operational bandwidth and flat in-band characteristics simultaneously, the proposed LNA employs a variety of circuit design techniques, including a voltage–current (shunt–shunt) negative feedback configuration, inductive emitter degeneration, a main branch with an added cascode stage, and the shunt-peaking technique. The use of a feedback network and emitter degeneration provides broadened transfer characteristics for multi-octave coverage and a real impedance for input matching, respectively. In addition, the cascode stage pushes the band-limiting low-frequency pole, due to the Miller capacitance, to a higher frequency. Lastly, the shunt-peaking approach is optimized for the compensation of a gain reduction at higher frequency bands. The wideband LNA proposed in this study is fabricated using a commercial 0.13 μm silicon-germanium (SiGe) BiCMOS process, employing SiGe heterojunction bipolar transistors (HBTs) as the circuit’s core active elements in the main branch. The measurement results show an operational bandwidth of 2.0–29.2 GHz, a noise figure of 4.16 dB (below 26.5 GHz, which was the measurement limit), and a total power consumption of 23.1 mW under a supply voltage of 3.3 V. Regarding the nonlinearity associated with large-signal behavior, the proposed LNA exhibits an input 1-dB compression (IP1dB) point of −5.42 dBm at 12 GHz. These performance numbers confirm the strong viability of the proposed approach in comparison with other state-of-the-art designs.

Differential BroadBand (1–16 GHz) MMIC GaAs mHEMT Low-Noise Amplifier for Radio Astronomy Applications and Sensing

“…In essence, this contribution represents an advance because it offers a satisfying and rare combination of desirable characteristics. For example, a large bandwidth (1)(2)(3)(4)(5)(6)(7)(8)(9)(10)(11)(12)(13)(14)(15)(16), gain greater than 30 dB, common-mode rejection ratio (CMRR) approximately equal to 40 dB, and noise levels approximately equal to 1.0 dB. Here, the noise figure in differential mode measured "on jig" and using the OMMIC foundry is less than 1.4 dB.…”

“…It is notable how wireless sensor networks (WSN) have promoted great attention due to their versatility and uses in various sectors, such as healthcare, military, industrial automation, and urban intelligence [1][2][3][4][5][6]. In all these cases, receivers must present extremely low figures of merit, which implies using the most innovative technologies to achieve that objective [7][8][9][10][11]. High-electron-mobility transistors (HEMT), made of Gallium Arsenide (GaAs) or Indium Phosphide (InP), seem to be the most suitable candidates for obtaining low noise.…”

Simple Modeling and Analysis of Total Ionizing Dose Effects on Radio-Frequency Low-Noise Amplifiers

“…A target LNA employing SiGe HBTs was designed and optimized for achieving balanced gain, matching, and noise performance [18,19]. The schematic of the designed SiGe LNA is shown in Figure 1 [20][21][22]. This topology has been widely used for a variety of narrowband applications due to key advantages such as the ability to provide a real impedance with non-resistive components, low-noise characteristics, and good isolation between the input and the output terminals [20][21][22].…”

“…The schematic of the designed SiGe LNA is shown in Figure 1 [20][21][22]. This topology has been widely used for a variety of narrowband applications due to key advantages such as the ability to provide a real impedance with non-resistive components, low-noise characteristics, and good isolation between the input and the output terminals [20][21][22]. Specifically, the LNA was based on a cascode common-emitter (Q 1 and Q 2 ) stage as a main stage [5] and the second stage (Q 3 and Q 4 ) acted as a buffer for output-impedance matching.…”