class notes, M.

Rodwell, copyrighted 2009

ECE145a / 218a
Power Gain Definitions

Mark Rodwell
University of California, Santa Barbara

rodwell@ece.ucsb.edu 805-893-3244, 805-893-3262 fax

 class notes, M. Rodwell, copyrighted 2009

Power Gain Definitions: Summary

Transducer Gain Available Gain Insertion Gain
Zs=Zo
Zs ZL=Zo
Sij Zs Sij Sij

ZL ZL=Zout*
Vgen Vgen Vgen

GT  Pload / Pav, gen G A  Pav,a / Pav, gen S21  Pav,a / Pav, gen
2

load power power available from amplifier

  
power delivered to Z o load
power available from generator power available from generator power available from Z o generator
 general - case gain  gain with outputmatched  gain in a 50 Ohm enviroment

Operating Gain Maximum Available Gain After impedance-matching:

Sij,matched
Zs=Zo
Zs=Zin* Sij Zs=Zin* Sij ZL=Zo
match Sij,raw match
ZL=Zout*
ZL
Vgen Vgen
Vgen
GMA  Pav,a / Pgen,delivered
GP  Pload / Pgen,delivered
p ower available from amp lifier
load power  2
 p ower delivered from generator S21,matched  Gmax,raw
power delivered from generator
 gain with both p ortsmatched S11,matched  S22,matched  0
 gain with input matched
...M AGmay not exist...
....but only if unconditionally stable...
 Types of 2-Ports To Consider
class notes, M. Rodwell, copyrighted 2009

The 2 - port might be a transistor

....neither S11 nor S22  0

The 2 - port might be a

transistorwith matching built - in
S11 & S22 close or equal to zero

The 2 - port might be a general

amplifier with arbitrary Sij

For all of these, we could choose to add * additional * matching networks

at the generator and at the load.
 class notes, M. Rodwell, copyrighted 2009

Insertion Power Gain

From S - parameter properties,

V
S21  2 out
Vgen
Z g en  Z L  Z 0

2
But if Z gen  Z 0  Pav, gen  Vgen / 4 Z 0
And if Z L  Z 0  Pload  Vout / Z 0
2

2
 Pload / Pav, gen  Vout / 4 Vgen  S21 but only if Z gen  Z L  Z 0
2 2

hence
power delivered to Z o load
  gain in a Z 0 (50 Ohm?) environment
2
S21
power available from Z o generator
 class notes, M. Rodwell, copyrighted 2009

Transducer Power Gain

GT  Pload / Pav, gen

power delivered to load

power available from generator
 general - case gain

Amplifier input impedance might or might not be matched to Z source ( Z gen ).

Amplifier output impedance might or might not be matched to Z load.

Generator impedance might or might not be Z o

Load impedance might or might not be Z o

GT depends upon both Z s and Z L .

 class notes, M. Rodwell, copyrighted 2009

Operating Power Gain

GP  Pload / Pgen,delivered
load p ower

p ower delivered from generator

Note: Pload / Pgen,delivered  Pload / Pavg  GT iff Z gen  Zin*

hence G p  gain with input matched

Amplifier input impedance * is * matched to Z source ( Z gen ).

Amplifier output impedance might or might not be matched to Z load.

Generator impedance might or might not be Z o

Load impedance might or might not be Z o

GP depends upon Z L but not upon Z s .

 class notes, M. Rodwell, copyrighted 2009

Available Power Gain

G A  Pav,a / Pav, gen
p ower available from amp lifier

p ower available from generator

Note: Pava / Pavg  Pload / Pavg  GT iff Zload  Zout

*

hence Ga  gain with outputmatched

Amplifier input impedance might or might not be matched to Z source ( Z gen ).

Amplifier output impedance * is * matched to Z load.

Generator impedance might or might not be Z o

Load impedance might or might not be Z o

G A depends upon Z s but not upon Z L .

 class notes, M. Rodwell, copyrighted 2009

Maximum Available Power Gain

Gmax  Pav,a / Pgen,delivered
p ower available from amp lifier
 .
p ower delivered from generator

Note: Pava / Pgen,delivered  Pload / Pavg  GT iff ( Z gen  Zin* and Zload  Z out
*
)
hence Gmax  gain with both input and outputmatched
Simultaneous input/output matching may not be possible MAGmay not exist.

Amplifier input impedance * is * matched to Z source ( Z gen ).

Amplifier output impedance * is * matched to Z load.

Generator impedance might or might not be Z o

Load impedance might or might not be Z o

Gmax depends upon neither Z s nor Z L .

 class notes, M. Rodwell, copyrighted 2009

MAG Does Not Always Exist

S21 and S12 represent interaction terms between input and output.

If S21S12  0, then input & output tuning become mutually interactive.

With sufficiently large S21S12, simultaneous matching of input & output

is not possible.

In this case, Gmax no longer exists.

This condition corresponds to potentialamplifier instability.

Will be covered later.
 class notes, M. Rodwell, copyrighted 2009

||S21||2 After Matching to Z0 = MAG Before Matching

2 2
2 2Vout Vout / Z o
S21,matched   2
Vgen Vgen / 4 Z o
 Pload/Pavg

but Pload/Pavg  Gmax,raw

S11,matched  S22,matched  0
2
So : S21,matched  Gmax,raw

The dB insertion gain of the amplifier is the dB MAGof the transistor.

Implication : examining the transistor M AGbefore we design a matching

network tells us the gain we should expect to obtain after matching.
 class notes, M. Rodwell, copyrighted 2009

Mason's Unilateral Power Gain (1)

1) Cancel device feedback with external lossless feedback
 Y12overall  S12
overall
0
2) M atch input and outp ut
Resulting p ower gain is M ason's Unilateral Gain
2
Y21FET  Y12FET
U
4G11FET G22
FET
 G21
FET
G12FET 
Note carefully the difference between YijFET and Yijoverall.

M onolithicamp lifiers are not easily made unilateral

 U mostly of historical relevance to IC design 30
U
25
For simp le BJT model, U rolls off at - 20 dB/decade
20
 U useful for extrap olation to find f max
MSG/MAG, dB 15 Common emitter
Common base
In III - V FETs, U shows p eak from Cds - Rs - Rd interaction
10
 U hard to use for f max extrap olation
Common Collector
5

For bulk CM OS, Cds is sheilded by substrate

0
 U should be OK for f max extrap olation 10 100 1000
Frequency, GHz
 class notes, M. Rodwell, copyrighted 2009

Mason's Unilateral Power Gain (2): Additional Points

Makes input-output coupling =0

 No interaction of input, output tuning networks
mostly of historical relevance.

Mason's gain is invariant with respect to

embedding the device in a lossless reciprocal network.

It is the only* function of the DUT 2-port parameters

30
which is invariant with respect to such embedding U
25

*except, of course, any other function which has a 1:1 20

MSG/MAG, dB
mapping with U
15 Common emitter
Common base

10

S. Mason, "Power Gain in Feedback Amplifier," in Transactions of the IRE Professional Group Common Collector
on Circuit Theory, vol. CT-1, no. 2, pp. 20-25, June 1954. doi: 10.1109/TCT.1954.1083579 5
http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/stamp/stamp.jsp?tp=&arnumber=1083579&isnumber=23422
M. S. Gupta, "Power gain in feedback amplifiers, a classic revisited," in IEEE Transactions on
Microwave Theory and Techniques, vol. 40, no. 5, pp. 864-879, May 1992. 0
doi: 10.1109/22.137392 10 100 1000
http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/stamp/stamp.jsp?tp=&arnumber=137392&isnumber=3740
Frequency, GHz
 class notes, M. Rodwell, copyrighted 2009

Singhakowinta's gain

1) Add external lossless feedback

to maximize the MAG/MSG
 Y12overall  0 , S12overall  0
2) Stabilize if necessary
3) Match input and output
Resulting power gain is Singhakowinta's Gain
Gmax, S  (2U  1)  2U 1/2 (U  1)1/2
This is the highest gain obtainable under conditions
of unconditional stability.
Gmax, S has a 1:1 relationship with U.
35

30 U Gmax,S
Gain Capability of Two-port Amplifiers 25
A. Singhakowinta & A. R. Boothroyd
International Journal of Electronics Gains, dB 20
Volume 21, Issue 6, 1966
15
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00207216608937931
A. Singhakowinta and A. Boothroyd, "On Linear Two-Port Amplifiers," 10
in IEEE Transactions on Circuit Theory, vol. 11, no. 1, pp. 169-169, MAG/MSG common emitter
March 1964. doi: 10.1109/TCT.1964.1082263 5
http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/stamp/stamp.jsp?tp=&arnumber=1082263 MAG/MSG common base
0
&isnumber=23381 10 100 1000
Frequency, GHz
 class notes, M. Rodwell, copyrighted 2009

Why Ga and Gp Matter: Matching Network Design

available gain operating gain
Circuit simulators (ADS, etc)
provide contour plots of Ga vs
source impedance and Gp vs load
impedance.

These, the Ga & Gp circles, show

the variation in transistor gain as
generator and load impedance are
tuned. S,opt L,opt

The center of these circles are the

(generator, load) impedances
required for maximum gain

We can then separately design ...added to device, the amplifier is realized

Input & Output Tuning Networks
to provide these impedances...

Caution: the above assumes that MAG exists; we must examine this critical point in the next lecture
 class notes, M. Rodwell, copyrighted 2009

Simple Matching Example: Unilateral Device Model

Simple FET model; Cgd  0  S12  0
 unilateral device.

Gmax  Pava / Pin  Pload / Pin because RL  Rout

Pin  I in2 Rin and Vgs  I in / Cgs
2
g m2 I in
Pout  I lo a d Rload  ( g mVgs / 2) Rds 
2 2
Rds
4 Cgs
2 2

Pout g m2 Rds 2
f max gm Rds
  where f 
Pin 4 2Cgs 2Cgs
2 max
Rin f2 4 Rin

2
f max
If we impedance - match, then S21  2 at f  f match
2

f
2 g m ( RDS || Z 0 )
while, from inspection, S21,FET  
1  j ( Rin  Z 0 )Cgs