RADIO ENGINEERING 1

521326S
NOISE, NONLINEARITY
AND LOW NOISE AMPLIFIERS

Aarno Pärssinen
CWC-RT
Additional material
12.11.2018 2

Content
• Noise (Pozar: pp. 496-510, Razavi: pp.35-46)
• Nonlinearity & dynamic range (Pozar: pp. 511-523, Razavi:
pp. 14-32)
• IC’s for RF and mmW (extra material)
• Low Noise Amplifier (LNA) (Razavi: pp. 255-296)
• Matching with lumped elements
• LNA topologies
• Common-Source
• Common-Gate
• Inductive source degeneration
• Design procedure
Radio Engineering 1 - 521326S
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Questions
• Signal dynamics in radio receivers and transmitters (small and
large signals)?
• How we can understand noise?
• Where noise comes from?
• How to analyze noise in system level?
• What is linearity?
• What does it do for the signal (power and frequency
response)?
• What is a low noise amplifier?
• How it can be analyzed in transistor level?

Radio Engineering 1 - 521326S

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Two ways to analyze

Two concepts for analysis (that are both correct in their domains)

Pozar: Classical microwave/RF engineering view

distributed elements
Razavi: Classical circuit/RFIC perspective
more towards lumped elements

Microwave analysis needed when distance d ≥ lambda/10

Both are needed depending on the case!

Radio Engineering 1 - 521326S
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Noise
Deterioration of SNR due to internal or external noise
sources
• Linear response
• Weak signals impacted

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Nonlinearity
Deterioration of SNR due to presence of a large signal
• Other radio/frequency channel in receiver
• Generated signal/modulated carrier in transmitter

Radio Engineering 1 - 521326S

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RF transmitter and receiver

CHANNEL
UPCONVERSION SELECTION
MIXER FILTER
POWER D
A

FRONT END
AMPLIFIER

DIGITAL
VOLTAGE
0o DIG.
o CONTROLLED MODEMI
MODEM
90
OSCILLATOR ETUPÄÄ
RF BAND D
SELECTION FILTER A

FILTERING, LEVEL SHIFTING,

DECIMATION/INTERPOLATION,
DOWNCONVERSION COMPENSATION OF RF NONIDEALITIES
MIXER
A
D
A
D

FRONT END
DIGITAL
0o DIG.
90o
MODEMI
MODEM
ETUPÄÄ
LOW NOISE A
D
AMPLIFIER A
D
AMPLIFIER
DIGITAL CONTROL
FOR RF
 Evolution of integrated circuits for RF
BT SoC
~20mm2 WLAN/BT/FM SoC
1µm CMOS ~40mm2
RX & TX GSM SoC HSPA/EDGE&APE SoC
53mm2
28 GHz TRX
29mm2
HSPA with PA
65nm CMOS
Pager GSM
18mm2 LTE/3G BS
5mm2 6mm2 WCDMA RX+ADC
60 GHz TRX 45nm CMOS
12mm2
12mm2 49 mm2
28 GHz TRX
165mm2

SoC = system-on-chip (RF ja digital modem on the same chip)

TRX = transceiver (RF circuit)
RX = receiver, PA = power amplifier
Source: IEEExplore
 12.11.2018

with 8 band support

2G/3G/4G RF transceiver

Digital signal processing

implementing wireless algorithms
9
12.11.2018 10

MOSFET transistor for RF G

subs

G S
S D
typically
n+ n+ 250…750µm

p-substrate
p-substraatti

Figure: Wikimedia commons,

By ZeptoBars
12.11.2018 11

MOSFET transistor for RF G

subs

G S
S D
typically
n+ n+ 250…750µm

p-substrate
p-substraatti

Equation for three regions:

𝑉𝑔𝑠 < 𝑉𝑡ℎ -> 𝐼𝑑 = 0 cutoff Figure: Wikimedia commons,
By ZeptoBars

𝜇𝑛 𝐶𝑜𝑥 𝑊 2
𝑉𝑔𝑠 > 𝑉𝑡ℎ -> 𝑉𝑑𝑠 > 𝑉𝑔𝑠 − 𝑉𝑡ℎ -> 𝐼𝑑 = 𝑉𝑔𝑠 − 𝑉𝑡ℎ saturation
2 𝐿
2
𝑊 𝑉𝑑𝑠
𝑉𝑔𝑠 > 𝑉𝑡ℎ -> 𝑉𝑑𝑠 < 𝑉𝑔𝑠 − 𝑉𝑡ℎ -> 𝐼𝑑 = 𝜇𝑛 𝐶𝑜𝑥 𝐿 𝑉𝑔𝑠 − 𝑉𝑡ℎ 𝑉𝑑𝑠 − 2
linear or triode region
12.11.2018 12

saturation
MOSFET G
subs
Id
Vgs3 G S
triode
Vgs2 S D
Vgs1
typically
n+ n+ 250…750µm
cutoff
Vds
p-substrate
p-substraatti

Equation for three regions:

𝑉𝑔𝑠 < 𝑉𝑡ℎ -> 𝐼𝑑 = 0 cutoff Figure: Wikimedia commons,
By ZeptoBars

𝜇𝑛 𝐶𝑜𝑥 𝑊 2
𝑉𝑔𝑠 > 𝑉𝑡ℎ -> 𝑉𝑑𝑠 > 𝑉𝑔𝑠 − 𝑉𝑡ℎ -> 𝐼𝑑 = 𝑉𝑔𝑠 − 𝑉𝑡ℎ saturation
2 𝐿
2
𝑊 𝑉𝑑𝑠
𝑉𝑔𝑠 > 𝑉𝑡ℎ -> 𝑉𝑑𝑠 < 𝑉𝑔𝑠 − 𝑉𝑡ℎ -> 𝐼𝑑 = 𝜇𝑛 𝐶𝑜𝑥 𝐿 𝑉𝑔𝑠 − 𝑉𝑡ℎ 𝑉𝑑𝑠 − 2
linear or triode region
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RF transistor G
subs

S
Simplified small signal equivalent circuit:
rg cgd G
G D S D
+
vgs cgs ro Cdb
- gmvgs n+ n+

p-substrate
p-substraatti
S

𝜕𝐼 𝑊
𝑔𝑚 = 𝜕𝑉𝑑 -> 𝜇𝑛 𝐶𝑜𝑥 𝑉𝑔𝑠 − 𝑉𝑡ℎ for square law devices
𝑔𝑠 𝐿
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RF transistor G
subs

S
Simplified small signal equivalent circuit:
rg cgd
id
G D 20 log10
+ iin
vgs cgs ro Cdb
- gmvgs
20dB/dec
S
Frequency, where short circuit current gain is unity (=1) fT f
𝑔
𝑓𝑇 = 2𝜋 𝐶 𝑚+𝐶
𝑔𝑠 𝑔𝑑

Freuency where maximum available power gain is unity

1 𝑔𝑚
𝜔𝑚𝑎𝑥 = 2 𝑟𝑔 𝐶𝑔𝑑 𝐶𝑔𝑠 +𝐶𝑔𝑑
12.11.2018 15

RF transmitter and receiver

CHANNEL
UPCONVERSION SELECTION
MIXER FILTER
POWER D
A

FRONT END
AMPLIFIER

DIGITAL
VOLTAGE
0o DIG.
o CONTROLLED MODEMI
MODEM
90
OSCILLATOR ETUPÄÄ
RF BAND D
SELECTION FILTER A

FILTERING, LEVEL SHIFTING,

DECIMATION/INTERPOLATION,
DOWNCONVERSION COMPENSATION OF RF NONIDEALITIES
MIXER
A
D
A
D

FRONT END
DIGITAL
0o DIG.
90o
MODEMI
MODEM
ETUPÄÄ
LOW NOISE A
D
AMPLIFIER A
D
AMPLIFIER
DIGITAL CONTROL
FOR RF
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Amplifier
Simplification
Matching of a common-source amplifier iin for hand calculations

+
vgs cgs gmvgs
-
vin
Ls (gm+sCgs)vgs

Lg
Ls 𝑣𝑖𝑛 𝑣𝑔𝑠 + 𝑔𝑚 + 𝑠𝐶𝑔𝑠 𝑣𝑔𝑠 ∙ 𝑠𝐿𝑠 𝑔𝑚 𝐿𝑠 1
𝑍𝑖𝑛 = = = + + 𝑠𝐿𝑠
𝑖𝑖𝑛 𝑠𝐶𝑔𝑠 𝑣𝑔𝑠 𝐶𝑔𝑠 𝑠𝐶𝑔𝑠
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Amplifier

When power matched one can calculate equivalent for the whole
input stage Gm (not the same as transistor gm)
Voltage gain can be calculated at resonance frequency as:

𝐴𝑣 = 𝐺𝑚 𝑅𝐿
ZL

WHY?
Gm
12.11.2018 18

Low noise amplifier example

At 30GHz