A 65 nm Duplex Transconductance Path Up-Conversion Mixer for 24 GHz Automotive Short-Range Radar Sensor Applications

A 24 GHz highly-linear upconversion mixer, based on a duplex transconductance path (DTP), is proposed for automotive short-range radar sensor applications using the 65-nm CMOS process. A mixer with an enhanced transconductance stage consisting of a DTP is presented to improve linearity. The main transconductance path (MTP) of the DTP includes a common source (CS) amplifier, while the secondary transconductance path (STP) of the DTP is implemented as an improved cross-quad transconductor (ICQT). Two inductors with a bypass capacitor are connected at the common nodes of the transconductance stage and switching stage of the mixer, which acts as a resonator and helps to improve the gain and isolation of the designed mixer. According to the measured results, at 24 GHz the proposed mixer shows that the linearity of output 1-dB compression point (OP1dB) is 3.9 dBm. And the input 1-dB compression point (IP1dB) is 0.9 dBm. Moreover, a maximum conversion gain (CG) of 2.49 dB and a noise figure (NF) of 3.9 dB is achieved in the designed mixer. When the supply voltage is 1.2 V, the power dissipation of the mixer is 3.24 mW. The mixer chip occupies an area of 0.42 mm2.

Analytical Performance of Low Noise Amplifier Using Single-Stage Configuration for ADS-B Receiver

Automatic dependent surveillance-broadcast (ADS-B) is an equipment of a radar system to reach difficult areas. For radar applications, an ADS-B requires a low noise amplifier (LNA) with high gain, stability, and a low noise figure. In this research, to produce an LNA with good performance, an LNA was designed using a BJT transistor 2SC5006 with DC bias, VCE = 3 V, and current Ic = 10 mA, also a DC supply with VCC = 12 V, to achieve a high gain with a low noise figure. The initial LNA impedance circuit was simulated using 2 elements and then converted into 3 elements to obtain parameters according to the target specification through the tuning process, impedance matching circuit was used to reduce return loss and voltage standing wave ratio (VSWR) values. The LNA sequence obtains the working frequency of 1090 MHz, return loss of -52.103 dB, a gain of 10.382, VSWR of 1.005, a noise figure of 0.552, stability factor of 0.997, and bandwidth of 83 MHz. From the simulation results, the LNA has been successfully designed according to the ADS-B receiver specifications.

A Low-Band Multi-Gain LNA Design for Diversity Receive Module with 1.2 dB NF

This paper presents and discusses a Low-Band (LB) Low Noise Amplifier (LNA) design for a diversity receive module where the application is for multi-mode cellular handsets. The LB LNA covers the frequency range between 617 MHz to 960 MHz in 5 different frequency bands and a 5 Pole Single Throw (5PST) switch selects the different frequency bands where two of them are for the main and three for the auxiliary bands. The presented structure covers the gain modes from −12 to 18 dB with 6 dB gain steps where each gain mode has a different current consumption. In order to achieve the Noise Figure (NF) specifications in high gain modes, we have adopted a cascode Common-Source (CS) with inductive source degeneration structure for this design. To achieve the S11 parameters and current consumption specifications, the core and cascode transistors for high gain modes (18 dB, 12 dB, and 6 dB) and low gain modes (0 dB, −6 dB, and −12 dB) have been separated. Nevertheless, to keep the area low and keep the phase discontinuity within ±10∘, we have shared the degeneration and load inductors between two cores. To compensate the performance for Process, Voltage, and Temperature (PVT) variations, the structure applies a Low Drop-Out (LDO) regulator and a corner case voltage compensator. The design has been proceeded in a 65-nm RSB process design kit and the supply voltage is 1 V. For 18 dB and −12 dB gain modes as two examples, the NF, current consumption, and Input Third Order Intercept Point (IIP3) values are 1.2 dB and 16 dB, 10.8 mA and 1.2 mA, and −6 dBm and 8 dBm, respectively.

A 1.8 to 4 GHz inductor-less highly linear CMOS LNA for wire-less receivers

This paper presents an inductor-less wide-band highly linear low-noise amplifier (LNA) for wire-less receivers. The inductor-less LNA consists of a complementary current-reuse common source amplifier combined with a low-current active feedback to obtain wide range input impedance matching and low noise figure. In our LNA, a degeneration resistor is utilized to improve linearity of the LNA. Furthermore, we designed a bypass mode for the LNA to extend the range of its applications. The proposed LNA is implemented in 28 nm CMOS process. It has a gain of 14.9 dB and a bandwidth of 2.2 GHz. The noise figure (NF) is 1.95 dB and the third-order input intercept point (IIP3) is 24.8 dBm at 2.3 GHz. It consumes 17.2 mW at a 0.9-V supply and has an area of 0.011 mm2.

A Linear VCO Using Single CFA and Analog Multipliers: Quadrature Oscillator Implementation

A new linear voltage-controlled oscillator (LVCO) implementation using single AD-844 CFA with a pair of AD-835 multiplier devices and a pair of grounded capacitors is proposed. The open-loop transfer function of the topology is analyzed wherein the concept of Short-Circuit Natural Frequency (SCNF) is applied to derive the sinusoid oscillator implementation. The proposed oscillator circuit is then restructured to yield a linear voltage-controlled quadrature oscillator (LVCQO) after appropriate cascade with a CFA-based active integrator. The oscillation frequency is linearly tunable ([Formula: see text][Formula: see text]MHz) by the multiplier control voltage ([Formula: see text]. Subsequently, a high-[Formula: see text] selective band-pass (BP) filter is derived. Effects of the CFA port roll-off parameters and its parasitic capacitors ([Formula: see text] had been analyzed to be negligible. Measured oscillator response exhibited a THD [Formula: see text]%, a linearity error ([Formula: see text]% and a phase noise figure of ([Formula: see text]104 dBc/Hz at 24-kHz offset.

A 20–44 GHz Wideband LNA Design Using the SiGe Technology for 5G Millimeter-Wave Applications

This paper presents the design and implementation of a low-noise amplifier (LNA) for millimeter-wave (mm-Wave) 5G wireless applications. The LNA was based on a common-emitter configuration with cascode amplifier topology using an IHP’s 0.13 μm Silicon Germanium (SiGe) heterojunction bipolar transistor (HBT) whose f_T/f_MAX/gate-delay is 360/450 GHz/2.0 ps, utilizing transmission lines for simultaneous noise and input matching. A noise figure of 3.02–3.4 dB was obtained for the entire wide bandwidth from 20 to 44 GHz. The designed LNA exhibited a gain (S_21) greater than 20 dB across the 20–44 GHz frequency range and dissipated 9.6 mW power from a 1.2 V supply. The input reflection coefficient (S_11) and output reflection coefficient (S_22) were below −10 dB, and reverse isolation (S_12) was below −55 dB for the 20–44 GHz frequency band. The input 1 dB (P1dB) compression point of −18 dBm at 34.5 GHz was obtained. The proposed LNA occupies only a 0.715 mm2 area, with input and output RF (Radio Frequency) bond pads. To the authors’ knowledge, this work evidences the lowest noise figure, lowest power consumption with reasonable highest gain, and highest bandwidth attained so far at this frequency band in any silicon-based technology.