Proceedings of APMC200 1, Taipei, Taiwan, R.O.C.

A LOW-NOISE DISTRIBUTED AMPLIFIER USING

CASCODE-CONNECTED BJTs TERMINAL CIRCUIT

MUNENARI KAWASHIMA, HITOSHI HAYASHI,

TADAO NAKAGAWA, AND KATSUHIKO A M K I
Network Innovation Laboratories, NTT
1- 1 Hikarinooka, Yokosuka, Kanagawa 239-0847 JAPAN
E-mail: munenari@wslab.ntt.co.jp, hayashi@wslab.ntt.co.jp,
nakagawa@wslab.ntt.co.jp, and araki@wslab.ntt.co.jp

This paper describes a low-noise distributed amplifier that uses cascode-connected bipolar
junction transistors (BJT) terminal circuit. This amplifier has a lower NF compared with a
resistance-terminated distributed amplifier, yet has an equivalent frequency characteristic, because
the cascode-connected BJTs terminal circuit improves noise performance at low frequencies and
keeps the matching condition up to high frequency. The noise figure of the fabricated amplifier
was less than 8.3 dB over a range of 0.1-8 GHz, which was about 1 dB better than that of a
conventional distributed amplifier, without deterioration in gain and bandwidth. We obtained a flat
gain characteristic of 9.7*1.0 dB over a range of 3-15 GHz.

1 Introduction
Software radio has attracted considerable attention as a future wireless service because of its flexibility
in handling various kinds of radio standards [I]. To manage systems with different frequencies,
broadband transmitter and receiver modules are needed, which necessitates the use of a broadband
amplifier.

The distributed amplifier is a type of broadband amplifier. Figure 1 shows the schematic circuit
diagram of a conventional distributed amplifier using resistance terminal circuits. In this type of
amplifier, the parasitic shunt capacitances of the transistors and the inductances of the transmission
lines can be regarded as input and output lines whose characteristic impedance is 50 R. To make the
gain and reflection characteristics broadband, the terminal resistance is set to 50 R. At low
frequencies, this amplifier circuit is equivalent to four common-emitter bipolar junction transistors
(BJT) and terminal resistors F& and Ri because there is no contribution from the transmission line, as
shown in Fig. 2. As a result, the noise of the terminal resistor is amplified and noise performance of
the distributed amplifier is poor at relatively low frequencies. Thus, the resistance-terminated
distributed amplifier has a high noise figure (NF) at low frequencies. An active terminal circuit can
reduce the noise of the distributed amplifier to lower than that of a resistance-terminated distributed
amplifier [2]. A common-emitter BJT with a large base width is used as the active terminal circuit.
However, the large input capacitance (C,,) of the common-emitter BJT decreases the cut-off frequency
of the distributed amplifier. Therefore, the common-emitter terminated distributed amplifier requires
a matching circuit, which uses reactive elements such as inductors and capacitors.

Ro B output
Ro i
input
Ri Ri

Fig. 1 Schematic circuit diagram of a conventional Fig. 2 Schematic circuit diagram of a low-frequency
distributed amplifier. conventional distributed amplifier.

0-7803-7138-O/Ol/$lO.OO02001 IEEE 21
This paper describes a novel distribution amplifier that when compared with the resistance-terminated
distributed amplifier has a lower NF while having an equivalent frequency characteristic. The
principle of operation of the circuit is described and the measurement results for the fabricated
distributed amplifier are presented.

2 Distributed amplifier using cascode-connectedBJTs terminal circuit

2.1 Active terminal circuit using cascode-connected BJTs

Figure 3 compares the circuit configurations of the proposed active terminal circuit and the
conventional active terminal circuit. The proposed circuit consists of cascode-connected BJTs. The
conventional circuit consists of a common-emitter BJT. The base width and the electrical
characteristic of the common-base BJT is assumed to be the same as that of the common-emitter BJT,
and the BJT equivalent circuit is assumed to be a combination of only the transconductance (g,), the
base-to-emitter capacitance (cb,) and the base-to-emitter resistance (Rbe). The proposed and
conventional simple equivalent circuits of the active terminal circuits are shown in Fig. 4. The
impedance ZCAs of the proposed circuit at low frequencies is:
1 (1) .
ZC,, = 1 1
-+- +j w c b e +
Rbe +4 (Rl + 4 )(gmR6e +l) + jwc6e (RI '4
gm2R1 gmZR1
The impedance ZCEof the conventional circuit at low frequencies is:

input

w
q?Tt2
t:d *7kd
common-

emitter BJT

(a)
common-

base BJT
Vd
input port

common-

emitter B J T

(b>
Fig. 3 Circuit configurations of the active terminal circuits using (a) proposed cascode-connected
BJTs and (b) conventional common-emitter BJT.
R2
input \/ \ input
Port

L \ -
common- common- common-
emitter BJT base BJT emitter BJT

(a) (b)
Fig. 4 Simple equivalent circuits of the active terminal circuits using (a) proposed cascode-connected
BJTs and (b) conventional common-emitter BJT.

The simple equivalent circuits in Fig. 4 are represented by equivalent resistances, equivalent
capacitances, and equivalent inductances shown in Fig. 5. In the conventional circuit, the large base-
to-emitter capacitance (Cbe)degrades the high-frequency performance. In the proposed circuit, an
inductance caused by using cascode-connected BJTs keeps the matching condition up to high
frequency and improves the high-frequency performance.

22
 input b

(4 (b)
Fig. 5 Equivalent circuits of the active terminal circuits using (a) proposed cascode-connected BJTs
and (b) conventional common-emitter BJT.

The simulation results of the frequency dependence on the series equivalent resistance (real part of the
impedance when the active terminal circuit is seen from the input terminal) of the active terminal
circuit using the cascode-connected BJTs and that of the common-emitter BJT are shown in Fig. 6. g,,
Cbe, Rbe, R, and R2 are assumed to be 30 mS, 0.25 pF, 2,000 R, 1,100 R and 2,000 0.In the
conventional common-emitter BJT, the series equivalent resistances can stay above 45 R for
frequencies under 4 GHz. On the other hand, in
the cascode-connected BJTs, the series equivalent -3- cascode-connected BJTs
resistances are between 45 R and 55 R up to 14
GHz. That is, the active terminal circuit using a
2. -
70 t common-emitter BJT

cascode-connected BJTs has a bandwidth that is

three times that of the conventional active
terminal circuit.

From these results, we can see that the equivalent

inductance can cancel out the influence of the
capacitance (cbe)when the cascode-connected 0 5 10 15 20
BJTs terminal circuit is used. Therefore, the frequency [GHz]
frequency characteristic of the cascode-connected Fig. 6 Simulated series equivalent resistance of the
BJTs terminal circuit at high frequencies is better active terminal circuits.
than that of the common-emitter BJT. Our 3
active terminal circuit is small because it does
not need an inductor or capacitor as a matching
circuit.

2.2 Experimental results

To examine the effect of the proposed circuit, we

fabricated a distributed amplifier using cascode-
connected BJTs terminal circuit. The BJT Fig. 7 The circuit configuration of the distributed
process used high-performance super self- amplifier using cascode-connected BJTs terminal
aligned process technology (HSST) [3]. This circiiit
technology is characterized by fine lateral
dimensions, shallows, and heavily doped
extrinsic base structures. It greatly reduces the
base-collector junction capacitance and base
resistance and enhances fT. The fT and fmaxof
HSST are 50 and 70 GHz, respectively. Thus,
HSST is suitable for constructing broadband
distributed amplifiers.

Figures 7 and 8 show the circuit configuration

and a chip photograph of the fabricated amplifier, Fig. 8 Chip photograph of the distributed amplifier
respectively. The chip size is 3.0 x 2.5 mm. using cascode-connectedBJTs terminal circuit.

23
The measured noise figures of the proposed distributed amplifier and those of the conventional
distributed amplifier whose terminal circuit was a 50 R resistor are shown in Fig. 9. The proposed
amplifier’s noise figure was less than 8.3 dB over 0.1-8 GHz, which was 1 dB better than that of the
conventional distributed amplifier.

The measured S parameters of the proposed distributed amplifier and those of the conventional
distributed amplifier whose terminal circuit was a 50 R resistor (a dotted line) are shown in Fig. 10. A
flat gain characteristic of 9.7*1.0 dB over a frequency range of 3-15 GHz was obtained for the
proposed distributed amplifier. SI,and S,, were less than -6.8 dB and -1 1.3 dB over a frequency range
of 3-15 GHz, respectively. The S parameters of the proposed distributed amplifier were almost the
same as those of the conventional distributed amplifier.
16 I I I I 20 I I I
I
- 14
12 - T conventional amplifier
proposed amplifier I -- -m 10

9 0
b
c

E -1 0
5e -20
c
4 - - v)

2- - -30

n I I I I -40
._
0 2 4 6 8 1 0 0 5 10 15 20
frequency [GHz] frequency [GHz]
Fig. 9 Measured noise figures of the distributed Fig. 10 Measured S-parameters of the distributed
amdifiers. amdifiers.

3 Conclusion

This paper described a novel distributed amplifier using a cascode-connected BJTs terminal circuit. It
was shown that the cascode-connected BJTs terminal circuit had wide bandwidth that was three times
that of the conventional active terminal circuit. The amplifier’s noise performance is better than that
of the resistance-terminated distributed amplifier at low frequencies without deterioration in gain and
bandwidth. The fabricated amplifier had a noise figure of better than 8.3 dB over a frequency range of
0.1-8 GHz, which was about 1 dB better than that of a conventional distributed amplifier, without
deterioration in gain and bandwidth. We obtained a flat gain characteristic of 9.7 f 1.0 dB over a
frequency range of 3- 15 GHz.

Acknowledgements
We thank Dr. Hideki Mizuno and Dr. Masahiro Muraguchi for their constant encouragement, and also
thank Mr. Masashi Nakatsugawa for his useful advice.

References

[l] J. Mitola, “The Software Radio Architecture,” IEEE Communications Magazine, Vol. 33, No. 5 ,
pp. 26-38, 1995.
[2] S. Kimura and Y. Imai, “0-40 GHz GaAs MESFET Distributed Baseband Amplifier IC’s for
High-speed Optical Transmission,” IEEE Trans. Microwave Theory Tech., Vol. 44,No. 11, pp.
2076-2082, 1996.
[3] M. Ugajin, J. Kodate, Y. Kobayashi, S. Konaka, and T. Sakai, “Very High fT and fmaxSilicon
Bipolar Transistors using Ultra-High-Performance Super Self-Aligned Process Technology for
Low-Energy and Ultra-High-speed LSI’s,” IEDM’95 Technical Digest, pp. 735-738, 1995.

24