ECE 113 Lecture 16:

Low Noise Amplifier

Design
Vendelin, et. al, “Microwave Circuit Design using Linear and
Nonlinear Techniques”, Chapter 7 and 8

1s1819 Revision October 2018

 ECE 113
Single Stage Amplifier Design Review
General Considerations
Single Stage Amplifier Design
• Linear amplifier design involved use of S-
parameters
• Stability Analysis
• Unconditional Stability
• K-Delta Criterion
• Mu Criterion
• Conditional Stability
• Stability Circles
• Design for Maximum Gain
• Design for Specified Gain
• It is not enough to design for a certain gain:
• there are other amplifier performance parameters
to be considered or targeted!

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Single Stage Amplifier Design
• Design for Bandwidth/Harmonic Distortion
• Filter Design enables us to limit the gain of our
amplifier by inserting filters at the input or output
of the transistor.
• BUT!
• It is not the only parameter to be considered
• Matching network must also present necessary impedance
to achieve a certain gain at a certain frequency
• Remember: S-parameters – frequency dependent!
• By inserting filters, we can also limit the gain at the
harmonics, therefore limiting distortion.

4
 Single Stage Amplifier Design
• Other parameters that need to be considered
depends on the type of amplifier you are
designing.
• Low Noise Amplifier
• Usually maximized for gain and noise figure*, linear amplifier
• High-Power Amplifier
• Nonlinear, but usually designed to achieve high output
power, and good efficiency with acceptable linearity
• Broadband Amplifier
• Usually designed to achieve good performance at extended
bandwidths
• At high frequencies, power and gain are usually optimized

5
Single Stage Amplifier Design
VOUT
N =1 : Fundamental
VIN Input Bias
N = 2 : Second Harmonic
Network
N = 3 : Third Harmonic
Output
Bias
Network
Input Output
RF RF
Matching Matching
Input Output
Network Network
ZSN ZLN

transistor
ZS – input/source impedance
ZL – output/load impedance

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 ECE 113
Low Noise Amplifier Design
Two-Port Noise Parameters
 Noise in a two-port network
• Noise: unwanted component of the signal that
arises from the network components
• Usually random in nature due to thermodynamic
considerations (heat and movement of electrons)

• Being a part of the signal:

• It is also attenuated or amplified when it passes the
component of the network

• Noise is added
• when the signal is transmitted/passed through the
network

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 Noise in a two-port network
• Characterizing noise in a signal :
• SNR or Signal to Noise Ratio of a signal…
• Signal power / Noise power
• Higher = Better
• How about for a network?
• Amount of noise added to an input signal
• How do we quantify this specifically?
• Noise Factor
• Noise Figure
• Noise Temperature

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 Noise in a two-port network
• Noise Factor
• Ratio of the input SNR to the output SNR >= 1
• Noise Figure
• Same as noise factor but in decibels
• Noise Temperature
• Another parameter which associates the thermal noise
of a network
N = kTeB -> noise added by the network
𝑘𝑇𝑒 𝐵 𝑇𝑒
𝐹 =1+ =1+
𝑘 𝑇𝑜 𝐵 𝑇𝑜
To -> temperature of generator resistor (reference
noise/ambient temperature)
Te = To*(F-1)
Vendelin, et al. Microwave Circuit Design using Linear and Nonlinear Techniques, 2nd ed. p. 312. 10
 Noise in an amplifier

• Amplifier with power Gain G, noise factor is:

𝑆𝑖 Τ𝑁𝑖
𝐹=
𝐺𝑆𝑖 Τ𝐺(𝑁𝑖 + 𝑁𝑎 )
Where
Na - additional noise power added by the amplifier
referred to the input.
𝑁𝑎
𝐹 =1+
𝑁𝑖

Vendelin, et al. Microwave Circuit Design using Linear and Nonlinear Techniques, 2nd ed. p. 312. 11
 Noise in a two-port network
• How do we determine the noise parameters of a
linear two-port network?
• A function of source admittance:

𝑅𝑛
𝐹 = 𝐹𝑚𝑖𝑛 + [ 𝐺𝑜𝑛 − 𝐺𝐺 2 + 𝐵𝑜𝑛 − 𝐵𝐺 2 ]
𝐺𝐺
Where
Gg+jBg = generator admittance presented to input
of two port (input impedance)
Gon+jBon – generator admittance at which optimum
noise figure occurs
Rn – empirical constant relating sensitivity of noise
figure to generator admittance, with dimensions of
resistance

Vendelin, et al. Microwave Circuit Design using Linear and Nonlinear Techniques, 2nd ed. p. 345. 12
 ECE 113
Low Noise Amplifier Design
Design for Specified Noise Factor
 Low Noise Amplifier
• Amplifier used in receiver circuits
• Increase receiver sensitivity by having low noise
contribution while amplifying the received signal
• Gain versus Noise Figure Tradeoff – considered in
the design

Review: How do we design to achieve a specific gain?

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Considerations in LNA design
• The amplifier must be stable at all frequencies.
• Achieving lowest NF will mean an input
mismatch (for maximum gain).
• Output can be conjugately matched for highest
gain.
• Noise circles are plotted instead:
• Transistor must have noise data in its S-
parameters!!!

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 Noise Figure Circles
• In the input impedance plane, noise circles determine
the effects of mismatching on the resulting noise
figure:

𝑅𝑛 Τ𝑅𝑥 [ 𝑅𝑥 − 𝑅𝑜𝑛 2 + 𝑋𝑥 − 𝑋𝑜𝑛 2 ]

𝐹𝑥 = 𝐹𝑚𝑖𝑛 +
𝑍𝑜𝑛 2

Where Fx = noise figure at generator impedance of Zx

Zx = Rx + jXx
Fmin = NF at generator impedance of Zon (Zopt)
Zon = Ron + jXon

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 Noise Figure Circles
• Assuming:
• The amplifier output is conjugately matched
• S22 = 0 for the amplifier
Γ𝑜𝑛
Center = 𝐶𝐹 =
1+𝑁
𝑁2 +𝑁(1− Γ𝑜𝑛 2 )
Radius = 𝑅𝐹 =
1+𝑁

1+Γ𝑜𝑛 2 (𝐹−𝐹𝑚𝑖𝑛 )
Where: 𝑁 =
4𝑟𝑛
𝑅𝑛
𝑟𝑛 =
𝑍0
4𝑅𝑛 Γ𝐺 −Γ𝑜𝑛 2
F = 𝐹𝑚𝑖𝑛 +
1+Γ𝑜𝑛 2 (1− Γ𝐺 2 )
Nice to know equations but these circles can be
plotted using CAD!
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Gain-Mismatch-Noise Tradeoff
• When we design for minimum noise figure, we
are also intentionally providing mismatch to
our amplifier
• Gain obtained is reduced.
• Good Design Practice:
• Obtain a good tradeoff between noise figure and
gain
• How?
• Plot noise circles and gain circles and choose a
point with the good tradeoff between these
parameters
• Use impedance closest to Zo to maximize
bandwidth and minimize loss
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Gain-Mismatch-Noise Tradeoff
• How do we resolve impedance mismatch
resulting to reflections at the input?
• Use lossless feedback to make gamma on = S’11*
• Resonating out input capacitance of transistor
by adding inductor

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 ECE 113
Low Noise Amplifier Design
Example: Application and Design Flow
 Village Base Stations (VBTS)
• One communication problem in the Philippines
is the lack of cellular service in remote regions.

FB post of Philip Martinez, VBTS engineer 21

 Village Base Stations (VBTS)
• VBTS aims to provide cellular coverage and
means of communication for these unserved
communities (in Aurora)
• Current deployment uses satellite link to
connect the VBTS to the city in Aurora.
• Problem: Satellite link is expensive! Since, the
project is availing these services from other
companies.
• Solution: use another link which is cheaper and
still reliable.

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 Connecting Communities through
Mobile Networks (CoCoMoNets)
• Deployment and expansion of VBTS
• Research efforts: (ASTI and UP WCEL)
• Use buoy relay link (signal to be passed over water)
• Problem: A good link should be established
from the base station to the first link in the
buoy relay
• But, we cannot just amplify the power because
it is regulated!

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Front end Add on Module for VBTS

Decilio, Santos. Front-End Add-On Module for Community Cellular Base Station, 198 documentation 24
 Performance targets for LNA
used for receiver sensitivity
improvement

Decilio, Santos. Front-End Add-On Module for Community Cellular Base Station, 198 documentation 25
 DC Analysis

Decilio, Santos. Front-End Add-On Module for Community Cellular Base Station, 198 documentation 26
 Biasing Network

Decilio, Santos. Front-End Add-On Module for Community Cellular Base Station, 198 documentation 27
 Stability analysis

Decilio, Santos. Front-End Add-On Module for Community Cellular Base Station, 198 documentation 28
LNA Design Example: Stability network

Decilio, Santos. Front-End Add-On Module for Community Cellular Base Station, 198 documentation 29
LNA Design Example: Stability network

Decilio, Santos. Front-End Add-On Module for Community Cellular Base Station, 198 documentation 30
 LNA Design Example

Decilio, Santos. Front-End Add-On Module for Community Cellular Base Station, 198 documentation 31
 Input matching network

Decilio, Santos. Front-End Add-On Module for Community Cellular Base Station, 198 documentation 32
 Output matching network

Decilio, Santos. Front-End Add-On Module for Community Cellular Base Station, 198 documentation 33
 Initial LNA Performance Results

Decilio, Santos. Front-End Add-On Module for Community Cellular Base Station, 198 documentation 34
 Optimized LNA Performance Results

Decilio, Santos. Front-End Add-On Module for Community Cellular Base Station, 198 documentation 35
 Final LNA Design

Decilio, Santos. Front-End Add-On Module for Community Cellular Base Station, 198 documentation 36
 Initial LNA Layout

Decilio, Santos. Front-End Add-On Module for Community Cellular Base Station, 198 documentation 37