RF Amplifier Design

Lesson 1

A Course Prepared By
Firas Mohammed Ali
IEEE Member
firas@ieee.org

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 Definition of an RF Amplifier
The RF amplifier is a circuit designed to amplify signals at the
RF/Microwave frequencies. The main design parameter of the
RF amplifier is the power gain (Gp).
Frequency Bands
• HF Band (3 MHz – 30 MHz)
• VHF Band (30 MHz - 300 MHz)
• UHF Band (300 MHz - 3 GHz)
• Microwave Frequencies > 1GHz
L-Band 1-2 GHz
S-Band 2-4 GHz
C-Band 4-8 GHz
X-Band 8-12.4 GHz
Ku-Band 12.4-18GHz
K-Band 18-26.5 GHz
Ka-Band 26.5-40 GHz
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Applications of RF Amplifiers in Some Modern Wireless
Communication Systems
Application Frequency Band
FM Broadcasting 88-108 MHz

TV Broadcasting (Band I) 54-72 MHz

TV Broadcasting (Band II) 76-88 MHz

TV Broadcasting (Band III) 174-216 MHz

TV Broadcasting (Band IV) 470-890 MHz

Cellular Phone (GSM 900) 890-915 MHz

935-960 MHz
DCS (GSM 1800) 1710-1785 MHz
1805-1880 MHz
Bluetooth 2.4 GHz
UWB Communications 3.1-10.6 GHz
WiMAX 3.4-3.6 GHz
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 Classification of RF Amplifiers

Performance Circuit
Bandwidth Signal Level
Construction

High Gain
Narrow Band Small Signal Amplifiers
Amplifiers Amplifiers Microstrip
Broadband Low Noise Lines
Large Signal Amplifiers
Amplifiers
Amplifiers
Lumped
High Power Elements
Amplifiers

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 Block Diagram of the RF Amplifier

Zo: System Impedance = 50 Ω (or 75 Ω)

• The input matching network is used to match the transistor input
impedance with the source impedance.

• The output matching network is used to match the transistor output

impedance with the load impedance.

• The biasing circuit is used to maintain a constant Q-point for the RF

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transistor and should be isolated properly from the RF circuit.
 High Frequency Transistor
Models
RF Transistors:
1. BJTs: Used up to 4GHz. They are reliable, cheaper, have high gain
and low noise figure below 4 GHz.
2. GaAs MESFETs: Used above 4 GHz. Better performance than
BJTs above 4 GHz.
3. High Electron Mobility Transistor (HEMT): Can be used above
100 GHz.
4. Hetero-junction Bipolar Transistor (HBT): Pocesses high power
gain above 100 GHz.
5. LDMOSFET: Used for high power applications.

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 RF Transistor Modeling

Equivalent
S-Parameters
Circuit
Model

Difficulty of
Ease of Measurements Parameter
Measurements
High Accuracy of Modeling
Lower Accuracy
Useful in Frequency
Domain Simulation Useful in Time
Domain
Simulation

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 Bipolar Transistor Hybrid-π Model

Simplified RF
Small-Signal
Transistor Model

g mo .e  j 2f F
gm ( f ) 
1  jf / f 

 o .e  j 2f F

h fe ( f ) 
1  jf / f 
1 fT
f  
2 .r (C  C )  o
gm 1
fT  
2 .C 2 F
fT = Gain-Bandwidth Product Variation of hfe with frequency
τF = Forward Transit Time (Time Delay) 8
 C

Typical RF Transistor
Package
B
E

Modeling the Parasitic Elements of the Transistor Package

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 GaAs MESFET

GaAs MESFET Construction JFET Construction

• GaAs MESFETs are made from GaAs rather than Silicon

• The gate is made from a Schottky barrier junction (Metal-Semiconductor
junction) rather than a reverse-biased P-N junction

GaAs has greater electron mobility than silicon

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GaAs MESFET RF Small Signal Model

gm
fT 
2 (C gs  C gd )

g mo .e  j 2fT
gm ( f ) 
1  jf / f c
T: Delay Time

fc: - 3dB frequency

GaAs MESFET
Model with
Parasitic Elements

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 Comparison between BJTs and GaAs
MESFETs
Advantages of GaAs MESFETs over BJTs
• GaAs FETs have better noise performance (Lower Noise Figure)

• The power consumption is lower

• The upper frequency limit is higher
• GaAs FETs have better temperature behavior
• The input impedance of GaAs FETs is normally very high
Disadvantages of GaAs MESFETs
• GaAs FETs generally possess lower power gain

• The power handling capability is lower

• Matching networks are more difficult to design because of the
high input impedance of GaAs FETs
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