Table of contents
1. Introduction
1.1. Typical RF receiver (superheterodyne and direct conversion) 1.2. What is an LNA?
2. Important aspects 2.1. Noise
2.1.1. Noise types
2.1.2. Noise parameters and noise model 2.2. Linearity
2.2.1. Harmonics
2.2.2. Gain compression 2.2.3. Intermodulation
2.2.4. Linearity of cascaded stages 2.2.5. Linearity in an LNA
2.3. Power 2.4. Gain (VGA)
2.5. Frequency band (Multiband LNA, GSM, UMTS, BT) 2.6. Input adaptation
2.6.1. Z-parameters, S-parameters 2.7. Stability
2.7.1. K-Parameter, considerations
3. Main technologies (speed, cost effectiveness)
4. Different MOS topologies 4.1. Stability
4.1.1. Cascode (unilateralization) 4.1.2. Neutralization techniques 4.2. Input Matching
4.3. Noise optimization
4.4. Theoretical considerations for MOSFETs 4.4.1. NF, NFmin, Gamma opt
4.5. Single ended and differential
5. Proposed circuits and simulation results 5.1. Specifications
5.2. Simulation environment
5.3. Effect of the pads and bond wires on the input impedance 5.3.1. Modeling of pads and wires
5.3.2. Simplified circuit of the input pads 5.4. External LC adapting network
5.5. Cascode with LC load
5.6. Cascode with source inductive degeneration 5.6.1. Schematic
5.6.2. Analytic calculation of Zin 5.6.3. Analytic calculation of the gain 5.6.4. Estimation of the noise figure 5.6.5. Consideration about linearity 5.6.6. Stability
5.6.7. Simulation results
5.7. Cascode with feedback resistance 5.7.1. Schematic
5.7.2. Analytic calculation of Zin 5.7.3. Analytic calculation of the gain 5.7.4. Noise figure
5.7.5. Considerations about linearity 5.8. Possible solutions to obtain two gain steps
5.8.1. Crossed Cascode
5.8.2. Variable current generator 5.8.3. Capacitive divider
5.9. Multifrequency amplifier
5.10. Integrated inductor (model with parasitics, area, tolerance) 5.11. General Scheme
5.12. Final circuit schematic 5.13. Control logic
6. Layout, LVS, post- layout simulations 6.1. Layout description 6.2. Post-layout simulations 7. Conclusions 8. References Appendix A.
A.1 Calculation of Zin for the Cascode with source degeneration inductor
A.2 Calculation of Zin for the Cascode with feedback resistor
Appendix B.
B.1. Schematic simulation results B.1.1. Mode 00 : 1.8 GHz HG B.1.2. Mode 01 : 1.9 GHz HG B.1.3. Mode 10 : 2.1 GHz HG B.1.4. Mode 11 : 2.1 GHz LG B.2. Post-layout simulation results B.2.1. Mode 00 : 1.8 GHz HG B.2.2. Mode 01 : 1.9 GHz HG B.2.3. Mode 10 : 2.1 GHz HG B.2.4. Mode 11 : 2.1 GHz LG