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DESIGN LOW NOISE AMPLIFIER WITH ULTRAWIDEBAND FREQUENCY

AHMAD HIEDZUANUDDIN BIN AHMAD KHIDIR

This Report Is Submitted In Partial Fulfillment Of Requirements For The Bachelor

Degree of Electronic Engineering (Telecommunication Electronic) with Honors

Faculty Of Electronic Engineering and Computer Engineering

Universiti Teknikal Malaysia Melaka

JUN 2012

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UNIVERSTI TEKNIKAL MALAYSIA MELAKA FAKULTI KEJURUTERAAN ELEKTRONIK DAN KEJURUTERAAN KOMPUTER

BORANG PENGESAHAN STATUS LAPORAN

PROJEK SARJANA MUDA II

Tajuk Projek : DESIGN LOW NOISE AMPLIFIER WITH ULTRAWIDEBAND FREQUENCY 1GHz-5GHz

Sesi Pengajian : 1 1 / 1 2

Saya AHMAD HIEDZUANUDDIN BIN AHMAD KHIDIR mengaku membenarkan Laporan Projek Sarjana Muda ini disimpan di Perpustakaan dengan syarat-syarat kegunaan seperti berikut: 1. Laporan adalah hakmilik Universiti Teknikal Malaysia Melaka.

2. Perpustakaan dibenarkan membuat salinan untuk tujuan pengajian sahaja.

3. Perpustakaan dibenarkan membuat salinan laporan ini sebagai bahan pertukaran antara institusi

pengajian tinggi.

4. Sila tandakan ( √ ) :

SULIT*

*(Mengandungi maklumat yang berdarjah keselamatan atau kepentingan Malaysia seperti yang termaktub di dalam AKTA RAHSIA RASMI 1972)

TERHAD** **(Mengandungi maklumat terhad yang telah ditentukan oleh

organisasi/badan di mana penyelidikan dijalankan)

TIDAK TERHAD

Disahkan oleh:

__________________________ ___________________________________ (TANDATANGAN PENULIS) (COP DAN TANDATANGAN PENYELIA)

Tarikh: 19 JUN 2012 Tarikh: `19 JUN 2012

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“I hereby declare that I have read this report and in my opinion this report is sufficient in terms of the scope and quality for the award of Bachelor of Electronic

Engineering (Telecommunication Electronic) with Honors”

Signature ::………………………………………………

Author : AHMAD HIEDZUANUDDIN BIN AHMAD KHIDIR

Date : 19 JUNE 2012

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“I hereby declare that I have read this report and in my opinion this report is sufficient in terms of the scope and quality for the award of Bachelor of Electronic

Engineering (Telecommunication Electronic) with Honors”

Signature ::………………………………………………

Supervisor Name: EN MOHAMAD HARRIS BIN MISRAN

Tarikh : 19 JUNE 2012

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For the most beloved and supporting parents,

AHMAD KHIDIR BIN MUIN

DALILAH BINTI MUHD SAID

Special dedicated to my beloved parents, umi and ayah, beloved siblings,

grandmother, grandfather and also to others who encouraged me throughout my journey of

education to the special one, who inspired me.

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

With God’s grace, I have completed my final year project. I would like to thank all those who are involved in helping me to complete this project,

I would like to thank to En Mohammad Harris Bin Misran for being the source of inspiration and for the advices and assist that helped me in completing this project.

A special thanks for the willingness to share the knowledge, experience and also skill throughout this project. I am also would like to convey my most grateful to my beloved parents for always providing me with moral and supports.

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ABSTRACT

In the new era of communication technology, Ultra Wideband is a

communication method used in wireless networking to achieve high bandwidth

connections with low power utilization. In the receiver part of Ultra Wideband

systems, there is one special type of the electronic amplifier used in communication

systems which amplifies very weak signals captured by antenna. This part of receiver

called low noise amplifier which is located of the front-end of receiver. Without

LNA the systems will produce a very weak signal and have a noise. Federal

Communication Commission (FCC) has licensing on the use of UWB frequency

which the frequency allocations ranging from 3.1 GHz to 10.6 GHz. The objective of

this project final year is to design a LNA using frequency 1 GHz to 5 GHz. The noise

figures that to achieve are less than 1.5 dB and gain is larger than 12 dB. Technique

that has been used in this project is feedback method. This UWB frequency due to its

benefits that are transmits information using very low power, short impulses thinly

spreading over a wide bandwidth, high data rate and less multipath fading.

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ABSTRAK

Dalam era teknologi komunikasi, ‘Ultrawideband’ adalah satu kaedah

kemunikasi yang digunakan dalam rangkaian wayarles untuk mencapai sambungan

jalur lebar dengan penggunaan kuasa yang rendah. Pada bahagian penerima system

jalur ‘ultrawideband’ terdapat satu jenis khas penguat elektronik yang digunakan

dalam system komunikasi yang menguatkan isyarat yang lemah dimana ia di

diterima pada bahagian antenna. Ini sebahagiannya dipanggil penguat bunyi yang

rendah dimana terletak akhir dihadapan penerima. Tanapa penguat lemah ini, ia akan

menghasilkan isyarat yang lemah dan hingar. Suruhanjaya Komunikasi

Persekutuan(FCC) telah memberi perlesenan ke atas penggunaan frekuensi

‘Ultrawideband’ yang terdiri daripada 3.1GHz ke 10.6GHz. Objektif projek ini

adalah merekabentuk penguat lemah dengan menggunakan frekuensi 1GHz hingga

5GHz. Teknik yang digunakan dalam projek ini adalah teknik suap-balik. Angka

hingar yang hendak diterima adalah kurang daripada 1.5 dB dan gandaan adalah

lebih besrar dari 12 dB. Frekuensi ultrawideband' ini memberikan kesan baik dimana

ia menghantar informasi menguunakan kuasa yang rendah, impuls yang pendek dan

boleh merebak pada jalur lebar dengan lebih luas dan kadar data yang tinggi,

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TABLES OF CONTENTS

CHAPTER TITLE PAGE

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT vi

ABSTRACT vii

ABSTRAK viii

TABLES OF CONTENTS ix

LIST OF FIGURE xii

LIST OF TABLES xiv

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS xv

LIST OF SYMBOLS xvi

LIST OF APPENDICES xvii

I INTRODUCTION

1.1 Project Background 1

1.2 Problem Statement 3

1.3 Objectives of Project 3

1.4 Scope of Project 5

1.5 Thesis Outline 5

II LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 Ultra Wideband 5

2.2 Advantages and Limitation of the UWB 6

2.3 Comparison Ultra wideband, IEEE 802.11a

and Bluetooth 6

2.4 Ultra Wideband Works 7

2.5 Ultra Wideband Applications 8

2.6 Different Between Ultra Wideband

and Narrowband 9

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2.7 Difference between RF Power Amplifier

and Low Noise Amplifier 9

2.7.1 Power Amplifier 9

2.7.2 Low Noise Amplifier 10

2.8 CMOS versus PHEMT 10

2.9 HBT Technology 11

2.10 History of SiGe Technology 12

2.11 HBT Operation 14

2.12 Advantages of HBT 15

III METHODOLOGY

3.1 Introduction 16

3.2 Design Specification 18

3.3 Project Planning 18

3.4 Designs for Low Noise Amplifier 19

3.4.1 Bias Circuit (Self-Bias) 19

3.4.1 S-Parameter 20

3.4.2 Two Port Reflection Coefficient 22

3.4.3 Stability Consideration 23

3.4.4 Noise Figure 26

3.4.5 Input and Output Impedance matching 27

3.4.6 Stub Matching 29

3.4.7 The Quarter-Wave Transformer 30

3.5 Broadband Amplifier Design 31

3.5.1 Feedback Method 31

IV RESULTS AND ANALYSIS

4.1 Results 33

4.2 Stability 35

4.3 Matching network 38

4.4 Optimization 42

4.5 Hardware 45

V CONCLUSION

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5.1 Conclusion and Future Works 49

REFERENCES 49

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LIST OF FIGURE

NO TITLE PAGE

1.0 Wireless Communication 1

1.1 UWB Spectrum 3

2.1 Spatial capacity comparison between IEEE 802.11, Bluetooth 8

2.2 Operation of HBT 15

3.1 Flow Chart of Project 17

3.2 Gantt Chart 19

3.3 Transistor amplifier with self-bias 20

3.4 Incident and reflected waves Two Port Network 21

3.5 Signal flow graph of a two port network 21

3.6 Two Port Reflection Coefficient 22

3.7 Stability of two port 24

3.8 Smith Chart illustration for stable and unstable region for

conditionally stable in the ΓS plane. a) |S22| < 1 b) |S22| >1 25

3.9 Smith Chart illustration for stable and unstable region for

conditionally stable in the ΓL plane. a) |S11| < 1 b) |S11| >1 26

3.10 Input Output Matching Network 28

3.11 Single-stub tuning circuits. (a) Series Stub. (b) Shunt Stub 29

3.12 Quarter-Wave Transformer 30

3.13 Topologies of feedback amplifier(a) Voltage-sampling

Series Mixing (series-shunt) topology, (b) Current-sampling shun

-mixing(shunt series) topology, (c) Current-sampling series-mixing

(series-series) topology, (d)Voltage-sampling shunt-mixing

(shunt-shunt) topology 32

4.1 Bias Network 34

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4.2 Biasing Circuit with RLC feedback 34

4.3 Stability and Noise Figure 35

4.4 Input Matching 39

4.5 Output Matching 40

4.6 Schematic Circuit of LNA 41

4.7 S11 and S22 42

4.8 Stability and Noise Figure 42

4.9 S12 and S21 43

4.10 Layout of LNA 44

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LIST OF TABLES

NO TITLE PAGE

2.1 Comparison between Bluetooth, IEEE 802.11a and UWB 8

2.2 CMOS versus PHEMT 11

3.1 Design Specification 18

4.0 S Parameter at 3GHz 36

4.1 Comparison Simulation and Calculation 37

4.2 Input Matching Impedance 38

4.3 Output Matching Impedance 39

4.4 Measurement Results 46

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LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

ADS - Advance Design System

CMOS - Complementary-Symmetry Metal–Oxide–Semiconductor

FCC - Federal Communication Commission

GPS - Global Positioning Systems

LNA - Low Noise Amplifier

LAN - Local Area Network

PHEMT - Pseudo orphic High Electron Mobility Transistors

RF - Radio Frequency

SS - Spread Spectrum

UWB - Ultra Wideband

VLF - Very Low Frequency

WLAN - Wireless Local Area Network

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LIST OF SYMBOLS

Symbols Definition

C Capacitor

dB Decibel

f Frequency

g Element Values

G Giga

H Height

Hz Hertz

I Current

K Rollet‟s Stability Factor

Km Kilometer

L Inductance

M Meter

mA Miliampere

mm Milimeter

mW Miliwatt

π Pi

P Power

R Resistance

S Scattering

V Voltage

ω Angulare Frequency

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APPENDIX

APPENDIX TITLE PAGE

A BFP640 DATASHEET 61

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CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Project Background

Wireless communication is among technology’s biggest contributions to

mankind. Wireless communication involves the transmission of information over a

distance without using of wires, cables or any other forms of electrical conductors.

The transmitted distance can be anywhere between a few meters (for example, a

television’s remote control), it can transmitted distance anywhere with a thousands of

kilometers (for example, radio communication). Actually, Ultra Wideband (UWB)

wireless communications is a different approach and offers wireless

communications compared to conventional narrow band systems. Global

interest in the technology is huge. Some estimates predict the UWB market will be

larger than the existing wireless LAN and Bluetooth markets.

Figure 1.0 : Wireless Communication

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Ultra-wideband (UWB) technology offers a solution for the bandwidth, cost,

power consumption, and physical size requirements of next-generation consumer

electronic devices. With the consistent high data rates across multiple devices and

PCs within the digital home and office which enables wireless connectivity for

UWB. This emerging technology provides the high bandwidth that multiple digital

video and audio streams require throughout the home. With the support of industry

workgroups, such as the wireless universal serial bus (USB) workgroup and

technology leader’s example Intel technology there are offers to make a high speed

WPAN which can connect the devices throughout the home.

At the receiver there are have an LNA design presents a considerable

challenge because of its simultaneous requirement for high gain, low noise figure,

good input and output matching and unconditional stability at the lowest possible

current draw from the amplifier. UWB communication poses big challenges for low

noise amplifier (LNA) design.

The design of LNA 1GHz until 5GHz is using BFP640 SiGe HBTr. Due to

the designs that have chosen because designs for use in low cost commercial. It has

high gain, high linearity and low noise performance and so on, so that it can satisfy

our requirement perfectly in awide band range., Others the design will perform in

FR3 board which have a fully intergrated for low noise amplifier for UWB.

The HBT device was chosen because of its higher maximum available gain

(MAG) and the ease to obtain an unconditional stability over a wide bandwidth

owing to its. lower impedance.[20]

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Figure 1.1 : UWB Spectrum

1.2 Problem Statement

LNA function in today’s communication system provides first level of

amplification of the signal received at the receiver. The smallest possible signal that

can be received by the receiver defines as receiver’s sensitivity.

The LNA function plays an undisputed importance in the receiver design. Its

main function is to amplify extremely low signals without adding noise. thus

preserving required signal to noise ratio of the system at extremely low power levels.

1.3 Objective

The problems occur when amplifying the signal where the transmitted noise

also being amplified. To avoid from this noise happen, the LNA is designed so that

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the signal is transmitted without contributing too much noise. The objective of this

research is to perform circuit design, including circuit analysis such as simulation and

measurement at 1GHz until 4 GHz frequency. This low noise amplifier will produce

noise figure less than 1.5dB and also high gain above 12dB. The method used in

obtaining the gain and noise figure is a feedback method,. The results of gain and

noise figure from the three methods will choose the best result.

1.4 Scope of Project

The scope of works for this final year is to design a Low Noise Amplifier

for Ultra wideband application. Following is the scope of project;

a) Literature Review – At the beginning of this project will be research on the

theory such as circuit theory.

b) Calculation – Analysis can be doing by calculation in term of stability, gain.

c) Simulation – Simulation is the procees that we have done for calculation part.

d) Fabrication – After running the simulation part, the circuit can be design The

fabrication will be done using microstrip. The design will be fabricate the best

technique

1.5 Thesis Outline

In this thesis outline there will be covered in four chapters. Chapter 1 is for

Introduction. For this chapter, there are covers the background of the project,

problem statement and scope of work in term of planning schedule.

For the Chapter 2, will be represent the theoretically part especially in basic

of Ultra wideband, Ultra wideband works and other’s. And for Chapter 2 will be

discussing the theory of LNA and step of designing LNA. The methodologies will

be cover in Chapter 3. Simulation results will be appearing when the project will be

applied. Chapter 4 will covered the Results and the lastly dor the Chapter 5 will

covered conclusion and future works.

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CHAPTER 2

LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 Ultra Wideband

In the technology of Ultra wideband for Radio Frequency which are using

low energy to transmit binary data and extremely short duration impulses or bursts

over a wide spectrum of frequencies. There are using over the distance from short to

medium range 15 to 100 meters to deliver the data and also not involve a dedicated

radio frequency. It’s known as a carrier-free, impulse and base-band radio.

Ultra-Wideband (UWB) is a high data rate, low power short-range wireless

technology that is generating a lot of interest in the research community and the

industry, as a high-speed alternative to existing wireless technologies such as IEEE

802.11 WLAN, HomeRF, and Hiper LANs. The main advantage of UWB

technology is low cost transceiver design. The major challenges in Ultra Wideband

Communication Receivers are high speed, high dynamic range of ADC and

Wideband Low Noise amplifier.[1] Ultra-Wideband (UWB) technology is loosely

defined as any wireless transmission scheme that occupies a bandwidth of more than

25% of a center frequency, or more than 1.5GHz [2].

Ultra-Wideband Communications was first employed by Guglielmo Marconi

in 1901 to transmit Morse code sequences across Atlantic Ocean using spark gap

radio transmitters [3]. Approximately fifty years after Marconi, UWB technology

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was applied to impulse radars in military applications and this technology was

restricted to military from 1960s to 1990s. However, ultra-wideband is now ready for

commercial applications because of recent advancements in microprocessors

stemming from the rapid development of semiconductor technology. Therefore, it is

more appropriate to consider UWB as a new name for a long-existing technology. [3]

2.2 Advantages and Limitation of the UWB

There are many advantages in this UWB technology. The advantages of the

UWB system are offers a high data transmission especially. Other’s than that the

technology is the simple transceiver architecture. Ultra wideband also performs with

the large channel capacity and high performance in multipath channels, and low

signal-to-noise ratio and low power. UWB have been known as a power spectral

density which also allows them to coexist the in term of cellular systems, wireless

local area network (WLAN) and Global Positioning Systems (GPS). The FCC

power spectral density emission limit for UWB emitters operating in the UWB band

is -41.3dBm/MHz. The Federal Communications regulates interstate and

international communications by radio, television, wire, satellite and cable in all 50

states, the District of Columbia and U.S. territories

2.3 Comparison Ultra wideband, IEEE 802.11a and Bluetooth

Wireless communication now days can give advantages to all of user.

Actually the communication needs a range or a big area with the high speed

limitation of the transmission of wireless. The comparison is following [4]:

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Table 2.1 : Comparison between Bluetooth, IEEE 802.11a and UWB

Systems Bluetooth IEEE 802.11a UWB

Operating range 10 meter 50 meters 10 meters

Peak Speed 1Mbps 54 Mbps 50 Mbps

Spatial Capacity 30,000

bit/sec/square-

meter

83.000

bit/sec/square-

meter

1,000,000

bit/sec/square-

meter

2.4 Ultra Wideband Works

UWB differs substantially from conventional narrowband radio

frequency (RF) and spread spectrum technologies (SS), such as Bluetooth

Technology and 802.11a/b/g. A UWB transmitter works by sending billions of

pulses across a very wide spectrum of frequency several GHz in bandwidth. The

corresponding receiver then translates the pulses into data by listening for a

familiar pulse sequence sent by the transmitter. UWB’s combination of larger

spectrum, lower power and pulsed data improves speed and reduces interference

with other wireless spectra. In the United States, the Federal Communications

Commission (FCC) has mandated that UWB radio transmissions can legally

operate in the range from 3.1 GHz up to 10.6 GHz, at a limited transmit power

of –41dBm/MHz. The result is dramatic short-range channel capacity and

limited interference. [5]