Microwave Amplifier
Module 7
G Boopalan,
Associate Professor, SENSE
Outline
Characteristics of microwave transistor
Gain of two-port network
Stability
Single stage transistor amplifier
Maximum gain method
Characteristics of Microwave Transistors
Characteristics of Microwave Transistors …
Gain
Measure of the ability of a two-port circuit to increase the power or amplitude of a
signal from the input to the output port (by adding energy converted from power
supply to the signal)
Noise figure
Ratio of the input signal to noise ratio to output signal to noise ratio
F = (Si/Ni)/(So/No) 1
Measure of degradation in the signal to noise ratio between the input and output of
the component
Characteristics of Microwave Transistors …
SNR
Ratio of desired signal power to undesired noise power
When noise and a desired signal are applied to the input of a
noiseless network both noise and signal will be attenuated or amplified by the same factor
(SNR will be unchanged)
Noisy network, the output noise power will be increased more than the output signal
power (SNR reduced)
Power
Amount of energy transferred (by a circuit) or converted per unit time
Rate of doing work
Classification of Transistors
BJT - Structure
NPN
Arrow
Indicate
the
direction
PNP of
hole
transport
(conventional
current)
Construction
Three layer semiconductor devices
Either two ‘p’ and one ‘n’ type layer (pnp transistor)
Either two ‘n’ and one ‘p’ type layer (npn transistor)
Terminals: E – emitter, B – base, C – collector
Total width to central layer 150: 1
Bipolar denotes holes and electrons participate
in the injection process
Doping in the sandwiched layer is considered
less compared to outer layer (1:10 or less)
Junction Transistors
BJT
Single semiconductor material (Si)
HBT
Compound semiconductors (GaAs/InP/SiGe)
RF BJT
made of Si
Very low 1/f noise characteristics
Well suited for oscillators with low-phase noise
Preferred over FET below 2-4 GHz
Because of higher gain and lower cost and
Possibility of biasing with a single power supply
Noise figure is not good as FET
Subjected to shot noise as well as thermal noise
Microwave silicon bipolar transistor
(a) Cross section of a microwave silicon bipolar transistor;
(b) top view, showing base and emitter contacts.
Microwave silicon bipolar transistor …
(a) DC characteristics of a silicon bipolar
transistor; (b) biasing and decoupling
circuit for a bipolar transistor.
HBT
Base-Emitter junction made from compound semiconductor material
GaAs
InP
SiGe
often used in conjunction with thin layers of other materials (eg. Aluminium)
Useful in low-cost circuits operating at frequencies above 60 GHz or higher
FET
MESFET (metal semiconductor FET)
GaAs MESFET used in microwave and millimetre wave applications (especially 60
GHz or more)
MOSFET (metal oxide semiconductor FET)
Commercial wireless applications (offering high level of integration at low cost and
low power applications)
HEMT (High electron mobility transistor)
Used in LNA
PHEMT (pseudomorphic HEMT)
GaAs MESFET
(a) Cross section of a GaAs MESFET; (b) top view, showing drain, gate, and source
contacts.
GaAs MESFET …
(a) DC characteristics of a GaAs FET; (b) biasing and decoupling circuit for a GaAs
FET.
Hybrid microwave integrated circuit
Layout
Hybrid integrated T/R modules
Photograph of one of the 25,344 hybrid integrated T/R modules used in
Raytheon’s Ground Based Radar system. This X-band module contains phase
shifters, amplifiers, switches, couplers, a ferrite circulator, and associated control
and bias circuitry.
Monolithic microwave integrated circuit
Layout
X-band power amplifier
Photograph of a monolithic integrated X-band power amplifier. This circuit uses
eight heterojunction bipolar transistors with power dividers/combiners at the
input and output to produce 5 watts.
Two Port network
Two-port Power Gain
Power Gain, G = PL/ Pin
Ratio of power dissipated in the load to the power delivered to the input of the
two-port network
Independent of Zs
Available Gain, GA= Pavn/ Pavs
Ratio of power available from the two-port network to the power available from
the source
Dependent on Zs
Two-port Power Gain cont..
Transducer power gain, GT= PL/ Pavs
Ratio of power delivered to the load to the power available from the source
Depends on both Zs and ZL
Input reflection coefficient
Input reflection coefficient …
Similarly,
Power Gain
Power Gain …
Power Gain …
Available Gain
Available Gain …
Available Gain …
Transducer Gain
Two-port gain
General transistor amplifier circuit
Input and Output matched
Special case 1:
When input and output are matched (zero reflection)
L= S=0
Unilateral
Special case 2:
S12=0 (unilateral)
in=S11
Problem 1
Solution
Power gain
Solution …
Available power gain
Solution …
Transducer power gain
Solution
Solution …
Two-port network
Stability
Oscillation is possible if either
in 1 or out 1
Types of stability
Unconditional stability
in 1 and out 1
for all passive source and load impedances
Conditional stability
in 1 and out 1
only for a certain range of passive source and
load impedances
Also referred to as potentially unstable
Tests for stability
K- test
µ-test
Tests for unconditional stability
K- test
Rollet’s condition
Auxiliary condition
µ-test
used to compare the relative stability of two or more devices
Potentially unstable
|| < 1 and
K not > 1
Stability circles
Region of stability can be determined using smith chart
If the device is unconditionally stable
Stability circle will be completely
Inside the smith chart or
Outside the smith chart
If the device is potentially stable
Stability circle partially intersects the circle
Stability circles
cont..
Stability circles cont..
Output stability circle
Input stability circle
Output stability circles
Unconditionally stable
and
ZL = Z0 then L = 0
IF
L = 0 must be in a stable region (i.e. the center of smith chart). So all of the smith
chart i.e. exterior to the stability circle defines stable range for L
Conditionally stable
Problem 2
Solution
K- test
Conditionally stable or Potentially unstable
Solution …
Solution …
Maximum gain method
Transducer power gain
Maximum Gain
Reflection coefficient
Amplifier design(max. gain)
Design an amplifier for maximum gain at 4GHz using single-stub matching
sections. Calculate and plot the return loss and the gain from 3 to 5GHz. The
GaAs FET has the following S parameters (Z0 = 50):
Stability
Stability
Stability
K = 1.195
= 0.488-162
Reflection coefficient
Reflection coefficient
Maximum Gain
Maximum gain cont..
Two-port power gain
RF circuit
Unilateral case
Unilateral:
S12=0 then *S = S11
ZL = Z0 then L = 0
Problem
Design an amplifier with maximum GTU using a transistor with the following S
parameters (Z0 = 50 ) at 6 GHz.
S11 = 0.61-170°, S21 = 2.2432°, S12 = 0 and S22 = 0.72-83°.
Design L- section matching sections using lumped elements
Solution
Stability check
Maximum gain
Solution …
GTUmax = 16.6 = 12.2 dB
Source and Load reflection coefficient
*S = S11 and *L = S22
S = S*11 = 0.61170° and L = S*22 = 0.7283°
Solution …
Matching was done with a smith chart.
The final circuit is
C = 1.45 pF & L 0.76 nH
L = 0.78 nH and L = 0.98 nH
Q&A