Michael Joseph Mcpartlin

A 5 GHz 0.95 dB NF Highly Linear Cascode Floating-Body LNA in 180 nm SOI CMOS Technology

A 5 GHz CMOS LNA featuring a record 0.95 dB noise-figure is reported. Using an inductively-degenerated cascode topology combined with floating-body transistors and high-Q passives on an SOI substrate, record noise figure and superior linearity performance at 5 GHz are obtained. The low-noise amplifier (LNA) achieves up to 11 dB of gain while consuming 12 mW dc power, and is capable of supporting 802.11a WLAN applications. The impact of SOI body-contact on the LNA RF performance is described and linked to improved intermodulation performance.

Fully Integrated Switch-LNA Front-End IC Design in CMOS: A Systematic Approach for WLAN

A fully integrated front-end IC is demonstrated for 802.11b/g transceivers with integrated power amplifiers. The SP3T-LNA architecture integrates Bluetooth® functionality with transmit and receive for wireless LAN. The transmit switch achieves a P1dB greater than 33.0 dBm at 2.5 GHz by employing a cross-biasing approach, transistor stacking and deep n-well process. Power handling techniques used for the switches and the associated performance tradeoffs are discussed. The measured noise figure of the LNA and the receive chain comprising both an LNA and a switch is 1.5 dB and 3.0 dB, respectively. The LNA achieves an IIP3 of 7.0 dBm while consuming 7.0 mA of current. The measured switching times are less than 350 ns. The front-end IC employs a 3.3 V supply and occupies 0.64 mm2 in 0.18 μm bulk CMOS technology.

Large Signal Modeling of High Efficiency SiGe HBTs for Power Amplifier Applications

Large-signal compact modeling of SiGe HBTs integrated into a new IBM BICMOS technology geared towards high-efficiency power amplifiers is described. The technology exhibits a record 73% PAE at 5.75 GHz in class AB operation. A scalable HiCUM model (high current model) is developed to accurately model the DC, small-signal and large-signal characteristics. Results of DC, fT characteristics, output power, PAE and AM-PM performance of the device are discussed in detail.