A UWB SiGe LNA for multi-band applications with self-healing based on DC extraction of device characteristics

Author

Howard, Duane C. ; Saha, Prabir ; Shankar, Subramaniam ; Diestelhorst, Ryan ; England, Troy ; Cressler, John D.

Author_Institution

Sch. of Electr. & Comput. Eng., Georgia Inst. of Technol., Atlanta, GA, USA

fYear

2011

fDate

9-11 Oct. 2011

Firstpage

111

Lastpage

114

Abstract

We present an ultra-wideband, Low Noise Amplifier (LNA) implemented in a Silicon-Germanium Heterojunction Bipolar Transistor (SiGe HBT) technology. This SiGe LNA covers a frequency range of 8-18 GHz and achieves a peak gain of 15.6 dB at nominal bias and a nominal OIP3 of 3 dBm at 13 GHz. The Noise Figure (NF) of the LNA is 3.6-7.9 dB across band, and it consumes 7 mA from a 3.3 V supply. This LNA incorporates bias control knobs for circuit `self-healing´ to compensate for process-induced (or other) variations in performance metrics. Process variations are detected using a companion source measure unit (SMU) test circuit that gathers DC device information to determine the healing to be applied.

Keywords

Ge-Si alloys; circuit simulation; heterojunction bipolar transistors; low noise amplifiers; microwave bipolar transistors; DC device information; DC extraction; SiGe; UWB LNA; bias control knob; circuit self-healing; current 7 mA; device characteristic; frequency 8 GHz to 18 GHz; gain 15.6 dB; heterojunction bipolar transistor; multiband application; noise figure 3.6 dB to 7.9 dB; process induced variation; self-healing LNA; source measure unit test circuit; ultrawideband low noise amplifier; voltage 3.3 V; Current measurement; Gain; Integrated circuits; Semiconductor device measurement; Silicon germanium; Tuning; Voltage measurement; BIST; BiCMOS; Healing; LNA; Noise Figure; SiGe; Source Measure UNIT; UWB; wideband;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Bipolar/BiCMOS Circuits and Technology Meeting (BCTM), 2011 IEEE

Conference_Location

Atlanta, GA

ISSN

1088-9299

Print_ISBN

978-1-61284-165-6

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/BCTM.2011.6082760

Filename

6082760