ELECTRONICS AND COMMUNICATIONS

Chapter 3 Basic Concepts in RF Communication Circuit Design

Huynh Phu Minh Cuong hpmcuong@hcmut.edu.vn

Department of Telecommunications Faculty of Electrical and Electronics Engineering Ho Chi Minh city University of Technology
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ELECTRONICS AND COMMUNICATIONS

Chapter 3 Basic Concepts in RF Communication Circuit Design
Reference: [1] Razavi, RF Microelectronics, Prentice Hall, 2 edition, 2011 [2] David Pozaz, Microwave and Rf Design of Wireless Systems, Wiley, 2000.

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1. General Considerations
Units in RF Design
This relationship between Power and Voltage only holds when the input and output impedance are equal

An amplifier senses a sinusoidal signal and delivers a power of 0 dBm to a load resistance of 50 . Determine the peak-to-peak voltage swing across the load.

Solution:
where RL= 50 thus,
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1. General Considerations Example of Units in RF

A GSM receiver senses a narrowband (modulated) signal having a level of -100 dBm. If the front-end amplifier provides a voltage gain of 15 dB, calculate the peak-to-peak voltage swing at the output of the amplifier.

Solution:
Since the amplifier output voltage swing is of interest, we first convert the received signal level to voltage. From the previous example, we note that -100 dBm is 100 dB below 632 mVpp. Also, 100 dB for voltage quantities is equivalent to 105. Thus, -100 dBm is equivalent to 6.32 Vpp. This input level is amplified by 15 dB ( 5.62), resulting in an output swing of 35.5 Vpp.

Output voltage of the amplifier is of interest in this example

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1. General Considerations

Maximum power transfer between building blocks Impedance Matching Noise Nonlinearity Dynamic Range
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2. Maximum Power Transfer

Maximum power transfer:

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2. Maximum Power Transfer

Taking the derivative of pL and setting it equal to zero, we find that

This implies which yields The power delivered when RL = RTh is

In general, if RL and RTh are the impedances, then the load impedance RL will be the complex conjugate of the source impedance RTh.

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3. Impedance Matching
Impedance matching is a major problem in RF/microwave circuit design for communication. Impedance matching is the process of transforming a load impedance, ZL , in the optimal working impedance of the signal source Z. Impedance matching circuits can be implemented using L, C, transformer or transmission line.

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3. Impedance Matching
In a specific case, this optimal impedance may be the complex conjugate of the source impedance (Zs), assuring a maximum power transfer, as is usual in small-signal amplifiers. As an almost general rule, the reactive component of the source impedance must be compensated by a convenient reactance seen at the input of the matching network, so the signal source operates into a purely resistive load. Mismatching in RF power amplifiers may cause reduced efficiency and/or output power, increased stresses of the active devices, distortion of the output signal and so on.

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3. Impedance Matching
If the RF circuit operates at a fixed frequency or over a narrow frequency band in comparison with the carrier frequency, the above requirements must be met at only one frequency, and narrowband matching networks should be used. Obviously, the matching circuit must contain L and C in order to specify the matching frequency 0. If the circuit operates over a wide frequency band, the matching requirements (or at least some of them) must be met over the entire frequency range. This requires the use of broadband matching network. At low frequencies (HF, VHF and UHF), the narrowband impedance matching is usually achieved with lumped element circuits (will be studied in this course). At higher frequencies, distributed element networks are most often required.
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3. Impedance Matching
Essential revision : Practical components are lossy

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3. Impedance Matching
Essential revision : Practical components are lossy

(Q: Quality factor)

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3. Impedance Matching
Series to parallel conversion and vice versa:

Assuming that Xs and Xp in the figure are similar elements (i.e., both are either capacitances or inductances), the relations between the elements of the two circuits are given by:

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3. Impedance Matching
Series to parallel conversion and vice versa:
Note that taking into account that the quality factor:

Then

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3. Impedance Matching
Two-reactance matching networks (L matching network):

(for R < RL)

(for R > RL)

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3. Impedance Matching
The L matching networks in the previous slide have several drawbacks: a. The design problem has no solution for some combinations of matched impedances. b. The values obtained may be impractical; the values of the capacitors and inductors may be too large or too small. c. There is no design flexibility. Designers may wish to optimize their designs for other parameters of practical interest, such as harmonic attenuation, power losses, or bandwidth. The three-reactance matching networks are most widely used because they are simple and provide flexibility. Although each network has limitations, one of the circuits usually meets the design requirements with practical component values.
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3. Impedance Matching
Three-reactance matching networks: Pi matching network

This circuit can be used only if: Recommended values of Q usually range from 1 to 10. The pi matching network is widely used in vacuum-tube transmitters to match large resistance values. For small resistance values, the inductance of L becomes unpractically small, while the capacitance of both C1 and C2 becomes very large. This circuit is generally not useful in solid-state RF Power Amplifiers where the matched resistances are often small.

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3. Impedance Matching
Three-reactance matching networks: T matching network
The T matching network in the below figure is applicable to most solid-state RF Power Amplifiers.

Its design equations are:

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3. Impedance Matching
Three-reactance matching networks: Two-inductance T matching network Another T matching network with two inductances and is also applicable to many solid-state RF Power Amplifiers.

The design equations are:

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3. Impedance Matching
Three-reactance matching networks: Three-reactance L matching network This network is also very useful in solid-state RF Power Amplifiers because it yields practical components for low values of matched resistances.

The design equations are:

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4. Resonant Circuits
Impedance or admittance of an RLC circuits is a complicated function of frequency, and normally has the real (resistive) and imaginary (reactance) parts. In some circuits, the imaginary (reactance) part vanishes at one or more frequencies. Resonant circuit - resonant frequencies. In communication systems, resonant circuits are extensively used to select the wanted signal and reject the unwanted signal. They may be used in every single circuit in the receiver and transmitter (LNA, Mixer, VCO, PA . . .) There are two main resonant circuits: Parallel and series resonant circuits . Main specs ???

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4. Resonant Circuits
Parallel resonant circuit:

Resonant frequency

1 o LC

When this circuit is excited by a current source, and the output is terminated with an open circuit, the transfer function is

The output voltage, Vout, drops from the resonant value by 2 (or 3 dB)

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4. Resonant Circuits
The two 3 dB frequencies of the resonant circuit:

The 3 dB bandwidth of the resonant circuit is the difference between the two 3 dB frequencies:

The resonant frequency is:

and the value of Q given by: where G = 1/R or

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4. Resonant Circuits
(Ideal) parallel-tuned circuit: An ideal parallel-tuned circuit is a paralleled LC circuit that provides zero conductance (that is, infinite impedance) at the tuning frequency, f0, and infinite conductance (zero impedance) for any other frequency. When connected in parallel to a load resistor, R, the ideal parallel-tuned circuit only allows a sinusoidal current (with frequency f0) to flow through the load. Therefore, the voltage across the RLC parallel group is sinusoidal, while the total current (that is, the sum of the current through load and the current through the LC circuit) may have any waveform. A good approximation for the ideal parallel-tuned circuit is a circuit with a very high loaded Q (the higher the Q, the closer the approximation). Note that a high-Q parallel-tuned circuit uses small inductors and large capacitors, which may be a serious limitation in practical applications.

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4. Resonant Circuits
Series Resonant Circuit
A series RLC resonant circuit is shown below. The input impedance is

Resonant frequency
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1 o LC

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4. Resonant Circuits
Quality Factor

Q=

Bandwidth

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4. Resonant Circuits
(Ideal) series-tuned circuit: An ideal series-tuned circuit is a series LC circuit that provides zero impedance at the tuning frequency, f0 , and infinite impedance for any other frequency. When connected in series to a load resistor, R, the ideal series tuned circuit only allows a sinusoidal current with frequency f0 to flow through the load. Therefore, the current through the series RLC group is sinusoidal, while the voltage across the RLC group may have any waveform. A good approximation for the ideal series-tuned circuit is a circuit with a very high loaded Q (the higher the Q, the closer the approximation). Note that a high-Q series-tuned circuit must use large inductors and small capacitors, which may be a serious limitation in practical applications.

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5. Noise
Noise: Noise as a Random Process

Higher temperature
The average current remains equal to VB/R but the instantaneous current displays random values

T must be long enough to accommodate several cycles of the lowest frequency.

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5. Noise
Noise in Communications Electronic Circuits

Two main sources of Noise: External Internal

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5. Noise
Noise in Communications Electronic Circuits
Thermal noise is the most basic type of noise, being caused by thermal vibration of bound charges. It is also known as Johnson or Nyquist noise.
Shot noise is due to random fluctuations of charge carriers in an electron tube or solid-state device. Flicker noise occurs in solid-state components and vacuum tubes. Flicker noise power varies inversely with frequency, and so is often called 1/ f noise. Plasma noise is caused by random motion of charges in an ionized gas, such as a plasma, the ionosphere, or sparking electrical contacts.

Quantum noise results from the quantized nature of charge carriers and photons; it is often insignificant relative to other noise sources.

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5. Noise
Noise in Communications Electronic Circuits

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5. Noise
Noise generated from a resistor

vn 4 KTBR
K: Boltzmann's constant

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5. Noise
Noise in Bipolar Transistors
Bipolar transistors contain physical resistances in their base, emitter, and collector regions, all of which generate thermal noise. Moreover, they also suffer from shot noise associated with the transport of carriers across the base-emitter junction.

In low-noise circuits, the base resistance thermal noise and the collector current shot noise become dominant. For this reason, wide transistors biased at high current levels are employed.
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5. Noise
Noise Figure: measures of degradation of the signal-to-noise
ratio (SNR), caused by components in a RF system.

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5. Noise
Noise Figure

No=NinG + Na =KTBG + Na Na is the added noise power generated from internal components

NF

No GN in N a GN in GN in

N in N in

Na G
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5. Noise

3 -1

NFn is the noise factor in linear (not in dB) of the n-th stage, G n is the power gain in linear (not in dB), too.
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5. Noise Sensitivity

NF

No GN in N a GN in GN in

N in N in

Na G
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5. Noise
Required Receiver Sensitivity A Qualitative View
What is the required receiver NF to achieve a certain level of sensitivity? Transmit Power

To find Receiver NF
Path Loss
Receiver Sensitivity Input Noise Floor (No/G) Input Noise (Ni) Required SNRo Noise Figure

Transmit Power FCC regulated Path loss Receiver sensitivity govern by standards and applications Required SNR depends on BER requirement and modulation scheme Noise floor thermal noise or circuit noise limited depending on the modulation schemes

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5. Noise
Required Receiver Sensitivity A Qualitative View
What is the required receiver NF to achieve a certain level of sensitivity? Transmit Power

To find Receiver NF
Path Loss
Receiver Sensitivity Input Noise Floor (No/G) Input Noise (Ni) Required SNRo Noise Figure

Transmit Power FCC regulated Path loss Receiver sensitivity govern by standards and applications Required SNR depends on BER requirement and modulation scheme Noise floor thermal noise or circuit noise limited depending on the modulation schemes

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6. Nonlinear Distortion
linear nonlinear

The input/output characteristic of a memoryless nonlinear system can be approximated with a polynomial

In this idealized case, the circuit displays only second-order nonlinearity

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6. Nonlinear Distortion
Example of Polynomial Approximation
For square-law MOS transistors operating in saturation, the characteristic above can be expressed as

If the differential input is small, approximate the characteristic by a polynomial.

Taylor series:

f(x)=

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6. Nonlinear Distortion

vi

vo

Effects of Nonlinearity
Harmonic generation (multiples of a fundamental signal) Gain Compression (gain reduction in an amplifier) Inter-modulation Distortion (products of a two-tone input signal) Cross-modulation (modulation transfer from one signal to another) AM-PM conversion (amplitude variation causes phase shift) Spectral regrowth (intermodulation with many closely spaced signals)
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6. Nonlinear Distortion
Effects of Nonlinearity: Harmonic Distortion

DC

Fundamental

Second Harmonic

Third Harmonic

Even-order harmonics result from j with even j nth harmonic grows in proportion to An
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6. Nonlinear Distortion Gain Compression: 1-dB Compression Point

Output falls below its ideal value by 1 dB at the 1-dB compression point Peak value instead of peak-to-peak value

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6. Nonlinear Distortion
Effects of Nonlinearity: Cross Modulation

Suppose that the interferer is an amplitude-modulated signal

Thus

Desired signal at output suffers from amplitude modulation

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6. Nonlinear Distortion
Nonlinear Distortion Desensitization and Blocking

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6. Nonlinear Distortion
Effects of Nonlinearity: Intermodulation
assume Thus

Intermodulation products:

Fundamental components:

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6. Nonlinear Distortion
Intermodulation Product Falling on Desired Channel
Interferer
desired

A received small desired signal along with two large interferers Intermodulation product falls onto the desired channel, corrupts signal.

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6. Nonlinear Distortion
Example of Intermodulation
Suppose four Bluetooth users operate in a room as shown in figure below. User 4 is in the receive mode and attempts to sense a weak signal transmitted by User 1 at 2.410 GHz. At the same time, Users 2 and 3 transmit at 2.420 GHz and 2.430 GHz, respectively. Explain what happens.

Solution:

Since the frequencies transmitted by Users 1, 2, and 3 happen to be equally spaced, the intermodulation in the LNA of RX4 corrupts the desired signal at 2.410 GHz.
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6. Nonlinear Distortion
Intermodulation: Third Intercept Point is the point where the output power at 1 equals to output power at (21 - 2 )

IP3 is not a directly measureable quantity, but a point obtained by extrapolation

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6. Nonlinear Distortion Third Intercept Point: A reasonable estimate

For a given input level (well below P1dB), the IIP3 can be calculated by halving the difference between the output fundamental and IM levels and adding the result to the input level, where all values are expressed as logarithmic quantities.
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6. Nonlinear Distortion
Nonlinear Distortion Inter-modulation Distortion (IMD)
3rd order intercept point : IP3
Input IP is the point where the output power at 1 equals to output power at (21 - 2 )

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6. Nonlinear Distortion
Nonlinear Distortion Inter-modulation Distortion (IMD)
Determine IP3 by Spectrum Measurement

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6. Nonlinear Distortion
Example of Third Intercept Point
A low-noise amplifier senses a -80-dBm signal at 2.410 GHz and two -20-dBm interferers at 2.420 GHz and 2.430 GHz. What IIP3 is required if the IM products must remain 20 dB below the signal? For simplicity, assume 50- interfaces at the input and output.

Solution:
At the LNA output:

Thus

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7. Dynamic Range
Nonlinear Distortion SFDR)

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7. Dynamic Range
Nonlinear Distortion SFDR)

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