RF IC DESIGN

Basic concepts in RFIC Design

Non linearity and Time variance

ISI

Random process and noise

Sensitivity and dynamic range

Passive impedance transformation

Non linearity and time invariance

A system is linear if its output can be expressed as a linear combination (superposition)

of responses to individual inputs. Any system that does not satisfy this condition is
nonlinear

A system is time-invariant if a time shift in its input results in the same time shift in its
output.

That is, if y(t) = f[x(t)],

then y(t ) = f[x(t )] for arbitrary .

Effects of non linearity

Harmonic distortion

If a sinusoid is applied to a nonlinear system, the output generally exhibits frequency

components that are integer multiples (harmonics) of the input frequency

Gain Compression

Decreasing gain as the input amplitude increases.

modulation schemes that contain information in the amplitude are distorted by

compression

Cross Modulation

Transfer of modulation from the interferer to the signal.

Intermodulation

this phenomenon arises from mixing (multiplication) of the two interferers as their sum is raised to a power greater than unity.

Noise

noise is random, -the instantaneous value of noise cannot be predicted.

POWER SPECTRAL DENSITY

Average power at each frequency called the spectrum or the power spectral density
(PSD) of x(t) and denoted by Sx(f),

Thermal Noise of Resistors

the ambient thermal energy leads to random agitation of charge carriers in resistors and
hence noise

Noise in Bipolar Transistors-Bipolar transistors contain physical resistances in their

base, emitter, and collector regions, all of which generate thermal noise.

Noise figure

signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), defined as the signal power divided by the noise

power.

NF=SNRin/SNRout

Sensitivity and Dynamic Range

The sensitivity is defined as the minimum signal level that a receiver can detect with
acceptable quality.

Dynamic Range

maximum tolerable desired signal power divided by the minimum tolerable desired
signal power

Passive Impedance Transformation

At radio frequencies, we often employ passive networks to transform impedances

from high to low and vice versa, or from complex to real and vice versa

Quality factor, indicates how close to ideal an energy-storing device is.

LNA

first active stage of receivers

Noise figure

noise figure of the LNA directly adds to that of the receiver.

Gain

gain of the LNA must be large enough to minimize the noise contribution of subsequent
stages, specifically, the downconversion mixer(s).

Input return loss

The quality of the input match is expressed by the input return loss, defined as the
reflected power divided by the incident power.

Satbility

A parameter often used to characterize the stability of circuits is the Stern stability factor,
defined as

where = S11S22 S12S21. If K > 1 and < 1, then the circuit is unconditionally stable

Linearity

LNA does not limit the linearity of the receiver.

Bandwidth

The LNA must provide a relatively flat response for the frequency range of interest, preferably
with less than 1 dB of gain variation.

Power Dissipation

The LNA typically exhibits a direct trade-off among noise, linearity, and power
dissipation. Nonetheless, in most receiver designs, the

LNA consumes only a small fraction of the overall power.

Mixer

Mixers perform frequency translation by multiplying two waveforms

3PORTS

RF port

LO port.

IF port in a heterodyne RX or

baseband port in a direct-conversion RX.

Performance parameters

Noise and Linearity

Gain-Downconversion mixers must provide sufficient gain to adequately suppress the

noise contributed by subsequent stages.

Port-to-Port Feedthrough-Owing to device capacitances, mixers suffer from unwanted

coupling (feedthrough) from one port to another