BALANCED LNA

sector to keep operating, but

with reduced performance.
The swi tch can be i mpl e-
mented wi th PI N or fi el d-
effect-transi stor (FET) devi ces. The
LNA to be described covers 1.7-to-2.2-
GHz applications.
The primary goals for any LNA are
low noise figure, adequate gain, and
stability. For the tower-mounted appli-
cation, a high intercept point, +5-VDC
supply voltage, and low current con-
sumption are also required. The use of
a balanced configuration supports good
i nput and output match, and hel ps
Balanced LNA Suits
Cellular Base Stations
A TM A i nstalled beneath a base-stati on
antenna can increase that base stations
range to 40 percent as the TM A corrects the
common cellular problem of link imbalance.
ase stations can often transmit a signal to a mobile handset
further and stronger than they can receive the return sig-
nals. This is known as link imbalance and it is made worse
by the feeder loss between the base station and the anten-
nas. The imbalance can be as high as 20 percent or more,
so system designers need to correct the balance to improve
coverage. The simplest solution is the addition of a
tower-mounted ampl i fi er (TMA) or
masthead amplifier.
A TMA installed directly beneath a
base-station antenna can increase the
sensitivity of the base station and increase
its range to 40 percent, correcting the
l i nk i mbal ance and practi cal l y dou-
bl i ng i ts recepti on coverage area. A
low-loss filter and low-noise amplifier
(LNA) within the TMA help to select
and amplify the received signal.
A typical TMA
functi onal bl ock
diagram is shown
in Fig. 1.The alarm
circuit senses a fail-
ure in the LNA and
i s normal l y tri g-
gered by a window
comparator circuit
that checks the bias
current. The bypass
swi tch permi ts
bypass of the LNA
if a failure occurs
and, thus, allows
the base-stati on
b
IAN PIPER, SID SEWARD,
AND AL WARD
Applications Engineers
Agilent Technologies, Inc., 3175
Bowers Ave., MS 86C, Santa Clara, CA
95054; (408) 654-8741, FAX: (408)
577-6620, e-mail: mark_alden@
agilent.com, Internet: www.
agilent.com.
H.P. HOSTERGAARD
Product Line Manager
SAMIR TOZIN
RF/Microwave EngineerIntern
Anaren Microwave, Inc., 6635 Kirkville
Rd., East Syracuse, NY 13057;
Internet: www.anaren.com.
MICROWAVES & RF 70 APRIL 2002
DESIGN
RF
in
Switch Filter
LNA
DC power
Alarm
Fixed
attenuator
Digital
step
attenuator
Fixed
attenuator
Bypass mode
RF
out
DC power/alarm/attenuator
Switch-control circuit board
1. This figure shows a functional block diagram of a TMA.
ensure stability. However, the split-
ter/combiner network must maintain low
loss, be physically small, and have good
phase and amplitude balance over the
bandwidth of interest. Also, the band-
width should be high enough to include
the upl i nk (mobi l e-handset-to-base-
station) frequencies for cellular standards
of approximately 2 GHz. The design goals
were thus chosen, as shown in Table 1.
A critical first step in any LNA design
i s the sel ecti on of the acti ve devi ce.
Low-cost FETs are often used for their
low noise figures and high linearity.
Besides maintaining a low typical
noise figure of 0.5 dB, Agilent Tech-
nologies (Santa Clara, CA) ATF-54143
uses a +3-VDC bi as and provi des a
+36-dBm i ntercept poi nt at 60-mA
drain current. In addition, the ATF-
54143 is an enhancement-mode device
and, thus, does not require a negative
gate voltage.
The ATF-54143 is one of a family of
new hi gh-dynami c-range, l ow-noi se
enhancement-mode pseudomorphic-
high-electron-mobility-transistor (PHEMT)
devices designed for low-cost commer-
cial applications in the very-high-fre-
quency (VHF)-to-6-GHz frequency range.
It has an 800-m gate-width device with
2-GHz performance tested and guar-
anteed at a V
ce
of +3 VDC and I
d
of 60
mA. If an active bias is desirable for
repeatability of the bias setting, then the
ATF-54143 will only require the addi-
tion of a single PNP BJT.
1
An important consideration for a bal-
anced amplifier is the splitting and com-
bining of the RF signal. When designing
the splitter network for a balanced LNA,
there is interest in minimizing insertion
loss and return loss while providing equal
power to both amplifiers. Power dividers
are sometimes used for this task. The
most popular types are the T-junction
divider and Wilkinson power divider.
Wilkinson power dividers use quarter-wave-
length transmission lines to produce
desired power splits. Due to the quarter-
wavelength transmission lines, the band-
width of a single section power divider
is limited to 10 to 20 percent.
Although power dividers can be used
in balanced amplifier design, low-loss
72
DESIGN
hybrid couplers are superior. Hybrid cou-
plers are four-port devices that have
good match and isolation with a fixed
90-deg. phase shi ft between output
ports. The bandwidth of a branch-line
hybrid is limited to 10 to 20 percent, but
a single-section broadside coupler can
have a bandwidth as large as an octave.
Figure 2illustrates the most impor-
tant advantage of using a hybrid
coupler over a power divider on
the input side of the balanced
amplifier. Reflected power from
each of the two identical LNA
inputs (shown in blue) recom-
bines at the isolated port of the
hybrid coupler, and is dissipated
in the resistive termination. This
allows one to design each LNA
for opti mum noi se-fi gure per-
formance without worrying about
return loss from each of the two
LNAs. If a hybrid coupler is used on the
input side, then an identical hybrid cou-
pler can be used on the output side to
recombine the signals.
Anaren Microwave, Inc. (Syracuse,
NY) recently released a new class of
miniature hybrid couplers known as
Pico Xingers

. The chosen balanced

amplifier was the Pico Xinger JP503
DESIGN
MICROWAVES & RF 73 APRIL 2002
Splitter
Combiner
LNA
LNA
Out 1
Out 2
Anaren Anaren
Xinger Xinger
Incident
power
Incident
power
Incident
power
Isolated
port R
Input
port
Coupled
port
Reflected
power
Reflected
power
DC
port
Output
power
Reflected
power
from LNA
Z
0
Z
0
To
identical
stage
L1
L2
L3
C3
C2
C4
C1
C5
C6
Q1, ATF-54143
From
identical
stage
LL1 LL2
R2
R3
R4
R5
R1
V
dd
=+5 VDC
2. Reflective power from each of the two identical LNA inputs (shown in blue)
recombines at the isolated port of the hybrid coupler, and is dissipated in the resis-
tive termination.
3. The amplifier schematic is shown here.
Table 1: Design goals
PARAMETER AT 2000 MHZ VALUE
Gain
Noise figure
Output third-order intercept point
Input third-order intercept point
Output P1dB compression
Input return loss
Output return loss
Supply current
Bandwidth
15.5 dB
0.8 dB
+39 dBm
+23.5 dBm
+22.4 dBm
25 dB
27 dB
120 mA
1.7 to 2.2 GHz
surface-mount coupler (Table 2).
To meet the design goals, the drain-
source current (I
ds
) was chosen to be 60
mA. Data indicate that 60 mA provides
the best thi rd-order i ntercept poi nt
(IP3), while providing a very low min-
imum noise figure (F
min
). Also, a +3-VDC
drai n-to-source vol tage (V
ds
) offers
higher gain and is preferred since it
supports a +5-VDC regulated supply.
One advantage of the enhancement-
mode PHEMT is the ability to DC ground
the source leads and yet only require a
single positive-polarity power supply.
A depletion-mode PHEMT pulls max-
imum drain current when V
gs
= 0 VDC,
whereas an enhancement-mode PHEMT
pulls approximately zero drain current
when V
gs
= 0 VDC. The gate must be made
positive with respect to the source for the
enhancement-mode PHEMT to begin
pulling drain current. Also note that if
the gate terminal is left open-circuited,
the device will pull some amount of
drain current due to the leakage cur-
rent, creati ng a vol tage di fferenti al
between the gate and source terminals.
ATF-54143 biasing is accomplished
with a voltage divider, consisting of
R1 and R2. The voltage is derived from
the drain voltage which provides a form
of voltage feedback to help keep drain
current constant. The purpose of R4 is
to enhance the low-frequency stability
of the device by providing a resistive ter-
mination at low frequencies. Capacitor
C3 provides a low-frequency bypass
for R4. Addi ti onal resi stance i n the
form of R5 is added to provide current
limiting for the gate of enhancement-
mode devices (Fig. 3)This is important
when the device is driven to P1dB or P
sat
.
where:
I
ds
= the desired drain current,
I
BB
= the current flowing through
the R1/R2 voltage divider network,
R
V
I
R
V V R
V
R
V V
I I
gs
BB
ds gs
gs
DD ds
ds BB
1
2
1
3
!
!
"
( )

!
"
+
74
DESIGN
V
DD
= +5 VDC,
V
ds
= +3 VDC,
I
d
= 60 mA,
V
gs
= +0.56 VDC,
R1 = 280 #,
R2 = 1220 #, and
R3 = 32.3 #.
The repeatability of the bias settings
from device to device is a function of a
particular devices DC characteristics.
More information on this can be found
in ref. 1.
The use of a controlled amount of
source inductance can often be used to
enhance LNA performance. The amount
of inductance required is usually only
a few tenths of a nanohenry, which is
equi val ent to
i ncreasi ng the
source l eads by
approximately
0.05 in. The effect
can be model ed
using an RF sim-
ulation tool such
as Agilent Tech-
nol ogi es
Advanced Design
System (ADS). The
usual si de effect
of excessive source
inductance is VHF
gain peaking with
resultant oscilla-
tions. Larger gate-
width devices have
l ess hi gh-fre-
quency gain and,
therefore, the
hi gh-frequency
performance is not
as sensi ti ve to
source inductance
as a smaller device
would be.
Using EEsof ADS software, the ampli-
fier circuit can be simulated in linear and
nonlinear modes of operation. The orig-
inal design draft was an LNA with an
OIP3 of +39 dBm with an approximate
noi se fi gure of 1 dB at
2 GHz.
Linear Analysis
One half of the amplifier circuit used
for linear analysis is shown in Fig. 5.For
linear analysis, the transistors can be mod-
el ed wi th a two-port scatteri ng (S)-
parameter file using Touchstonefor-
mat. The ATF54143.s2p file can be
DESIGN
MICROWAVES & RF 75 APRIL 2002
Table 2: Data for the JP503
SPECIFICATION BANDWIDTH UNITS
Frequency
Isolation
Insertion loss
VSWR
Amplitude balance
Phase balance
Power handling
2.0 to 2.3
20
0.30
1.20
0.25
3
25
GHz
dB minimum
dB maximum
maximum: 1
dB maximum
deg. maximum
avg. wattsCW max.
Input
return loss
Output
return loss
R
e
t
u
r
n

l
o
s
s

d
B
FrequencyGHz
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5 3.0
FrequencyGHz
S
t
a
b
i
l
i
t
y

f
a
c
t
o
r

K
5
4
3
2
1
0
0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5 3.0
5. A plot of the Rollett Stability factor (K), as calculated from 1
to 3 GHz, is shown here for the amplifier.
4. The linear-simulated input and output return loss versus fre-
quency is illustrated.

downloaded from the Agilent Wireless

Design Center website. Simulation con-
trol s can be obtai ned from the
Sparams_wNoise template available in
ADS. The circuit components can then
be added to the simulation circuit. The
more detai l ed the si mul ati on i s, the
more accurate the results will be. Accu-
rate circuit simulation can provide the
first appropriate step to a successful
amplifier design. Transmission-line sec-
ti ons can be model ed wi th vari ous
microstrip and stripline elements avail-
able in the component library. In this
case, all microstrip sections assumed a
0.031-in.-thick board and FR-4 mate-
ri al . I nductance associ ated wi th the
chip capacitors and resistors was also
included in the simulation. Where pos-
si bl e, model s were chosen from the
ADS SMT component library. Mod-
els of SMT components can also be
obtained from the manufacturers web
sites. Manufacturing tolerances in active
and passive components often prohib-
it perfect correlation. When the design
met the specifications for gain, noise fig-
ure, and stability, the create/edit schemat-
ic symbol function was used, allowing
desi gners to dupl i cate the ampl i fi er
design.
The model for the hybrid coupler is
based on the four-port Touchstone lin-
ear S-parameter file and can be down-
loaded from the Anaren website. The
mi crostri p el ements, the ci rcui t-bal -
anced amplifier input and output tracks,
and 50-#load resistor pads were added
to build the complete amplifier. The
input- and output-matching network use
a highpass topology to ensure good
low-frequency stability. The simulator
is then used to find component values,
which provide the desired performance.
Results of simulated input and out-
put return losses are shown in Fig 4.
The linear-simulated performance of
the amplifier was very close to the mea-
sured results. The design was tested
with a +3-VDC, 40-mA S-parameter
file and did not show any change in
linear performance.
The ATF-54143 S- and noise param-
eters are tested in a fixture that includes
plated through holes through a 0.025-
76

DESIGN
in.-thick printed-circuit board (PCB). Due
to the compl exi ty of de-embeddi ng
these grounds, the S- and noise param-
eters include the effects of the test-fix-
ture grounds.
Therefore, when simulating a 0.031-
in.-thick PCB, the only difference in the
PCB thickness is included in the simu-
lation (i.e., 0.031 0.025 in. = 0.006 in.).
The transmission lines that connect each
source lead to its corresponding plated
through hole are simulated as a microstrip
transmission line (MLIN).
Nonlinear Analysis
For nonlinear analysis, harmon-
ic-balance simulation was used.
Harmonic balance is preferred
over other nonl i near methods
because it is computationally fast,
handles distributed- and lumped-
element circuitry, and can easi-
ly include higher-order harmon-
i cs and i ntermodul ati on (I M)
products.
2
The nonlinear transistor model
used in the simulation is based on
the work of Curtice.
3
The model can be
downloaded from Agi-
l ents websi te or by
request from the
authors. An important
feature of the nonlinear
model is the use of a
quadratic expression
for the drain current
versus gate vol tage.
Al though thi s model
closely predicts the DC
and smal l -si g-
nal behavi or
(including
noi se), i t does
not
predict the in-
tercept poi nt
correctl y. For
ex ampl e, the
bal anced out-
put third-order
intercept point
(OIP3) was sim-
ulated at +34.4
dBm and the P1dB was at +21.8 dBm.
The simulated performance for P1dB was
very close to the measured results. How-
ever, the simulated OIP3 was too low.
To properly model the exceptionally
high linearity of the EPHEMT transis-
tor, a better model i s needed. Thi s
model, however, can still be used to
predict the relative importance of out-
put matching, bias, and source induc-
tance.
Circuit Stability
Besides providing important informa-
tion regarding gain, P1dB, noise figure,
DESIGN
MICROWAVES & RF 77 APRIL 2002
Table 3: Measured results
PARAMETER VALUE
Minimum gain
Maximum noise figure
Output third-order intercept point
Input third-order intercept point
Output P1dB compression
Maximum input return loss
Maximum output return loss
Supply current
Bandwidth
14.8 dB
0.85 dB
+39 dBm
+24.2 dBm
+22.4 dBm
17.2 dB
18.5 dB
120 mA
1.7 to 2.2 GHz
G
a
i
n

d
B
FrequencyGHz
20
15
10
5
0
5
10
15
20
0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5 3.0
1.2
1.1
0.9
0.8
0.7
0.6
0.5
1.0
N
o
i
s
e

f
i
g
u
r
e

d
B
1.50 1.75 2.00 2.25 2.50
FrequencyGHz
7. Noise figure is a nominal 0.8 dB from 1.7 to 2.1 GHz.
6. The measured gain of the completed amplifier is seen here.

DESIGN
along with input and output return loss,
the computer simulation also provides
information on circuit stability. Unless
a circuit is actually oscillating on the
bench, it may be difficult to predict insta-
bilities without presenting various VSWR
loads at various phase angles to the
amplifier. Calculating the Rollett Sta-
bility factor K and generating stability
circles are made easier with computer
simulations.
Simulated input and output return
loss of the ATF-54143 amplifier appears
in Fig. 4. A plot of Rollett Stability fac-
tor (K) as calculated from 1 to 3 GHz is
shown in Fig. 5 for the amplifier. Emit-
ter inductance can be used to help stability.
The amplifier was designed for a
V
ds
of +3 VDC and an I
ds
of 60 mA. Its
schematic is shown in Fig. 3. The eval-
uation board was designed so that input
and output impedance-matching net-
works can be adjusted to optimize per-
formance from 1.7 to 2.2 GHz. Low-
pass or hi ghpass structures can be
generated based on system requi re-
ments. The mai n constrai nt for the
LNA RF layout is that the circuit must
be a balanced configuration. The effect
of uneven path lengths results in the
summing of the signals out of phase
and lower output power and IP3 than
expected. To achieve a balanced con-
figuration, the bottom ATF-54143 is
turned through 90 deg., supporting an
easy duplication of the top and bottom
RF microstrip tracks.
The amplifier uses a highpass im-
pedance-matching network for the noise
match. The highpass network consists
of a series capacitor C1 and shunt induc-
tors L1 and L2. The circuit loss will be
directly related to noise figure. A Toko
America, Inc. (Mt. Prospect, IL) LL1608-
FS4N7 multilayer chip inductor or sim-
ilar device is suitable for this purpose.
Shunt inductor L1 provides low-fre-
quency gain reduction, which can min-
imize the amplifiers susceptibility to
low-frequency transmitter (Tx) overload.
It is also part of the input-matching
network along with C1. C1 also dou-
bles as a DC block. L2 doubles as a
result of inserting gate voltage for bias-
i ng up the PHEMT. Thi s requi res a
good bypass capacitor in the form of C2.
This network has been a compromise
between low noise figure, input return
loss, and gain. Resistor R2 and capac-
itors C2 and C4 provide in-band sta-
bility, while resistors R1 and R3 offer
low-frequency stability by providing a
resistive termination. The highpass net-
work on the output consists of a series
capacitor C4 and shunt inductor L3.
I nductors LL1 and LL2 are very
short transmission lines between each
source lead and ground. The inductors
act as series feedback. The amount of
MICROWAVES & RF 78 APRIL 2002
MICROWAVES & RF 80 APRIL 2002
series feedback has a dramatic effect on in-band and out-of-
band gain, stability, as well as input and output return loss.
The amplifier demo board is designed so that the amount
of source inductance is variable. Each source lead connects
to a microstrip section, which can be connected to a ground
pad at any point along the line. For minimal inductance, the
source lead pad is connected to the ground pad with a very
short piece of etch at the point closest to the device source
lead.
Additional source inductance has the effect of improving
input return loss and low-frequency stability. For an ampli-
fier operating in the 2-GHz range, excessive source induc-
tance will manifest itself in the form of a gain peak from 6
to 10 GHz. Normally, the high-frequency gain roll-off will
be gradual and smooth. Adding source inductance begins to
add bumps to the once smooth roll-off.
The amplifier is biased at a V
ds
of +3 VDC and I
d
of 60 mA.
Typical V
gs
is +0.56 VDC. The measured gain and noise fig-
ure of the completed amplifier is shown in Figs. 6 and 7. Noise
figure is a nominal 0.8 dB from 1.7 to 2.1 GHz, while gain is
typically 15.3 dB at 2.1 GHz with a peak of 18.2 dB at 1.1 GHz.
Noise-figure performance was found to be slightly better than
the simulated noise figure of the circuit (Table 3).
Measured input and output return loss are shown in Fig.
8. The input return loss at 2 GHz is 17.3 dB with a corresponding
output return loss of 20 dB. The amplifier output IP3 was mea-
sured at a nominal +39 dBm at a DC bias point of +3 VDC
V
ds
and an I
d
of 60 mA. P1dB measured +22.4 dBm. The
amplifier was also checked at lower bias conditions of +3
VDC V
ds
and I
d
of 40 mA. No degradation to the noise and
gain response was noted. Typical output IP3 was measured
at a nominal +36 dBm.
REFERENCES
1. Applications Note (AN1222): High intercept Low Noise Point Amplifier for 1850 to 1910 MHz
PCS Band using the ATF-54143 Enhancement Mode PHEMT, A.J. Ward.
2. Stephan Maas, Nonlinear Microwave Circuits, IEEE Press, New York, 1997.
3. W.R. Curtice, A MESFETModel For Use In The Design Of GaAs Integrated Circuits, IEEE
Transactions On Microwave Theory Techniques, Vol. MTT-28, pp. 448-456, May 1980.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Special thanks to Mark Bowyer (Anaren) for suggesting this work and Alan Rixon (Agilent) for his
many useful comments on TMA system requirements.
NOTE
Performance data for ATF-54143 PHEMTmay be found on www.agilent.com/view/rf. Applica-
tion notes can be found at: www.anaren.com and www.agilent.com/view/rf.
MRF
DESIGN
Input
return loss
Output
return loss
FrequencyGHz
R
e
t
u
r
n

l
o
s
s

d
B
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5 3.0
8. Input and output return loss versus frequency can be seen
above.