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BETA RATAYI
PRENTICE HALL COMMUNICATIONS ENGINEERING AND EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES SERIES
UO PCE eee a leRF MICROELECTRONICS
Behzad Razavi
University of Californi:
, Los Angeles
To join a Prentice Hall PTR
Internet mailing list, point to
http:/www.prenhall.com/mail_lists
PRENTICE HALL PTR
Upper Saddle River, NJ. 07458Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Daa
Razavt, Bewzan,
RF microelectronics { Behzad Razavi
D Prentice Hall communications engineering and
emerging technologies series ; 2)
Tnelicies I references and index.
1, Radio circuits-Design and construction 2. Integrated
cireuits-Design and construction I. Title. IL. Series,
TRES6.R39 1998 97-3056
621.384'12-de2t cP
Acquisitions Editor: Russ Hall
Editorial Assistant: Maureen Diana
Editorial/Production Supervision: Kerry Reardon
Manufacturing Manager: Alexis R. Heydr
Cover Design: Alamini Design
Composition: PreT eX, Inc.
© 1998 Prentice Hall PTR
Prentice-Hall, Inc.
‘A Simon & Schuster Company
‘Upper Saddle River NI 07458
Prentice Hall books are widely used by corporations and government agencies for training,
‘marketing, and resale, The publisher offers discounts on this book when ordered in bulk
‘quantities.
For more information contact
Corporate Sales Department
Phone: 800-382-3419 Fax: 201-236-7141
E-Mail: [email protected]
cor write: Prentice Hall PTR.
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Upper Saddle River, NI 07458
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, in any form or by any means,
‘without permission in writing from the publisher.
Printed in the United States of America
wok 7654321
ISBN O-13-487571-5
Prentice-Hall International (UK) Limited, London
Prentice-Hall of Australia Pty. Limited, Sydney
Prentice-Hall Canada Inc., Toronto
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Prentice-Hall of India Private Limited, New Delhi
Prentice-Hall of Japan, Inc., Tokyo
Simon & Schuster Asia Pte. Ltd., Singapore
Ecitora Prentice-Hall do Brasil, Lida.. Rio de JaneiroContents
Preface
> 1 _ Introduction to RF and Wireless Technology 1
1.1 Complexity Comparison 2
1.2 Design Bottleneck 4
1.3 Applications 6
14 Analog and Digital Systems 7
15 Choice of Technology 9
References 10
P 2 Basic Concepts in RF Design u
2.1 Nonlinearity and Time Variance 11
2.1.1 Effects of Nonlinearity 14
2.1.2. Cascaded Nonlinear Stages 22
2.2 Intersymbol Interference 25
2.3. Random Processes and Noise 28
23.1 Random Processes 29
232 Noise 37
24 Sensitivity and Dynamic Range 48
2.5 Passive Impedance Transformation 50
References 53
PB ___ 3 Modulation and Detection 34
3.1 General Considerations 54
3.2 Analog Modulation 57
3.2.1 Amplitude Modulation 57
3.2.2. Phase and Frequency Modulation 58
viiviii
33
34
35
Contents
Digital Modulation 63
3.3.1 Basic Concepts 64
3.3.2 Binary Modulation 74
33.3 Quadrature Modulation 81
Power Efficiency of Modulation Schemes 90
3.4.1 Constant- and Variable-Envelope Signals 90
34.2 Spectral Regrowth 91
Noncoherent Detection 93
References 96
4 Multiple Access Techniques and Wireless Standards 98
41
42
43
5
52
53
54
Mobile RF Communications 98
Multiple Access Techniques 103
42.1 Time- and Frequency-Division Duplexing 103
42.2. Frequency-Division Multiple Access 105
42.3 Time-Division Multiple Access 105
4.24 Code-Division Multiple Access 107
Wireless Standards 110
43.1 Advanced Mobile Phone Service 111
43.2 North American Digital Standard 112
4.3.3. Global System for Mobile Communication 113
434 QualeommCDMA 114
435 Digital European Cordless Telephone 116
References 117
5 Transceiver Architectures 118
General Considerations 118
Receiver Architectures 122
5.2.1 Heterodyne Receivers 122
5.2.2 Homodyne Receivers 129
5.2.3. Image-Reject Receivers 138
5.24 Digital-IF Receivers 146
52.5 Subsampling Receivers 147
‘Transmitter Architectures 149
53.1 Direct-Conversion Transmitters 152
3.2 ‘Two-Step Transmitters 154
‘Transceiver Performance Tests 155Contents ix
55
Case Studies 157
5.1 Motorola’s FM Receiver 157
5.5.2 Philips’ Pager Receiver 158
5.5.3 " DECT Transceiver 159
5.5.4 Lucent Technologies’ GSM Transceiver 161
5.5.5 Philips’ GSM Transceiver 162
References 163
6 Low-Noise Amplifiers and Mixers 166
6.1
62
TA
12
13
14
15
Low-Noise Amplifiers 166
6.1.1 General Considerations 166
6.1.2 Input Matching 170
6.1.3 Bipolar LNAs 173
6.1.4 CMOSLNAs 178
Downconversion Mixers 180
62.1 General Considerations 180
6.2.2 Bipolar Mixers 188
623 CMOS Mixers 192
624 Noise in Mixers 194
Cascaded Stages Revisited 200
References 204
7_Oscillators 206
General Considerations 206
Basic LC Oscillator Topologies 209
Voltage-Controlled Oscillators 212
Phase Noise 214
74.1 Effect of Phase Noise in RF Communications 215
7.4.2 Q ofan Oscillator 217
7.43 Phase Noise Mechanisms 220
7.44 Noise-Power Trade-off 224
7.4.5 Bifect of Frequency Division and Multiplication on Phase Noise 224
7.4.6 Oscillator Pulling and Pushing 225
Bipolar and CMOS LC Oscillators 227
7.5.1 Negative-G», Oscillators 227
752. Interpolative Oscillators 23116
1d
18
79
Contents
Monolithic Inductors 233
Resonatorless VCOs 235
Quadrature Signal Generation 236
78.1 RC-CR Network 236
7.8.2 Havens’ Technique 239
783 Frequency Division 243
Single-Sideband Generation 243
References 244
8 Frequency Synthesizers 247
81
82
83
84
General Considerations 247
Phase-Locked Loops 249
8.2.1 Basic Concepts 249
8.2.2 Basic PLL 252
8.2.3 Charge-Pump PLLs 258
8.24 ‘Typeland Type II PLLs 265
825 Noise inPLLs 266
82.6 Phase Noise at Input 266
827 Phase Noise of VCO 267
828 Frequency Multiplication 269
RF Synthesizer Architectures 269
83.1 Integer-N Architecture 270
83.2. Fractional-N Architecture 277
833 Dual-Loop Architectures 284
834 Direct Digital Synthesis 285
Frequency Dividers 290
84.1 Divide-by-Two Circuits 290
84.2 Dual-Modulus Dividers 293
References 296
9 Power Amplifiers 298
General Considerations 298
9.1.1 Linear and Nonlinear PAs 301
Classification of Power Amplifiers 301
92.1 Class A and BPAs 302
9.2.2 ClassC PAs 305Contents xi
93
94
95
9.6
High-Efficiency Power Amplifiers 306
Large-Signal Impedance Matching 310
Linearization Techniques 313
95.1 Feedforward 314
95.2 Feedback 315
953 Envelope Elimination and Restoration 317
954 LINC 318
Design Examples 320
References 323Preface
‘The annual worldwide sales of cellular phones has exceeded $2.5B. With 4.5 mil-
lion customers, home satellite networks comprise a $2.5B industry, The global
positioning system is expected to become a $5B market by the year 2000. In
Europe, the sales of equipment and services for mobile communications will
reach $30B by 1998, The statistics are overwhelming.
The radio frequency (RF) and wireless market has suddenly expanded to
unimaginable dimensions. Devices such as pagers, cellular and cordless phones,
cable modems, and RF identification tags are rapidly penetrating all aspects of
our lives, evolving from luxury items to indispensable tools. Semiconductor and
system companies, small and large, analog and digital, have seen the statistics
and are striving to capture their own market share by introducing various RF
produets,
RF design is unique in that it draws upon many disciplines unrelated
to integrated cireuits (ICs). The RF knowledge base has grown for almost a
century, creating a seemingly endless body of literature for the novice.
This book deals with the analysis and design of RF integrated circuits
and systems, Providing a systematic treatment of RF electronics in a tutorial
language, the book begins with the necessary background knowledge from
microwave and communication theory and leads the reader to the design of
RF transceivers and circuits. The text emphasizes both architecture and circuit
level issues with respect to monolithic implementation in VLSI technologies.
The primary focus is on bipolar and CMOS design, but most of the concepts
can be applied to other technologies as well. The reader is assumed to have a
basic understanding of analog IC design and the theory of signals and systems.
The book consists of nine chapters. Chapter I gives a general introduction,
posing questions and providing motivation for subsequent chapters. Chapter 2
describes basic concepts in RF and microwave design, emphasizing the effects
of nonlinearity and noise.
Chapters 3 and 4 take the reader to the commmnication system level,
giving an overview of modulation, detection, multiple access techniques, and
wireless standards, While initially appearing to be unnecessary, this material is
in fact essential to the concurrent design of RF circuits and systems.
Chapter S deals with transceiver architectures, presenting various receiver
and transmitter topologies along with their merits and drawbacks. This chapter
xixiv Preface
also includes a number of case studies that exemplify the approaches taken in
actual RF products.
Chapters 6 through 9 address the design of RF building blocks: low-noise
amplifiers and mixers, oscillators, frequency synthesizers, and power amplifiers,
with particular attention to minimizing the number of off-chip components. An
~ important goal of these chapters is to demonstrate how the system requirements
define the parameters of the circuits and how the performance of each circuit
impacts that of the overall transceiver.
Ihave taught approximately 80% of the material in this book in a 4-unit
graduate course at UCLA. Chapters 3, 4, 8, and 9 had to be shortened in a ten-
week quarter, but in a semester system they can be covered more thoroughly.
Much of my RF design knowledge comes from interactions with col-
leagues. Helen Kim, Ting-Ping Liu, and Dan Avidor of Bell Laboratories, and
David Su and Andrew Gzegorek of Hewlett-Packard Laboratories have con-
tributed to the material in this book in many ways. The text was also reviewed by
anumber of experts: Stefan Heinen (Siemens), Bart Jansen (Hewlett-Packard),
Ting-Ping Liu (Bell Labs), John Long (University of Toronto), Tadao Nak-
agawa (NTT), Gitty Nasserbakht (Texas Instruments), Ted Rappaport (Vir-
ginia Tech), Tirdad Sowlati (Gennum), Trudy Stetzler (Bell Labs), David Su
(Hewlett-Packard), and Rick Wesel (UCLA). In addition, a number of UCLA
students, including Farbod Behbahani, Hooman Darabi, John Lecte, and Ja-
cob Rael, “test drove” various chapters and provided useful feedback. I am
indebted to all of the above for their kind assistance.
Twould also like to thank the staff at Prentice Hall, particularly Russ Hall,
Maureen Diana, and Kerry Reardon for their support.
Behzad Razavi
July 1997INTRODUCTION TO RF
AND WIRELESS
TECHNOLOGY
“This phone uses GFSK modulation in DECT-TDMA/TDD with zero-IF 1/Q
detection,” said the engineer. “How can we modify it to work with DCS1800
as well?” asked the manager. “We would need to add a duplexer, at least
one more LO with SSB mixing, and probably two SAW filters,” replied the
engineer .
‘Telephones have gotten much more complicated than they used to be. So
have RF circuits. The nonspecialist who uses a cellular phone (cellphone) to
call home probably does not know that hundreds of scientists and engineers
have worked for almost a century to make wireless technology affordable, Nor
does he know that there is more computing power in the phone than in some
of the early personal computers.
Wireless technology came to existence when, in 1901, Guglielmo Marconi
successfully transmitted radio signals across the Atlantic Ocean. The conse-
quences and prospects of this demonstration were simply overwhelming; the
possibility of replacing telegraph and telephone communications with wave
transmission through the “ether” portrayed an exciting future. However, while
two-way wireless communication did materialize in military applications, wire-
less transmission in daily life remained limited to one-way radio and television
broadcasting by large, expensive stations. Ordinary two-way phone conversa-
tions would still go over wires for many decades.
‘The invention of the transistor, the development of Shannon’s informa-
tion theory, and the conception of the cellular system—all at Bell Laboratories—
paved the way for affordable mobile communications, as originally imple-
mented in car phones and eventually realized in portable cellular phones.
But why the sudden surge in wireless electronics? Market surveys show
that in the United States more than 28,000 people join the cellular phone sys-
tem every day, motivating competitive manufacturers to provide phone sets
with increasingly higher performance and lower cost. In fact, the present goal
12
Chap. I Introduction to RF and Wireless Technology
is to reduce both the power consumption and price of cellphones by 30% every
year—although it is not clear for how long this rate can be sustained. A more
glorious prospect, however, lies in the power of two-way wireless communica-
tion when it is introduced in other facets of our lives: home phones, computers,
facsimile, and television. While an immediate objective of the wireless industry
is to combine cordless and cellular phones so as to allow seamless communica-
tions virtually everywhere, the long-term plan is to produce an “omnipotent”
wireless terminal that can handle voice, data, and video as well as provide com-
puting power. Other luxury items such as the global positioning system (GPS)
are also likely to become available through this terminal sometime in the future,
Personal communication services (PCS) are almost here.
1.1 COMPLEXITY COMPARISON
To gain an early perspective on modern RF design, first consider the sys-
tem depicted in Fig. 1.1, a simple frequency modulation (FM) transceiver. In
Fig. 1.1(a), Q1 operates as both an oscillator and a frequency modulator; that
)
Figure 1.1 (a) FM transmitter, (b) FM receiver.3
Sec, 1.1 Complexity Comparison
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Chap. 1 Introduction to RF and Wireless Technology
is, the audio signal produced by the microphone varies the bias voltage across
the varactor diode Dj, thereby modulating the frequency of oscillation. In the
receive path, Q; serves as both an oscillator and a demodulator, generating the
audio signal at node X. The result is then amplified and applied to the speaker.
Now consider the circuit of Fig. 1.2, the RF section of a cellphone [1]. This
circuit is orders of magnitude more complex than the FM circuits of Fig. 1.1,
and we will postpone its analysis until Chapter 5. Why have RF designers gone
from the circuit of Fig. 1.1 to that of Fig, 1.2? Whatis the thought process behind
this evolution? Is all of this complexity really necessary? These questions will
be answered in Chapters 2 through 5 as we develop our understanding of RF
communication systems and architecture and circuit design issues.
1.2 DESIGN BOTTLENECK
‘Today’s pocket phones contain more than one million transistors, with only a
small fraction operating in the RF range and the rest performing low-frequency
“baseband” analog and digital signal processing (Fig. 1.3). In other words, the
baseband section is, in terms of the number of devices, yet several orders of
magnitude more complex than the circuit of Fig. 1.2. The definition of RF and
_ baseband will become clear later, but here we note that the RF section is still
the design bottleneck of the entire system. This is so for three reasons.
Baseband
Section
Figure 13 RF and baseband processing in a transceiver,
Multidisciplinary Field _ In contrast to other types of analog and mixed-
signal circuits, RF systems demand a good understanding of many areas that
are not directly related to integrated circuits (ICs), Shown in Fig. 1.4, most of
these areas have been studied extensively for more than half a century, making
it difficult for an IC designer to acquire the necessary knowledge in a reasonable
amount of time. Even at present, the literature pertaining to RF design appears
in more than 30 journals and conferences.
Owing to thisissue, traditional wireless system design has been carried out
at somewhat disjointed levels of abstraction: communication theorists create
the modulation scheme and baseband signal processing; RF system experts plan
the transceiver architecture; IC designers develop each of the building blocks;
and manufacturers “glue” the ICs and other external components together. In
fact, architectures are often planned according to the available off-the-shelf
components, and ICs are designed to serve as many architectures as possible,
leading to a great deal of redundancy at both system and circuit levels.Sec. 1.2 Design Bottleneck 5
‘Communication
Microwave ae Random
‘Theory Si | ae ‘Signals
= A re
Propagation Design Architectures:
sae TN ont
\.o
Figure 1.4 Disciplines required in RF design.
As the industry moves toward higher integration and lower cost, RF and
wireless design demands increasingly more “concurrent engineering,” thereby
requiring IC designers to have sufficient knowledge of all the disciplines shown
in Fig. 1.4.
RE Design Hexagon RF circuits must process analog signals with a wide
dynamic range at high frequencies. It is interesting to note that the signals must
be treated as analog even if the modulation is digital or the amplitude carries no
information. (This will be clarified in later chapters) The trade-offs involved
in the design of such circuits can be summarized in the “RF design hexagon”
shown in Fig, 1.5, where almost any two of the six parameters trade with each
other to some extent. We will sce these trade-offs in Chapters 6 to 9, but our
observation here is that, while digital circuits directly benefit from advances in
IC technologies, RF circuits donot as much. This issue is exacerbated by the fact
that RF circuits often require external components—for example, inductors—
that are difficult to bring onto the chip even in modern IC processes.
Noise = Power
Linearity Frequency
Supply
Figure L5 RF design hexagon,
Design Tools Computer-aided analysis and synthesis tools for RF ICs
are still in their infancy, forcing the designer to rely on experience, intuition,
or inefficient simulation techniques to predict the performance. For example,
nonlinearity, time variance, and noise in RF circuits usually require studying
the spectrum of signals, but the standard ac analysis available in SPICE uses6
Chap. 1 Introduction to RF and Wireless Technology
only linear, time-invariant models. Thus, circuits are simulated in the time
domain so as to include nonlinear or time-variant effects, and the resulting
waveforms are subsequently transformed to the frequency domain to obtain
the spectrum, The difficulty is that the time-domain simulation must be run
for a long period to resolve closely spaced frequency components. In addition,
spectral averaging techniques may be necessary if random noise is used in the
time-domain analysis.
Another issue in simulating RF circuits relates to external components
that cannot be modeled by typical devices in SPICE. For example, surface
acoustic wave (SAW) filters, used in both the receive and the transmit paths,
exhibit input and output impedances that can be characterized only by scat-
tering (S) parameters—essentially a table of numbers. Modeling such circuit
with RLC networks provides a first-order approximation, but it may not predict
effects such as instability and impedance mismatch.
1.3 APPLICATIONS
In addition to familiar wireless products such as pagers and cellular phones, RF
technology has created many other markets that display a great potential for
rapid growth, each presenting its own set of challenges to RF designers.
WLANs Communication among people or pieces of equipment in a
crowded area can be realized through a wireless local area network (WLAN),
Using frequency bands around 900 MHz and 2.4 GHz, WLAN transceivers
can provide mobile connectivity in offices, hospitals, factories, etc., obviating
the need for cumbersome wired networks, Portability and reconfigurability are
prominent features of WLANs.
GPS The use of GPS to determine one’s location as well as obtain
directions becomes attractive to the consumer market as the cost and power
dissipation of GPS receivers drop. Operating in the 1.5-GHz range, such sys-
tems are under consideration by automobile manufacturers, but they may be
available as low-cost hand-held products sometime in the near future.
RF IDs __ RF identification systems, simply called “RF IDs,” are small,
low-cost tags that can be attached to objects or persons so as to track their
position. Applications range from luggage in airports to troops in military
operations. Low power consumption is especially critical here as the tag’s
lifetime may be determined by that of a single small battery. RF ID products
in the 900-MHz and 2.4-GHz range have recently appeared in the market.
Home Satellite Network The programs and services available through
satellite television have attracted many consumers to home satellite networks,
Operating in the 10-GHz range, these networks require the addition of a dish
antenna and a receiver to a television set and directly compete with cable TV.See. 1.4 Analog and Digital Systems 7
1.4 ANALOG AND DIGITAL SYSTEMS
To gain a general, preliminary view of wireless transceivers, first consider the
simple “analog” architecture shown in Fig. 1.6. In the transmit path, the signal
generated by the microphone modulates a high-frequency carrier, and the re-
sult is amplified and “buffered” so as to drive the antenna, In the receive path,
the signal is amplified by a low-noise amplifier (LNA), the spectrum is trans-
lated to a lower frequency by a “downconverter” (usually a mixer) to facilitate
subsequent demodulation, and the demodulated output is amplified to drive
the speaker.
Low-Noise Audio
Amplifier Amplifier
Carrier
O)
Figure 1.6 Block diagram of a generic analog RF system: (a) transmitter,
(b) receiver.
Now, consider the “digital” transceiver shown in Fig. 1.7. Here, the voice
signal is first digitized by an analog-to-digital converter (ADC) and compressed
to reduce the bit rate and hence the required bandwidth [Fig. 1.7(a)]. Next, the
data undergoes “coding” and “interleaving” [2]. ‘These two functions format
the data such that the receiver can detect and minimize errors by performing
the reverse operations. Since rectangular pulses are usually not optimum for
modulation, the data is then “shaped” before it is applied to the modulator and
the power amplifier (PA). In the receive path [Fig. 1.7(b)], the signal is ampli-
fied, downconverted, and digitized. Subsequently, demodulation, equalization,
decoding and deinterleaving, and decompression are performed in the digital
domain, The resulting data is then converted to analog form by a digital-to-
analog converter (DAC), amplified, and applied to the speaker.Chap. | Introduction to RF and Wireless Technology
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In the simplest case, the performance of these transceivers can be quan-
tified in terms of the maximum distance across which they operate while pro-
viding satisfactory reception. This is determined by both the power delivered
to the antenna and the sensitivity of the receiver, particularly the noise of the
LNA.'However, in a realistic environment, many different transceivers operate
simultaneously, often in close proximity, thereby interfering with each other.
Furthermore, the communication medium is quite complex: reflections from
buildings and other obstacles can result in destructive interference at a given
point, suppressing the received signal strength to undetectable levels. In such
an environment, signal processing in the digital transceiver achieves a higher
performance than that of the analog system.
Looking at the two transceivers of Figs. 1.6 and 1.7, the reader may won-
der which parts are related to “RF electronics.” As we willsee in other chapters,
the exact definition of RF depends on the system, but we tentatively consider
the signal to be in the RF domain if it is analog and its spectrum is not centered
around zero frequency. ‘This indicates that in Fig. 1.6 all the building blocks ex-
cept for the audio amplifier are RF circuits. Similarly, in Fig. 1.7, the modulator,
the PA, the LNA, and the downconverter operate in the RF range. Modern
RF electronics, however, includes much more than the design of such building
blocks. For example, the trade-offs at the system level must be carefully studied
in each case [3, 4].
‘This book primarily deals with the design of RF integrated circuits, but,
following the premise of Fig. 1.4, it provides the reader with background in
other related areas as well. As will be seen throughout the book, RF ICs, RF
architectures, and wireless systems are strongly coupled, and the reader will
frequently need to utilize this background knowledge.
1.5 CHOICE OF TECHNOLOGY
The viable IC technology for RF circuits continues to change. Performance,
cost, and time to market are three critical factors influencing the choice of
technologies in the competitive RF industry. In addition, issues such as level of
integration, form factor, and prior (successful) experience play an important
role in the decisions made by the designers.
At present, GaAs and silicon bipolar and BiCMOS technologies consti-
tute the major section of the RF market. Usually viewed as a low-yield, high-
power, high-cost option, GaAs field-effect and heterojunction devices nonethe-
less have maintained a strong presence in RF produets [5], especially in power
amplifiers and front-end switches.
While GaAs processes offer useful features such as higher (breakdown
voltage) (cutoff frequency) product, semi-insulating substrate, and high-quality
inductors and capacitors, silicon devices ina VLSI technology can potentially
' The type of modulation is also an important factor, but we ignore it for the moment10
Chap. 1 Introduction to RF and Wireless Technology
provide both higher levels of integration and lower overall cost, as demon-
strated in complex circuits such as frequency synthesizers. In fact, all building
blocks of typical transceivers are available in silicon bipolar technologies from
many manufacturers,
‘The third contender is CMOS technology. Supported by the enormous
momentum of the digital market, CMOS devices have achieved high transit fre-
quencies, e.g,, tens of gigahertz in the 0.35-jam generation. As we will see in this,
book, “RF CMOS” has suddenly become the topic of active research. CMOS,
technology must nevertheless resolve a number of practical issues: substrate
coupling of signals that differ in amplitude by 100 dB, parameter variation with
temperature and process, and device modeling for RF operation.
REFERENCES
[1] C. Marshall et al., “2.7 V GSM Transceiver ICs With On-Chip Filtering,”
ISSCC Dig. Tech. Papers, pp. 148-149, February 1995.
[2] B. Sklar, Digital Communications, Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall,
1988.
[3] K. Feher, Wireless Digital Communications, Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Pren-
tice Hall, 1995. ;
[4] R. Steele, ed. Mobile Radio Communications, Piscataway, NJ: IEEE
Press, 1992.
IS] R. Schneiderman, “GaAs Continues to Gain in Wireless Applications,”
Wireless Systems Design, pp. 14-16, March 1997.2
BASIC CONCEPTS
IN RF DESIGN
RF designers draw upon many concepts that originate from the theory of sig-
nals and systems. In this chapter, we describe these concepts and define the
terminology used in RF electronics so as to prepare the reader for the material
in the following chapters.
Beginning with nonlinear systems, we describe effects such as harmonic
distortion, gain compression, cross modulation, and intermodulation. We then
briefly study intersymbol interference and Nyquist signaling, review random
processes and noise, and introduce approaches to representing noise in circuits.
Finally, we describe passive impedance transformation.
2.1 NONLINEARITY AND TIME VARIANCE
A system is linear if its output can be expressed as a linear combination (super-
position) of responses to individual inputs, More accurately, if for inputs x; (r)
and x2(r)
AO > nO, BO > yt), QQ)
where the arrow denotes the operation of the system, then
axy(t) + x(t) + ayy(t) + by2(t), (2.2)
for all values of the constants a and . Any system that does not satisfy this
condition is nonlinear. Note that according to this definition, we consider a
system nonlinear if it has nonzero initial conditions or finite “offsets,”
n12
Chap.2 Basic Concepts in RF Design
A system is time invariant if a time shift in its input results in the same.
time shift in its output. That is, if x(¢) > y(t), then x(t —t) > y(t — 7), for
all values of 7. A system is time variant if it does not satisfy this condition.
While nonlinearity and time variance are intuitively obvious concepts,
they may be confused with each other in some cases, For example, consider
the switching circuit shown in Fig. 2.1(a). The control terminal of the switch is
driven by vini(t) = A; coset and the input terminal by vin2(t) = Az cos wot.
We assume the switch is onif vin > Oand off otherwise. Is thissystem nonlinear
or time variant? If, as shown in Fig. 2.1(b), the path of interest is from vjq) to
Vout, (While viq2 is part of the system and still equal to Az cos zr), then the
system is nonlinear because the control is only sensitive to the polarity of vin,
and time variant because vay: also depends on viq2. On the other hand, if, as
shown in Fig. 2.1(c), the path of interest is from vin2 10 Yass (While vint is part
of the system and still equal to A; cos @1), then the system is linear [Eq. (2.2)]
but time variant. Thus, general statements such as “switches are nonlinear” are
ambiguous. As we will see in Chapter 6, these distinctions are critical in the
design of mixers.
Vout
©)
Figure2.1 (a) Simple switching circuit, (b) nonlinear time-variant system,
(©) linear time-variant system,
Another interesting result of the above observation is that a linear system
can generate frequency components that do not exist in the input signal. ‘This,
is possible if the system is time variant, for example, Fig. 2.1(c). Since in this,Sec.2.1 Nonlinearity and Time Variance 13
circuit, Yoy: can be considered as the product of vig and a square wave toggling
between 0 and 1, the output spectrum is given by
Vout)
0
where + denotes convolution, 4(.) is the Dirac delta function, and T; =
‘Thus, the output consists of vertically scaled replicas of Vino) shifted by n/T;
A system is called “memoryless” if its output does not depend on the past
values of its input. For a memoryless linear system,
yQ) = ax(r), (2.5)
where a is a function of time if the system is time variant [e.g., Fig, 2.1(c)]. For
a memoryless nonlinear system, the input-output relationship can be approxi-
mated with a polynomial,
YE) = a + x(t) + arx7(1) + a(N Fo, (26)
where ce; are in general functions of time if the system is time variant. Fig. 2.2(a)
illustrates an example where the input signal is applied to the base of Q; while
Q> and Q3 are periodically switched by means of a square wave. For ideal
bipolar transistors, the circuit can be viewed as in Fig, 2.2(b) and
Your(t) = (1 exp #) sR, 27)
Vr
where [5; represents the saturation current of Q;, Vp = kT/q, and s(t) isa
square wave toggling between —1 and +1.
Figure 2.2 (a) Switching differential pair with tail current source driven by a
signal, (6) equivalent circuit of (a)14
Chap. 2 Basic Concepts in RF Design
The system described by (2.6) has “odd symmetry” ifits response to —x(¢)
is the negative of that to x(t). This occurs if a; = 0 for even j. A circuit having,
odd symmetry is called differential or “balanced.” For example, the bipolar
differential pair of Fig. 2.3 exhibits the following input-output characteristic:
Yin
Vout = Rigg tanh .
" cals
(28)
which is an odd function.
@ O}
Figure 2.3 Bipolar differential pair along with its input-output characteristic.
A system is called “dynamic” if its output depends on the past values of,
its input(s) or output(s). Fora linear, time-invariant, dynamic system,
yO) = AD * x(0), (2.9)
where f(r) denotes the impulse response. If a dynamic system is linear but
time variant, its impulse response depends on the time origin; if 8() > h(),
then 5(t — 1) + h(t, t). Thus,
y(t) = A(t, t) * x(t). (2.10)
Finally, if a system is both nonlinear and dynamic, then its impulse re-
sponse can be approximated with a Volterra series [1, 2], a topic beyond the
scope of this book.
2.1.1 Effects of Nonlinearity
‘While many analog and RF circuits can be approximated with a linear model
to obtain their response to small signals, nonlinearities often lead to interesting
and important phenomena, For simplicity, we limit our analysis to memoryless,
time-variant systems and assume
yt) © anx(t) + ax) + aax3(t). (en)Sec. 2.1 Nonlinearity and Time Variance 18
‘The reader is cautioned, however, that the effect of storage elementsand higher-
order nonlinear terms must be carefully examined to ensure (2.11) isa plausible
representation.
Harmonies _ If a sinusoid is applied to a nonlinear system, the output
generally exhibits frequency components that are integer multiples of the input.
frequency. In Eq. (2.11), if x(t) = A cosr, then
y(t) = aA coset + a2A? cos’ wt + a3A> cost (2.12)
aA? a
= eA coset + S—(1 + cos2ext) + —[—Geosear + cos 30)
(2.13)
aA? a3 A3
3a3A% Az
4 (wa += ) cose + SE cos tut + = cost.
(2.14)
In Eq. (2.14), the term with the input frequency is called the “fundamental”
and the higher-order terms the “harmonics.”
From the above expansion, we can make two observations. First, even-
order harmonics result from with even j and vanish if the system has odd
symmetry, i, if itis fully differential. In reality, however, mismatches corrupt
the symmetry, yielding finite even-order harmonics. Second, in (2.14) the am-
plitude of the th harmonic consists of a term proportional to A” and other
terms proportional to higher powers of A. Neglecting the latter for small A,
we can assume the mth harmonic grows approximately in proportion to A”.
Gain Compression ‘The small-signal gain of a circuit is usually obtained
with the assumption that harmonics are negligible. For example, if in (2.14),
A is much greater than all the other factors that contain A, then the small-
nal gain is equal to a. This quantity can be seen in the familiar differential
pair of Fig. 2.3 to be equal to
Vout
Yin 2Vr
However, as the signal amplitude increases, the gain begins to vary. In fact,
nonlinearity can be viewed as variation of the small-signal gain with the input
level. This is evident from the term 3a3A3/4 added to @1 A in (2.14), as well as
the input-output characteristic shown in Fig. 2.3.
In most circuits of interest, the output is a “compressive” or “saturating”
function of the input; that is, the gain approaches zero for sufficiently high input
levels. In (2.14) this occurs if @3 p, then we say the IM
components are at —40 dBc, where the letter “c” means “with respect to the
carrier.”
0 2 OO >
20-02 20-0,
Figure 26 _Intermodulation in a nonlinear system,Sec. 2.1 Nonlinearity and Time Variance 19
Intermodulation is a troublesome effect in RF systems. As shown in
Fig. 2.7, if a weak signal accompanied by two strong interferers experiences
third-order nonlinearity, then one of the IM products falls in the band of in-
terest, corrupting the desired component. While operating on the amplitude
of the signals, this effect degrades the performance even if the modulation is
on the phase (because zero-crossing points are still affected.) Note that this
phenomenon cannot be directly quantified by harmonic distortion.
Interferers
n Low-tose
Desired Amplifier
Channel
© ©
Figure 2.7 Corruption of a signal due to intermodulation between two interferers.
‘The corruption of signals due to third-order intermodulation of two nearby
interferers is so common and so critical that a performance metric has been de-
fined to characterize this behavior. Called the “third intercept point” (J Ps),
this parameter is measured by a two-tone test in which A is chosen to be sul
ficiently small so that higher-order nonlinear terms are negligible and the g:
is relatively constant and equal to a;. From (2.23), (2.24), and (2.25), we note
that as A increases, the fundamentals increase in proportion to A, whereas the
third-order IM products increase in proportion to A? [Fig. 2.8(a)]. Plotted on
a logarithmic scale [Fig. 2.8(b)], the magnitude of the IM products grows at
three times the rate at which the main components increase. The third-order
intercept point is defined to be at the intersection of the two lines. The hori-
zontal coordinate of this point is called the input P; (71 P;), and the vertical
coordinate is called the output J P; (O1 Ps).
20log(o1A)
ona J
2
Sosa
A UP, 20 log A
f@ )
Figure 2.8 Growth of output components in an intermodulation test.20
Chap.2 Basie Concepts in RF Design
It is important to appreciate the advantage of I P; over a simple IM mea-
surement. If the magnitude of IM products (normalized to that of the carrier)
is used as a measure of linearity, then the input amplitude with which the test
is performed must be specified. ‘The third intercept point, on the other hand, is
a unique quantity that by itself can serve as a means of comparing the linearity
of different circuits.
From the input-output characteristic of Eq. (2.11), we can derive a simple
expression for / Ps. Let x(t) = Acoswit + Acosant. Then,
9 9
yt) = (a: + jos?) Acosayt + (« + zona?) Acos wot
33 3
+ FasA¥ cos(2ax — an)i + jor cos(2a, — wi) tees.
(2.26)
Ifa; >> 9a3A?/4, the input level for which the output components at #; and
cy have the same amplitude as those at 2c — an and 2c — a is given by
3 .
lanlAres = [les|Ai ps 27)
‘Thus, the input 7 Ps is
(2.28)
and the output / P3 is equal to @Ayp3-
‘The parameter / P; characterizes only third-order nonlinearities. In prac-
tice, if the input level is increased to reach the intercept point, the assumption
@ > 9a3A?/4 no longer holds, the gain drops, and higher-order IM products
become significant. In fact, in many circuits the J P3 is beyond the allowable
input range, sometimes even higher than the supply voltage. Thus, the practical
method of obtaining the J P; is to measure the characteristic of Fig. 2.8(b) for
small input amplitudes and use linear extrapolation on a logarithmic scale to
find the intercept point.
A quick method of measuring the 1 P; is as follows. Let us denote the
input level at each frequency by Ajq, the amplitude of the output components
at @ and @) by Aqin2.and the amplitude of the M3 products by Ay. Then.
from (2.26), we have
Avior _ _|eilAn
Aims 3|a3|A3,/4
4la| 1
= Gaal aE" (2.30)
(2.29)Sec. 2.1 Nonlinearity and Time Variance 21
which, in conjunction with (2.28), reduces to
(2.31)
Consequently,
2log Autor — 2log Arm; = 20log A} p; — 2log AZ, (232)
and
1
20log Arps 720 log Ann w2 — 20log Arya) + 20log Ain 2.
‘Thus, if all the signal levels are expressed in dBm, the input third intercept point
is equal to half the difference between the magnitudes of the fundamentals and
the IM; products at the ouiput plus the corresponding input level [Fig. 2.9(a)]
‘The key point here is that 1 P; can be measured with only one input level,
obviating the need for extrapolation.
Main Signal
Power
200g Ain
@ (b)
Figure 2.9 (a) Calculation of 1, without extrapolation, (b) graphical
interpretation of (a).
Shown in Fig. 2.9(b) is a geometric interpretation of the above relation-
ship. Since line L; has a slope equal to unity and line Lz a slope equal to 3,
an input increment AP/2 yields an equal increment in L; and an increment
equal to 3A P/2 in La, reducing the difference between the two lines to zero.
‘The above approach provides an estimate of / Py in initial phases of
the design or characterization, The actual value of / P;, however, must still
be obtained through accurate extrapolation to ensure that all nonlinear and
frequency-dependent effects are taken into account.22
Chap. 2 Basic Concepts in RF Design
Another measurement method encountered in the literature is to apply
a single tone, plot the third harmonic magnitude versus the input level, and
obtain the intercept point by extrapolation. From the example of Fig. 2.5, we
note that this technique does not yield a correct value for I Ps.
‘To gain a better feeling about the required linearity in typical RF systems,
let us calculate the amount of corruption that a 1-1 V;ms signal experiences by
two 1-mV,m, interferers in an amplifier having an J Ps of 70 MV ms (% —10
dBm) (Fig. 2.10). Neglecting desensitization and cross modulation, we can
write
Aizen, Aint
(2.34)
Asien Ainuin ee)
where A,jz denotes the signal amplitude and Ajn: the interferer amplitude. It
follows from (2.31) that
Asig.out
2.38
AlM3.out 225)
where Agig,in = 1 Vrms, Arps = 70 MVyms, and Aintin = 1 MV ems. Thus,
the ratio is equal to 4.9 © 13.8 dB.
— «;. More specifically, as shown
in Fig. 2.12, y2(r) contains terms such as 282[a A cos yf - aA? cas(e; — a»)t]
and 28>(a A cos wf -0.Sr2A* cos 211). The resulting third-order IM products
can be expressed as (3; a2A7/2)[cos(2e — a)t + cos(2w2 — ant].
From these observations, we can write
ya(t) = a8) A(cosayt + cos ant)
Bars, 3a}, Ber 4
7“ (= 2 at + scahs A [cosa — an)t
+ cos(2m2 — a)t] +++, (2.45)
obtaining the same J P; as above.
In many RF systems, each stage in a cascade has a narrow frequency
band. Thus, the components described in the fourth observation above fall out
of the band and are heavily attenuated. Consequently, the second term on the
right-hand side of (2.44) becomes negligible, giving
1 1 a?
= +a (2.46)
Alps Atos, Alesa
This equation readily gives a general expression for three or more stages:
tg too a
2 wa 2
Alps Alps Alps
where Aj ps3 denotes the input / P; of the third stage. Thus, if each stage in
a cascade has a gain greater than unity, the nonlinearity of the latter stages
becomes increasingly more critical because the J P; of each stage is effectively
+o tee, (2.47)
‘The spectrum of A cos ct consists of two impulses, each with a weight A/2. We drop the
factor 1/2 in the figures for simplicity. The end result is still correctSec. 2.2 Intersymbol Interference 25
IPs OP ay
x(t) ¥ft)
A “Yt On BiA
_ Ho | =o
Os 7 ee 5 ee
Sasa i Gosia
© o
2e,- 02 20,- 0; i 204-2 202-01
3
3 Ba(onay
®
yA 20,- 02 20,70;
2A ty 012 B25,
o o
7-0; &] Wy 2a4-O2 205-0;
oA
Lara? SeareraBa4
A fey tt,
Oy Og 2-2 202-0;
20, 20,
Figure 2.12 _Intermodulation mechanisms in cascade of two nonlinear stages
scaled down by the total gain preceding that stage. We should emphasize that
(2.47) is merely an approximation. In practice, more precise calculations or
simulations must be performed to predict the overall 1 P3.
2.2 INTERSYMBOL INTERFERENCE
Linear time-invariant systems can also “distort” a signal if they do not have
sufficient bandwidth. Attenuation of high-frequency components of a peri-
odic square wave in a low-pass filter is a familiar example of such behavior
[Fig. 2.13(a)]. However, limited bandwidth has a more detrimental effect on
random bit streams, To understand the issue, first recall that if a single ideal
rectangular pulse is applied to a low-pass filter, the output exhibits an exponen-
tial tail that becomes more significant as the filter bandwidth decreases. Thi
occurs fundamentally because a signal cannot be both time limited and band-
width limited: when the time-limited pulse passes through the band-limited
system, the output must extend to infinity in the time domain,26
Chap. 2 Basic Concepts in RF Design
Vin wr Mout
@ ob)
Figure 2.13 Response of a low-pass filter to (a) a periodic square wave, (b) a random
sequence of ONEs and ZEROs
‘Now suppose the output of a digital system consists of a random sequence
of ONEs and ZEROs, each ONE represented by an ideal rectangular pulse and
each ZERO by the absence of such a pulse. If this sequence is applied to a low-
pass filter, the output can be obtained as the superposition of the responses to
each input bit [Fig. 2.13(b)]. We note that each bit level is corrupted by decaying
tails created by previous bits. Called “intersymbol interference” (ISI), this
phenomenon leads to higher error rate in the detection of random waveforms
that are transmitted through band-limited channels.
‘The problem of IST is particularly troublesome in wireless communica-
tions because the bandwidth allocated to each channel is fairly narrow. Methods
of reducing ISI include pulse shaping (“Nyquist signaling”) in the transmitter
and “equalization” in the receiver. We briefly describe Nyquist signaling here
and refer the reader to the extensive literature on equalization for ISI mitiga-
tion (3, 4].
In order to reduce ISI, the pulse shape can be chosen such that it is less
susceptible to interference with its shifted replicas. In Nyquist signaling, each
pulse is allowed to overlap with past and future pulses, but the shape is selected
such that ISI is zero at certain points in time, Illustrated in Fig. 2.14, the idea
is that all other pulses go through zero at the point when the present pulse
reaches its peak. Thus, if the bit stream is sampled at ¢ = KTs, no IST exist
A simple calculation leads to a basic condition for Nyquist signals. For a
pulse shape, p(t), to introduce zero ISI, we have
PTs) = 1 ifk =1 (2.48)
=0 itk #0 (2.49)Sec. 2.2 Intersymbol Interference 27
Figure 2.14 Pulse shape with no ISI.
Using a train of impulses to sample this pulse, we obtain
PO) 28 = kTs) = 8). (2.50)
‘Taking the Fourier transform of both sides, we have
PD EDS (*-#) 1 (2.51)
That is,
(2.52)
Originally proposed by Nyquist and shown in Fig. 2.15, this result indicates that
the shifted replicas of Pf) must add up to a flat spectrum. For example, a sinc
waveform satisfies this condition because its Fourier transform is a rectangular
box.
ale
Ts
f
Figure 2.15 Nyquist’s condition for the spectrum of a pulse shape
that gives no ISI.
A sine pulse shape, however, introduces difficulties in the design of the
system. The filter required to produce the rectangular spectrum becomes quite
complex if a sharp cutoff is necessary. Furthermore, the substantial signal
energy near the edge of the spectrum complicates the filtering requirements
in both the transmit and receive paths. In addition, the sinc waveform decays
slowly with time, introducing considerable ISI in the presence of timing errors
in the sampling command.
A pulse shape often employed in Nyquist signaling is related to a “raised
cosine” spectrum. Shown in Fig. 2.16, the time- and frequency-domain expres-
sions of this function are, respectively,
(a) = SMBHITS) costrat/Ts)
i at/Ts 1 — 402/72
(2.53)28
Chap.2 Basic Concepts in RF Design
Pit)
0 Ts 27s
@ )
Figure 2.16 Raised-cosine pulse: (a) in time domain, (b) in frequency domain,
and
1-
P(=Ts O= lim = n(t)dt. (2.55)
rat Jory
This notion of dc component of a random signal is called the “time average.”
Another definition of the average value is based on simultaneous sam-
pling of all the waveforms in an ensemble (Fig. 2.19). Here, we compute the
average by adding the sampled values and normalizing the sum to the numberSec.2.3 Random Processes and Noise. 31
Vn2
Figure 2.19 Averaging over sample functions.
of waveforms, Called the “ensemble average” or “statistical averag
is formally defined as
» this type
nit) [ners (2.56)
where P,(n) is the probability density function of the process
From the above definitions arise two questions. First, is the time average
measured today equal to that measured tomorrow? Not necessarily. A process
whose statistical properties are invariant to a time shift is called “stationary”
(more accurately “strict-sense stationary”). Thus, the concept of time average is
useful for stationary processes, e.g., noise voltage of a resistor held at a constant,
temperature, Fortunately, most of the random phenomena in RF systems can
be considered stationary.
‘The second question is: Is the time average of a stationary process equal
tothe ensemble average? Not always, but for most random processes of interest
in this book, we can assume so, thus avoiding ensemble averages.
The time and ensemble averages defined above are of first order. Higher
order averages can also be defined. Of particular interest are second-order
averages, for they represent the power of signals. In the time domain,
= 1 pan lim = t)dt, (2.57) fing [eo 57) which is also called the “mean square” power (with respect to a 1-@ resistor) if n(¢) isa voltage quantity. The second-order ensemble average is n(t) | * 12 (t) Py dn (2.58) For our purposes, = n?(t). Probability Density Function When considering a random signal in the time domain, we usually need to know how often its amplitude is between certain limits, For example, if a binary data sequence is corrupted by additive noise (Fig. 2.20), it is important to find the probability that a logical ONE is32 Chap. 2 Basic Concepts in RF Design interpreted as a ZERO and vice versa, that is, how often the noise amplitude exceeds half of the signal amplitude. The amplitude statistics of a random signal x(0) is characterized by the probability density function, P,(x), defined as P.(x)dx = probability ofx oo. As shown in Fig. 2.21, this condition is violated by two classes of signals: periodic waveforms and random signals, In most cases, however, these waveforms have a finite power: 1 pa P= jim = Ix(t)|’"dtYou might also like
