TY - JOUR
T1 - Design of integrated low noise amplifiers (LNA) using embedded passives in organic substrates
AU - Govind, Vinu
AU - Dalmia, Sidharth
AU - Swaminathan, Madhavan
N1 - Funding Information:
Manuscript received March 22, 2003; revised January 5, 2004. This work was supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF) and Semiconductor Research Corporation (SRC) under Grants DMI-0120308 and 2001-NJ-940. The authors are with the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA 30332 USA (e-mail: [email protected]; [email protected]). Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/TADVP.2004.825375
PY - 2004/2
Y1 - 2004/2
N2 - The noise figure of a low noise amplifier (LNA) is a function of the quality factor of its inductors. The lack of high-Q inductors in silicon has prevented the development of completely integrated complementery metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) LNAs for high sensitivity applications like global system for mobile communications (GSM) (1.9 GHz) and wideband code-division multiple-access (W-CDMA) (2.1 GHz). Recent developments in the design of high-Q inductors (embedded in low cost integrated circuit (IC) packages) have made single-package integration of RF front-ends feasible. These embedded passives provide a viable alternative to using discrete elements or low-Q on-chip passives, for achieving completely integrated solutions. Compared to on-chip inductors with low Q values and discrete passives with fixed Qs, the use of these embedded passives also leads to the development of the passive Q as a new variable in circuit design. However, higher Q values also result in new tradeoffs, particularly with respect to device size. This paper presents a novel optimization strategy for the design of completely integrated CMOS LNAs using embedded passives. The tradeoff of higher inductor size for higher Q has been adopted into the LNA design methodology. The paper also presents design issues involved in the use of multiple embedded components in the packaging substrate, particularly with reference to mutual coupling between the passives and reference ground layout.
AB - The noise figure of a low noise amplifier (LNA) is a function of the quality factor of its inductors. The lack of high-Q inductors in silicon has prevented the development of completely integrated complementery metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) LNAs for high sensitivity applications like global system for mobile communications (GSM) (1.9 GHz) and wideband code-division multiple-access (W-CDMA) (2.1 GHz). Recent developments in the design of high-Q inductors (embedded in low cost integrated circuit (IC) packages) have made single-package integration of RF front-ends feasible. These embedded passives provide a viable alternative to using discrete elements or low-Q on-chip passives, for achieving completely integrated solutions. Compared to on-chip inductors with low Q values and discrete passives with fixed Qs, the use of these embedded passives also leads to the development of the passive Q as a new variable in circuit design. However, higher Q values also result in new tradeoffs, particularly with respect to device size. This paper presents a novel optimization strategy for the design of completely integrated CMOS LNAs using embedded passives. The tradeoff of higher inductor size for higher Q has been adopted into the LNA design methodology. The paper also presents design issues involved in the use of multiple embedded components in the packaging substrate, particularly with reference to mutual coupling between the passives and reference ground layout.
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U2 - 10.1109/TADVP.2004.825375
DO - 10.1109/TADVP.2004.825375
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:2442581332
SN - 1521-3323
VL - 27
SP - 79
EP - 89
JO - IEEE Transactions on Advanced Packaging
JF - IEEE Transactions on Advanced Packaging
IS - 1
ER -