Design of Cryogenic SiGe Low-Noise Amplifiers

• Published in: IEEE transactions on microwave theory and techniques Vol. 55; no. 11; pp. 2306 - 2312
• Main Authors: Weinreb, S., Bardin, J.C., Mani, H.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York, NY IEEE 01.11.2007; Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers; The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. (IEEE)
• Subjects: Amplification; Amplifiers; Applied sciences; Cascode; Circuit noise; Circuit properties; cryogenic; Cryogenics; Direct current; Electric, optical and optoelectronic circuits; Electronic circuits; Electronic equipment and fabrication. Passive components, printed wiring boards, connectics; Electronics; Exact sciences and technology; Gain measurement; Germanium silicon alloys; low-noise amplifier (LNA); Low-noise amplifiers; Mathematical models; Microwave circuits, microwave integrated circuits, microwave transmission lines, submillimeter wave circuits; Microwave transistors; Noise; Noise generators; Noise measurement; noise parameters; Semiconductor devices; Silicon germanides; Silicon germanium; silicon-germanium (SiGe); Temperature; Theoretical study. Circuits analysis and design; Transistors; Cascode; noise parameters; silicon-germanium (SiGe); low-noise amplifier (LNA); cryogenic; GHz range; Connector; Noise; Low noise amplifier; Microwave; BiCMOS technology; High electron mobility transistor; Noise source; Direct current; Single transistor circuit; Cryogenics; Transconductance; Semiconductor alloys; Circuit simulation; Transistor circuits; Cascode connection; Cryogenic temperature; Transistor amplifiers; Equivalent circuit; Noise temperature; Impedance; Current gain
• ISSN: 0018-9480; 1557-9670
• DOI: 10.1109/TMTT.2007.907729

This paper describes a method for designing cryogenic silicon-germanium (SiGe) transistor low-noise amplifiers and reports record microwave noise temperature, i.e., 2 K, measured at the module connector interface with a 50-Omega generator. A theory for the relevant noise sources in the transistor is derived from first principles to give the minimum possible noise temperature and optimum generator impedance in terms of dc measured current gain and transconductance. These measured dc quantities are then reported for an IBM SiGe BiCMOS-8HP transistor at temperatures from 295 to 15 K. The measured and modeled noise and gain for both a single-and two-transistor cascode amplifier in the 0.2-3-GHz range are then presented. The noise model is then combined with the transistor equivalent-circuit elements in a circuit simulator and the noise in the frequency range up to 20 GHz is compared with that of a typical InP HEMT.