Bipolar Junction Transistor:

Bipolar Junction Transistor is a multi junction semiconductor device, where both the types
of charge carriers take part in current carrying mechanism. two types of Bipolar Junction
Transistors are n-p-n and p-n-p. The n-p-n Bipolar Junction Transistor is the complimentary
structure of the p-n-p Bipolar Transistor.
The principle of operation of microwave Bipolar Junction Transistor is similar to that of
low frequency device bipolar transistor. All microwave Bipolar Transistor are planar in form and
is of n-p-n type.
The majority of Bipolar Junction Transistors are fabricated from silicon because of low
cost, more reliable integrative, offers higher gain and moderate noise figure when used as a
microwave amplifier.
Microwave Bipolar Junction Transistors are capable of generating power upto a frequency
of 22GHz.

Physical Structure:
The physical structure of microwave power transistor is as shown in figure below. the
physical structure can be classified as a) inter-digitated b) Overlay c) Matrix type (also called as
mesh or emitter grid)

Inter-digitated structure consists of large number of emitter strips alternating with base
strips. Both of these are metallized. Overlay structure has a large number of segmented emitters
overlaid through a number of wide metal strips. Matrix or mesh structure has emitter that forms
the grid, the base filling the meshes of this grid with a p+ contact area in the middle of each mesh.
 Inter-digitated structure is suitable for small signal applications in the L,S, and C bands
whereas overlay and mesh structures are useful as power devices in the VHF and UHF regions.

Bipolar Transistor Configurations:

In general, there are two types of Bipolar transistors: n-p-n and p-n-p. A transistor can be
connected as 3 different configurations: Common Base (CB), Common Emitter (CE) and
Common Collector (CC).
Common Base Configuration:
In common base configuration, the base terminal is common for both input circuit
(Emitter) and output circuit(Collector). The common base configuration is also called as grounded
base configuration.
common base configuration's input voltage VEB and output current IC can be expressed in
terms of the output voltage VCB and input current IE as,
VEB = some function (VCB, IE)
IC = some function (VCB, IE)

Common Emitter Configuration:

In common Emitter configuration, the emitter terminal is common for both input circuit
(Base) and output circuit(Collector). The common emitter base configuration is also called as
grounded emitter configuration.
common emitter configuration's input voltage VEB and output current IC can be expressed
in terms of the output voltage VCB and input current IB as,
VEB = some function (VCE, IB)
IC = some function (VCE, IB)
Common Collector Configuration:
In common collector configuration, the collector terminal is common for both input circuit
and output circuit. In a common collector configuration, the output voltage of the load is taken
from the emitter terminal instead of the collector as in the common base and common emitter
configuration.
The common collector configuration transistor can be used as a switch or pulse amplifier.
The common collector amplifier has no voltage gain.
Principles of Operation:
The bipolar junction transistor is an active device which is commonly used as an amplifier
or switch. A BJT can operate in four different modes depending on the voltage polarities across
the two junctions.
1. Normal Mode: In this mode, emitter junction of npn transistor is forward biased and collector
junction is reverse biased . Generally at ON state a transistor remains in the normal mode.
2. Saturation Mode: When both the junctions are forward biased, the transistor is in its saturation
mode with very low resistance and acts like a short circuit.
3. Cut-Off Mode: If both transistor junctions are reverse biased, the transistor is operated in cut-
off mode and the transistor acts like an open circuit.
Thus saturation and cut-off modes are equivalent to the ON and OFF state of a switch.
4. Inverse Mode: A transistor is said to be in inverse mode when the emitter is reverse biased and
collector is forward biased. In practice transistor is not commonly used in inverse mode.

There are three regions for the 1-V characteristics of an n-p-n bipolar transistor:
1. Active Region: In this region the emitter junction is forward-biased and the collector junction
is reverse-biased. The collector current IC is essentially independent of collector voltage and
depends only on the emitter current IE. When the emitter current is zero, the collector current is
equal to the reverse saturation current ICO.

2. Saturation Region: In this region, as shown on the left side of figure, both emitter and
collector junctions are forward-biased. The electron current flows from the n side across the
collector junction to the p-type base. As a result, the collector current increases sharply.
3.Cutoff Region: In this region the emitter and collector junctions are both reverse-biased.
Consequently, the emitter current is cut off to zero, as shown in the lower right side of figure.

Performance Parameter:
In high frequency operation, the performance of a microwave transistor depends on the
cut-off frequency 'fc' and maximum frequency of oscillation (fmax) rather than the two current
gains  and .
Now the cut-off frequency depends on the delay of the carrier results due to their
movement from emitter to collector.
1
fc  (1)
2πτec

ec = e+b+d+c (2)

where, e - Emitter base junction transit time
c - Collector depletion layer charging time
b - Base transit time
d - Collector depletion layer transit time
Maximum frequency of operation is higher than fc because although '' falls to unity at this
frequency, power gain does not.
fc
f max  (3)
8πr 'b CC

where, rb' - Base resistance

CC - Collector Capacitance
RF FIELD EFFECT TRANSISTOR:
 Field effect transistor is a multi junction monopolar device, where only one carrier
type either holes or electrons contribute to the current flow through the channel.
 Based on the contribution there are two types, n-Channel (electron) and p-channel
(hole).
 FET is a voltage controlled device.
 RF field effect transistors has the capability of amplifying small signals up to the
frequency range of X band with low noise figures.
 The RF field effect transistors has several advantages over the Bipolar junction
transistor.
1. Its Efficiency is higher than BJT.
2. Its noise figure is low.
3. Its operating frequency is up to X band
4. Its input resistance is very high up to several mega ohms.

CONSTRUCTION:
FETs are classified according to how the gate is connected to the conducting
channel. Specifically, there are four types. They are,
1. MISFET - Metal Insulator Semiconductor FET:
Here the gate is separated from the channel through an insulation layer. One of
the most widely used type is MOSFET (Metal Oxide Semiconductor FET)
2. JFET - Junction FET:
This type relies on a revere biased pn-junction that isolates the gate from the
channel.
3.MESFET - Metal Semiconductor FET:
If the reverse biased pn-junction is replaced by a schottky contact, the channel
can be controlled just as in the JFET case.
4. Hetro FET:
As the name implies, the transitions takes place between different layer of
semiconductor materials. Examples: GaAlAs to GaAs or GaInAs to GaAlAs interfaces.
High Electron Mobility Transistor(HEMT) belongs to this class.
The construction of MISFET, JFET, and MESFET is as shown in the figure
below.
 In the above shown FETs, the current flows from source to drain and the gate
controls the current flow. Due to the presence of a large capacitance formed by the
gate electrode and the reverse biased pn-junction, MISFETs and JFETs have a
relatively low cut-off frequency and are usually operated in low and medium
frequency ranges of typically upto 1 GHz.
 GaAs MESFETs find applications upto 60-70 GHz and HEMT can operate beyond
100GHz.
 Electrically FETs can be classified into two types, 1) Enhancement and 2) Depletion
type based on increase in carriers or depletion in carriers when the gate voltage is
increased.

Functionality:
The functionality of MESFET for different drain-source voltages are shown in
figure below. The transistor is operated in depletion mode. The schottky contact builds
up channel space charge domain that affects the current flow from the source to drain.
The space extent ds can be controlled via the gate voltage.
1
 2εVd  VGS  2
d s    (1)
 qN D 
where, ds - Space extent or Space charge
ND - Donor concentration
Vd - Barrier voltage 0.9v for GaAs-Au interface
q - Charge of an electron (1.602x10-19)
VGS - Gate source voltage
The resistance 'R' between source and drain is predicted by,
L
R (2)
σ (d  d s ) W
where, W - Gate Width
L - Gate Length
 - Conductivity
d - Channel depth
ds - Space charge
 = q.n.ND (3)
Where, .n - Mobility of electron
 ND - Donor Concentration
The drain current is given by,
 1
V DS   2ε Vd  VGS  2 
ID   G O 1   2   VDS
(4)
R   qd ND  
 
Where, Conductance GO is,
σ qN D Wd
GO  (5)
L

The pinch-off voltage for the FET is independent of the gate-source voltage and is
computed as,
qN D d 2
VP  (6)
2ε
where, VP - pinch-off voltage
q - Charge of an electron (1.6x10 -19)
 - Permittivity
The threshold voltage for the FET is given as,
VTO = Vd-VP (7)
The Drain saturation current is
V 2
3
I DSat  G O  P  (Vd  VGS )  (Vd  VGS ) 2  (8)
 3 3 VP 

The maximum saturation current is obtained when VGS =0

V 2
3
I DSat  G O  P  (Vd )  (Vd ) 2  (9)
 3 3 VP 

The saturation drain current is often approximated by the simple relation

VGS 2
I DSat  I DSS (1  ) (10)
VTO

The transfer and output characteristics of an n-channel MESFET is as shown

below.
Problem:
1. A GaAs MESFET has the following parameters: ND = 1016cm-3, d=0.75m, W=10m,
L=2m, r=12.0, Vd=0.8v and n=8500cm2/(Vs). Determine a) pinch-off voltage,
b)Threshold Voltage, c) The maximum saturation current I DSS.
Solution:
a) pinch-off voltage:
The pinch-off voltage for the FET is,
qN D d 2 1.6x10 19 x (10 16 x10 6 ) x (0.75 x10 6 ) 2
VP   = 4.235V
2ε 2 x 8.854 x10 12 x 12

b)Threshold Voltage,
VTO = Vd-VP = 0.8 - 4.235 = -3.435v
c) The maximum saturation current IDSS
V 2
3
I DSat  G O  P  (Vd )  (Vd ) 2 
 3 3 VP 

σ q N D Wd q 2 μ n N D 2 Wd (1.6x10 19 ) 2 x (8500 x10 4 ) x (10 16 x10 6 ) 2 x (10 x10 6 ) x (0.75 x10 6 )
GO    =8.16
L L 2x10 6
 4.235 2
3
I DSat  8.16   (0.8 )  (0.8 ) 2  =6.883A
 3 3 4.235 
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BASIC CONCEPTS OF RF DESIGN:
Radio-frequency (RF) engineering is about systems that operate at radio
frequencies such as microwave frequencies. The RF portion of radio
transmitters and receivers will be viewed as a subsystem of wireless systems.
Thus, the relationships of the RF portion to other parts of the overall wireless
system design will be pertinent. For example, radio receiver sensitivity depends
on the RF design. RF generally includes other aspects, such as the device
technologies and RF circuits (including active circuits and passive circuits). Real
electronic components introduce noise and have other imperfections, such as
nonlinearities. While the nature of noise, nonlinearities, and so on, is intimately
related to the devices themselves, the results on the system can be studied and
quantified at the systems level based on models of these effects.
The most popular wireless receiver architecture is known as the
superheterodyne receiver. A block diagram of a superheterodyne radio receiver
is as shown in figure below. In the figure shown below amplifiers, mixers,
frequency synthesizers, and filters are the fundamental building blocks of the
RF part of radios. Broadly speaking, an amplifier amplifies the power of a signal;
a mixer is used to up-convert or down-convert a signal, by multiplying (also
described as mixing) it with a periodic signal, such as would be produced by a
frequency synthesizer. A frequency synthesizer may be as simple as an
oscillator, or it may include an oscillator together with additional circuitry. A
filter selects a band of frequencies to pass through, and attenuates signal
components at other frequencies.

Superhetrodyne Receiver

The communications signals transmitted over wireless are at very high

frequencies and so are often referred to as being “at RF.” To demodulate the
signals and detect what was transmitted, the RF section of the receiver often
needs to bring the signal down to around baseband. The superheterodyne
receiver brings the signal from RF down to around baseband in two stages; first,
it down-converts from RF to an intermediate frequency (IF), and second, it
down-converts from IF to around baseband. Having two stages of down-
conversion introduces some challenges.
Noise and distortion are the limiting factors in the RF circuit performance.
Quantifying noise and distortion is necessary to quantify the performance of a
transceiver.
1. NOISE:
Noise is always being picked up by a receiver from the rest of the universe
when a desired signal is being fed into a system. Noises can be introduced into a
circuit during a radio signal transformation. There is one kind of noise, which is
called thermal energy, generated due to the temperature related motion of
charged particles. Thermal energy is caused by atoms and electrons move in a
random way resulting in random currents in a circuit itself. On the other hands,
there are also many other man-made noises coming from outside the circuit
system, such as microwave, cell phones, and even power chargers. In order to
check out how much noise has been added to a source signal, a ratio of the
signal to noise power is defined for a receiver. The sum of thermal noise power
and circuit generated noise presented at the receiver front-end is defined as the
noise floor. To detect a reliable signal, the minimum detectable signal level must
typically be larger than its noise floor.

Thermal Noise:
Resistors are the most possible components that will cause noise in a
circuit. Due to thermal energy, noise will be generated in resistors causing
random currents in the circuit. The formula of thermal noise in spectral density
from resistors can be expressed as follows:
Nresistor = 4kTBR (1)
where, k - Boltzman constant (1.38x10-23 J/K)
T - Kelvin temperature of resistor (300K)
B - Bandwidth
R - Value of Resistor
In additional, thermal noise is also white noise. This means that the
thermal noise involves a constant power spectral density with respect to
frequency. Therefore, to find out how much power is generated in a finite
bandwidth in a resistor, the formula is presented as follows:
Vn2 = 4kTRf (v2/Hz) (2)
where, f - bandwidth
Vn2 - noise voltage in rms value.

Noise power in spectral density respect to frequency.

Usually, the mean value of noise will be zero when noise is random. Therefore,
in order to measure the dissipated noise power, it is needed to use mean square
values. The below figure shows the spectral noise power density with respect to
frequency. A model of resistor noise with a voltage source is as shown below.

Noise Factor and Noise Figure:

The Noise Figure (NF) describes how much noise is added to a signal by
elements of a radio's receiver chain. There are many different ways to define NF,
but the most common definition is,
SNR in
NF 
SNR out (1)
where SNRin is the input SNR due to thermal noise and SNRout is the device
output SNR. The NF provides an indication of how the device degrades the SNR.
The manufacturer of the device usually supplies the NF. In the case of passive
components, the NF equals the loss of the passive components. Thus if a
passive RF filter provides a 3 dB loss of signal, the NF is defined to be 3 dB.
Once the NF is determined, it is possible to provide an equivalent RF
receiver NF, NFtotal, that relates the noise back to the antenna. The Friis
equation allows for the NF of all the devices in the RF chain to be combined.

NF2  1 NF3  1 NF4  1 NF5  1

NFtotal 1  (NF1  1)      ......
G1 G1 G 2 G1 G 2 G 3 G1 G 2 G 3 G 4 (2)

Here NFi represents the NF at the ith stage and Gi represents the gain at the ith
stage. This equation assumes a linear scale, although NF is usually used with a
dB scale. Given a component with a noisy input having noise power Pi-1 dBm,
gain Gi dB, and NF NFi dB, the output noise power Pi dBm is given by

Pi dBm = Pi-1 dBm + NFi dB + Gi dB (3)

Once the overall NF is determined, it is possible to determine the

minimum input signal level discernible by the receiver or the sensitivity of the
receiver to achieve a minimal SNR, SNRmin. Sensitivity, S dBm is calculated with
the basic definition,

S dBm = Noise floor dBm + SNRmin dB (4)

 The NF is calculated from the source thermal noise, its magnification due
to the total NF, and the bandwidth over which this noise exists.
Noise floor dBm = 10 log(kTeB) + NFtotal dB
= 10 log(kTe) dBm + 10 log (B) dB + NFtotal dB (5)
Where, B is the end of the system bandwidth in Hz and Te is taken as its usual
value of room temperature, 290K. For room temperature, the sensitivity
becomes
S = -174 dBm/Hz + NF dB + 10log(B) + SNRmin dB. (6)

Problem:
1. The block diagram of an RF stage of a receiver is as shown in figure. The
transmission line is connected to the antenna, and the output of the mixer goes
to the IF stage. Calculate the Noise factor and sensitivity of the receiver for a
bandwidth of 1 MHz and minimal SNR of 12 dB.

Solution:
The linear values of the gain and individual NFs are
NF1 = 2 NF2 = 1.585 NF3 = 1.585 NF4 = 4
G1 = 0.5 G2 = 0.631 G3 = 10
The total NF is given by

NF2  1 NF3  1 NF4  1 NF5  1

NFtotal 1  (NF1  1)      ......
G1 G1 G 2 G1 G 2 G 3 G1 G 2 G 3 G 4

1.585  1 1.585  1 4 1
NFtotal  1  (2  1)     5.98 Or 7.76dB
0.5 0.5 x0.631 0.5 x0.631x10

So for a bandwidth of 1 MHz and minimal SNR of 12 dB, the sensitivity is

S = -174 dBm/Hz + 60 dB + 7.76 dB + 12 dB
S = -94.24 dB

Flicker noise:
Flicker noise is a type of electronic noise with a 1/f power spectral
density. It is therefore often referred to as 1/f noise or pink noise. device. It is
basically due to variation in the conduction mechanism. There is no
outstanding solution to decreasing it yet, but techniques do exist to minimize
the effect. The power in spectral density of 1/f noise is inversely proportional to
frequency.
2. Distortion Characterization:
Distortion occurs in the RF chain because of the non-linearities in the
system. The distortion takes the form of harmonics, i.e., sinusoidal terms that
occur at multiples of the frequency of an input sinusoid. Distortion can take the
form of cross modulation when a weak signal and a strong interferer enter a
non-linearity and the amplitude of the interferer modifies the amplitude of the
weak signal and vice versa.
In an ideal system, linear time-invariant (LTI) operations is expected
which allows the outputs to be expressed as a linear combination of responses
to inputs. For example, if there are two input signals, x1(t) and x2(t), the outputs
of these signals can be: x1(t)  y1(t), x2(t)  y2(t)
Therefore, a linear system has to be satisfied in the following condition.
a.x1(t) + b.x2(t)  a.y1(t) + b.y2(t)
The relationship between increased input signal power and the output power of
the desired signal and distortion is shown in Figure below. In a linear circuit, a
linear relationship exists between input power and output power, and this
linear relationship is represented as a line with a slope of one in below figure.

MDS = Minimum Detectable Signal (Output Noise Floor)

IIP3 = Third-Order Intercept Point
SFDR =1/3 IIP3 - MDS
OIP3 = Output Referred Third-Order Intercept Point
OIP2 = Output Referred Second-Order Intercept Point
Non-Linear Output Distortion Characterization Using Input Versus Output Power
Characteristics.
However, in any real RF component, the transfer function is much more
complicated. These complexities can be due to active or passive components in
a RF circuit. It is common to have nonlinearity and time variance present in a
system. Mathematically, any nonlinearity function can be written as a series
expansion of power terms. Assume a nonlinear system y(t) = 1.x(t) + 2.x2(t) +
3.x3(t) is memoryless and has an input signal x(t) = Acos(t). where 1, 2, 3
are functions of time. then, the result of the system is,
y(t) = 1. Acos(t)+ 2. A2cos2(t) + 3. A3cos3(t).
Typically a non-linear device output can be modeled as
vo = a0 +a1vin + a2v2in + a3v3in + . . . .
where vin is the input voltage and ais are constant terms. The square term
produces second-order products, and the cubic term represents third-order
products.
For non-linear devices that exhibit a pure cubic characteristic, the third-
order distortion power grows at three times the rate of the desired signal.
Eventually, there is a practical limitation on how much the power of the desired
signal can be raised with a corresponding linear increase in the output signal
level. Eventually the device begins to saturate, and when the actual desired
signal's output power level differs by 1 dB with the desired signal's ideal output
value, the 1 dB compression, point P1dB, is reached. This amplitude
compression characteristic, shown in Figure below, tends to block the detection
of lower level signals in the presence of stronger signals, and the blocking
dynamic range (BDR), i.e., the difference between the minimum detectable
signal (MDS) level and the input that produces a 1 dB compression, quantifies
this effect:
BDR = P1dB - MDS
 1 dB Compression Point

ADC and DAC Distortion:

The ADC and DAC introduce both noise and distortion. The main sources
of noise are quantization noise, internal thermal noise, and sampling aperture
jitter. Quantization noise occurs because of the limited number of states that
can be represented by the ADC and DAC. The round-off or truncation is often
modeled as an additive noise process onto a true signal representation. Thermal
noise is a problem for all components. Aperture jitter (aperture uncertainty), the
result of sampling at unevenly spaced intervals, produces a modulation on the
phase of the signal that is typically modeled as background noise. This type of
distortion is especially apparent for signals that have high frequency content. if
the signal level exceeds the maximum range of the ADC, nonlinear distortion
results.
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