MEMS varactor enabled frequency-reconfigurable LNA and PA in the upper UHF band

Abstract

A low-power frequency-reconfigurable narrowband LNA and PA have been designed using tunable RF-MEMS passives in a 0.35 mum BiCMOS process. The LNA's operating frequency varies from 2.7 GHz to 3.1 GHz and the PA's operating frequency varies from 2.7 GHz to 3.2 GHz (using the current 2.5:1 varactor tuning range; next generation varactors have 6.9:1 tuning range). With only 2.5 mW of power the LNA attains (S <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">21</sub> , NF) of (7.7 dB, 4.2 dB) at 2.7 GHz and (10.2 dB, 4.8 dB) at 3.1 GHz. The PA delivers 10.1-13.7 dBm of power and has a PAE of 7.5-17% depending on the frequency.