Integration of a novel CMOS-compatible magnetoelectric antenna with a low-noise amplifier and a tunable input matching
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Integration of a novel CMOS-compatible magnetoelectric antenna with a low-noise amplifier and a tunable input matching Mehdi Nasrollahpour1 • Anthony Romano1 • Mohsen Zaeimbashi1 • Xianfeng Liang1 • Huaihao Chen1 Neville Sun1 • Shadi Emam1 • Marvin Onabajo1 • Nian Xiang Sun1,2
•
Received: 14 July 2020 / Revised: 14 July 2020 / Accepted: 24 September 2020 Ó Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature 2020
Abstract A low-noise amplifier (LNA) topology with tunable input matching and noise cancellation is introduced and described in this paper, which was designed and optimized to interface with a magnetoelectric (ME) antenna in a 0.35 lm MEMScompatible CMOS process. Compared to conventional antennas, acoustically actuated ME antennas have significantly smaller area for ease of integration. The LNA was simulated with an ME antenna model that was constructed based on antenna measurements. Input matching at the LNA-antenna interface is controlled with a circuit that varies the effective impedance of the gate inductor using a control voltage. Tunability of 455 MHz around 2.4 GHz is achieved for the optimum S11 frequency with a control voltage range of 0.3–1.2 V. The proposed LNA has a noise cancelling feedback loop that improves the noise figure by 4.1 dB. The post-layout simulation results of the LNA show a 1-dB compression point of – 7.4 dBm with an S21 of 17.8 dB. Keywords Low-noise amplifier Magnetoelectric antenna Tunable matching network Acoustic waves Mechanical resonance
1 Introduction Miniaturization of devices and sensor nodes is a key characteristic of innovative technologies to realize the Internet of Things (IoT). Often, the majority of the area in a receiver is occupied by its antenna and packaging, and routing to these elements can lead to significant degradation of performance in radio frequency (RF) systems. By integrating an antenna on the die or within the same package of die with the RF circuits, the impacts from parasitics and overall size of the system can be greatly reduced [1]. Recent advances in multiferroic devices have allowed for the miniaturization of antennas by up to two orders of magnitude by resonating at the acoustic & Nian Xiang Sun [email protected] 1
Electrical and Computer Engineering Department, Northeastern University, 360 Huntington Ave, Boston, MA 02115, USA
2
Winchester Technologies, LLC, 21 A Street, Burlington, MA 01803, USA
wavelength as opposed to the traditional electrical wavelength [2–4]. These magnetoelectric (ME) antennas can also be utilized for magnetic field detection and energy harvesting to create complex and compact sensor nodes [5]. Furthermore, the CMOS compatibility of multiferroic antennas makes them a prime candidate for integration directly onto a silicon wafer with RF receivers for a complete system-on-a-chip. The resonant frequency of multiferroic antennas can be tuned by adjusting the thickness of the device, which is advantageous for narrowband RF front-ends that operate in the Industrial, Scientific, and Medical (IS
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