(12) United States Patent
`US 9,154,356 B2
`(10) Patent N0.:
`Tasic et al.
`
`(45) Date of Patent: Oct. 6, 2015
`
`USOO9154356B2
`
`(54)
`
`(75)
`
`LOW NOISE AMPLIFIERS FOR CARRIER
`AGGREGATION
`
`(56)
`
`Inventors: Aleksandar Miodrag Tasic, San Diego,
`CA (US); Anosh Bomi Davierwalla,
`San Diego, CA (US)
`
`(73)
`
`Assignee:
`
`QUALCOMM Incorporated, San
`Diego, CA (US)
`
`(*)
`
`Notice:
`
`Subject to any disclaimer, the term of this
`patent is extended or adjusted under 35
`U.S.C. 154(b) by 0 days.
`
`CN
`CN
`
`References Cited
`U.S. PATENT DOCUMENTS
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`04272671SNEP0400t. 2, 2013.
`
`(Continued)
`
`Appl. No.: 13/590,423
`
`Filed:
`
`Aug. 21, 2012
`Prior Publication Data
`
`Nov. 28, 2013
`US 2013/0315348 A1
`Related US. Application Data
`
`(21)
`
`(22)
`
`(65)
`
`(60)
`
`(51)
`
`Provisional application No. 61/652,064, filed on May
`25, 2012.
`Int. Cl.
`
`Primary Examiner 7 Khanh C Tran
`(74) Attorney, Agent, or Firm 7 Ramin Mobarhan
`
`H04L 27/06
`H04L 27/26
`H03G 3/20
`H03F 1/22
`H03F 3/193
`
`(2006.01)
`(2006.01)
`(2006.01)
`(2006.01)
`(2006.01)
`(Continued)
`
`US. Cl.
`
`(52)
`
`(58)
`
`CPC ............ H04L 27/264 7 (2013.01); H03F 1/223
`(2013.01); H03F 3/193 (2013.01); H03F 3/68
`(2013.01); H03F 3/72 (2013.01); H03G 3/20
`(2013.01)
`
`Field of Classification Search
`CPC . H04L 27/2647; H04L 27/2649; H04L 27/38;
`H03H 7/40; H03G 3/20
`USPC ................. 375/316, 317, 318, 345, 349, 340;
`455/130, 132, 136, 234.1; 370/542
`See application file for complete search history.
`
`(57)
`
`ABSTRACT
`
`Low noise amplifiers (LNAs) supporting carrier aggregation
`are disclosed. In an exemplary design, an apparatus includes
`first and second amplifier stages, e.g., for a carrier aggrega-
`tion (CA) LNA or a multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO)
`LNA. The first amplifier stage receives and amplifies an input
`radio frequency (RF) signal and provides a first output RF
`signal to a first load circuit when the first amplifier stage is
`enabled. The input RF signal includes transmissions sent on
`multiple carriers at different frequencies to a wireless device.
`The second amplifier stage receives and amplifies the input
`RF signal and provides a second output RF signal to a second
`load circuit when the second amplifier stage is enabled. Each
`amplifier stage may include a gain transistor coupled to a
`cascode transistor.
`
`20 Claims, 17 Drawing Sheets
`
`INTEL 1001
`INTEL 1001
`
`2
`
`Amplifi
`Stage _\('D
`
`RXin
`
`Matching
`Circuit
`
`
`
`
`
`
`i :
`
`Amplifier
`i Stage2
`y
`
`

`

`US 9,154,356 B2
`
`Page2
`
`(51)
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`(56)
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`Int. Cl.
`H03F 3/68
`
`H03F 3/72
`
`2006.01
`
`)
`(
`(2006.01)
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`Harmonic Reduction Technique for Cellular CDMNPCS/GPS
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`1992, pp. 898-902, XP010060840, DOI:
`10.1109/
`MILCOM.1992.243977, ISBN: 978-0-7803-0585-4.
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`978-1-61284-235-6 the whole document.
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`on PCB substrate”, IEEE Intl Frequency Control Syrnp, pp. 146-149,
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`[retrieved on Oct. 6, 2009].
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`transceiver RFIC,” IEEE J. Solid-State Circuits, 2005, vol. 40 (8),
`1629-1641.
`Sever et al. “A Dual-Antenna Phase-Array Ultra-Wideband CMOS
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`44, Issue 8, pp. 102-110. See pp. 104-107.
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`
`* cited by examiner
`
`

`

`US. Patent
`
`Oct. 6, 2015
`
`Sheet 1 of 17
`
`US 9,154,356 B2
`
`15
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`
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`

`

`U.S. Patent
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`US. Patent
`
`Oct. 6, 2015
`
`Sheet 3 of 17
`
`US 9,154,356 B2
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`U.S. Patent
`
`Oct. 6, 2015
`
`Sheet 4 of 17
`
`US 9,154,356 B2
`
`440
`
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`
`Switches/
`
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`

`

`US. Patent
`
`Oct. 6, 2015
`
`Sheet 5 of 17
`
`US 9,154,356 B2
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`U.S. Patent
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`US. Patent
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`Oct. 6, 2015
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`Sheet 7 of 17
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`US 9,154,356 B2
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`

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`U.S. Patent
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`US 9,154,356 B2
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`US. Patent
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`Oct. 6, 2015
`
`Sheet 9 of 17
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`US 9,154,356 B2
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`890b
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`

`US. Patent
`
`Oct. 6, 2015
`
`Sheet 10 of 17
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`US 9,154,356 B2
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`US. Patent
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`Oct. 6, 2015
`
`Sheet 11 of 17
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`US 9,154,356 B2
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`US 9,154,356 B2
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`U.S. Patent
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`Oct. 6, 2015
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`Sheet 13 of 17
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`US 9,154,356 B2
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`Oct. 6, 2015
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`Sheet 14 of 17
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`US 9,154,356 B2
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`Oct. 6, 2015
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`Sheet 15 of 17
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`US. Patent
`
`Oct. 6, 2015
`
`Sheet 17 of 17
`
`US 9,154,356 B2
`
`Enable first and second amplifier
`stages in a first/CA mode
`
`1300
`1312 V
`
`1314
`
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`and disable the second amplifier
`
`stage in a second/non-CA mode
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`
`1316
`
`Amplify a first input RF signal with the first
`amplifier stage to obtain a first output RF
`signal when the first amplifier stage is
`enabled, the first input RF signal comprising
`transmissions sent on multiple carriers at
`different frequencies to a wireless device
`
`Amplify the first input RF signal or a second
`input RF signal with the second amplifier
`stage to obtain a second output RF signal
`
`1318
`
`End
`
`FIG. 13
`
`

`

`US 9,154,356 B2
`
`1
`LOW NOISE AMPLIFIERS FOR CARRIER
`AGGREGATION
`
`2
`
`FIG. 13 shows a process for receiving signals in a wireless
`system.
`
`CLAIM OF PRIORITY UNDER 35 U.S.C. §119
`
`DETAILED DESCRIPTION
`
`The present Application for Patent claims priority to Pro-
`visional US. Application Ser. No. 61/652,064, entitled
`“LOW NOISE AMPLIFIERS FOR CARRIER AGGREGA-
`
`TION,” filed May 25, 2012, assigned to the assignee hereof,
`and expressly incorporated herein by reference.
`
`10
`
`BACKGROUND
`
`I. Field
`
`The present disclosure relates generally to electronics, and
`more specifically to low noise amplifiers (LNAs).
`II. Background
`A wireless device (e.g., a cellular phone or a smartphone)
`in a wireless communication system may transmit and receive
`data for two-way communication. The wireless device may
`include a transmitter for data transmission and a receiver for
`
`data reception. For data transmission, the transmitter may
`modulate a radio frequency (RF) carrier signal with data to
`obtain a modulated RF signal, amplify the modulated RF
`signal to obtain an amplified RF signal having the proper
`output power level, and transmit the amplified RF signal via
`an antenna to a base station. For data reception, the receiver
`may obtain a received RF signal via the antenna and may
`amplify and process the received RF signal to recover data
`sent by the base station.
`A wireless device may support carrier aggregation, which
`is simultaneous operation on multiple carriers. A carrier may
`refer to a range of frequencies used for communication and
`may be associated with certain characteristics. For example, a
`carrier may be associated with system information describing
`operation on the carrier. A carrier may also be referred to as a
`component carrier (CC), a frequency channel, a cell, etc. It is
`desirable to efficiently support carrier aggregation by the
`wireless device.
`
`BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
`
`FIG. 1 shows a wireless device communicating with a
`wireless system.
`FIGS. 2A to 2D show four examples of carrier aggregation
`(CA).
`FIG. 3 shows a block diagram ofthe wireless device in FIG.
`
`1.
`
`FIGS. 4A and 4B show a receiver supporting intra-band
`CA.
`
`FIGS. 5A and 5B show a receiver supporting intra-band
`CA and inter-band CA.
`
`15
`
`20
`
`25
`
`30
`
`35
`
`40
`
`45
`
`50
`
`FIGS. 6A to 6C show an LNA with inductive degeneration
`and cascode shutoff.
`
`55
`
`FIG. 7 shows an LNA with inductive degeneration, cas-
`code shutoff, and resistive feedback.
`FIG. 8A shows an LNA with a separate input attenuation
`circuit for each amplifier stage.
`FIG. 8B shows an LNA with a shared input attenuation
`circuit for two amplifier stages.
`FIG. 9 shows an LNA with a tunable input matching cir-
`cuit.
`
`FIGS. 10 to 11C show several exemplary designs of a
`multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) LNA.
`FIGS. 12A to 12F show six exemplary designs of a tunable
`input matching circuit.
`
`60
`
`65
`
`The detailed description set forth below is intended as a
`description of exemplary designs of the present disclosure
`and is not intended to represent the only designs in which the
`present disclosure can be practiced. The term “exemplary” is
`used herein to mean “serving as an example, instance, or
`illustration.” Any design described herein as “exemplary” is
`not necessarily to be construed as preferred or advantageous
`over other designs. The detailed description includes specific
`details for the purpose ofproviding a thorough understanding
`of the exemplary designs of the present disclosure. It will be
`apparent to those skilled in the art that the exemplary designs
`described herein may be practiced without these specific
`details. In some instances, well-known structures and devices
`are shown in block diagram form in order to avoid obscuring
`the novelty of the exemplary designs presented herein.
`LNAs supporting carrier aggregation are disclosed herein.
`These LNAs may have better performance and may be used
`for various types of electronic devices such as wireless com-
`munication devices.
`
`FIG. 1 shows a wireless device 110 communicating with a
`wireless communication system 120. Wireless system 120
`may be a Long Term Evolution (LTE) system, a Code Divi-
`sion Multiple Access (CDMA) system, a Global System for
`Mobile Communications (GSM) system, a wireless local area
`network (WLAN) system, or some other wireless system. A
`CDMA system may
`implement Wideband CDMA
`(WCDMA), cdma2000, or some other version of CDMA. For
`simplicity, FIG. 1 shows wireless system 120 including two
`base stations 130 and 132 and one system controller 140. In
`general, a wireless system may include any number of base
`stations and any set of network entities.
`Wireless device 110 may also be referred to as a user
`equipment (UE), a mobile station, a terminal, an access ter-
`minal, a subscriber unit, a station, etc. Wireless device 110
`may be a cellular phone, a smartphone, a tablet, a wireless
`modem, a personal digital assistant
`(PDA), a handheld
`device, a laptop computer, a smartbook, a netbook, a cordless
`phone, a wireless local loop (WLL) station, a Bluetooth
`device, etc. Wireless device 110 may be capable of commu-
`nicating with wireless system 120. Wireless device 110 may
`also be capable of receiving signals from broadcast stations
`(e.g., a broadcast station 134), signals from satellites (e.g., a
`satellite 150) in one or more global navigation satellite sys-
`tems (GNSS), etc. Wireless device 110 may support one or
`more radio technologies for wireless communication such as
`LTE, cdma2000, WCDMA, GSM, 802.11, etc.
`Wireless device 110 may support carrier aggregation,
`which is operation on multiple carriers. Carrier aggregation
`may also be referred to as multi-carrier operation. Wireless
`device 110 may be able to operate in low-band from 698 to
`960 megahertz (MHZ), mid-band from 1475 to 2170 MHZ,
`and/or high-band from 2300 to 2690 and 3400 to 3800 MHZ.
`Low-band, mid-band, and high-band refer to three groups of
`bands (or band groups), with each band group including a
`number of frequency bands (or simply, “bands”). Each band
`may cover up to 200 MHZ and may include one or more
`carriers. Each carrier may cover up to 20 MHZ in LTE. LTE
`Release 11 supports 35 bands, which are referred to as LTE/
`UMTS bands and are listed in 3GPP TS 36.101. Wireless
`
`device 110 may be configured with up to 5 carriers in one or
`two bands in LTE Release 11.
`
`

`

`US 9,154,356 B2
`
`3
`In general, carrier aggregation (CA) may be categorized
`into two typesiintra-band CA and inter-band CA. Intra-
`band CA refers to operation on multiple carriers within the
`same band. Inter-band CA refers to operation on multiple
`carriers in different bands.
`
`FIG. 2A shows an example of contiguous intra-band CA.
`In the example shown in FIG. 2A, wireless device 110 is
`configured with four contiguous carriers in the same band,
`which is a band in low-band. Wireless device 110 may receive
`transmissions on multiple contiguous carriers within the
`same band.
`
`FIG. 2B shows an example of non-contiguous intra-band
`CA. In the example shown in FIG. 2B, wireless device 110 is
`configured with four non-contiguous carriers in the same
`band, which is a band in low-band. The carriers may be
`separated by 5 MHZ, 10 MHZ, or some other amount. Wire-
`less device 110 may receive transmissions on multiple non-
`contiguous carriers within the same band.
`FIG. 2C shows an example of inter-band CA in the same
`band group. In the example shown in FIG. 2C, wireless device
`110 is configured with four carriers in two bands in the same
`band group, which is low-band. Wireless device 110 may
`receive transmissions on multiple carriers in different bands
`in the same band group (e.g., low-band in FIG. 2C).
`FIG. 2D shows an example of inter-band CA in different
`band groups. In the example shown in FIG. 2D, wireless
`device 110 is configured with four carriers in two bands in
`different band groups, which include two carriers in one band
`in low-band and two additional carriers in another band in
`
`mid-band. Wireless device 110 may receive transmissions on
`multiple carriers in different bands in different band groups
`(e.g., low-band and mid-band in FIG. 2D).
`FIGS. 2A to 2D show four examples ofcarrier aggregation.
`Carrier aggregation may also be supported for other combi-
`nations ofbands andband groups. For example, carrier aggre-
`gation may be supported for low-band and high-band, mid-
`band and high-band, high-band and high-band, etc.
`FIG. 3 shows a block diagram of an exemplary design of
`wireless device 110 in FIG. 1. In this exemplary design,
`wireless device 110 includes a transceiver 320 coupled to a
`primary antenna 310, receivers 322 coupled to a secondary
`antenna 312, and a data processor/controller 380. Transceiver
`320 includes multiple (K) receivers 3301111 to 33011k and mul-
`tiple (K) transmitters 36011 to 360kto support multiple bands,
`carrier aggregation, multiple radio technologies, etc. Receiv-
`ers 322 include multiple (M) receivers 330b11 to 330bm to
`support multiple bands, carrier aggregation, multiple radio
`technologies, receive diversity, MIMO transmission, etc.
`In the exemplary design shown in FIG. 3, each receiver 330
`includes input circuits 332, an LNA 340, and receive circuits
`342. For data reception, antenna 310 receives signals from
`base stations and/or other transmitter stations and provides a
`received RF signal, which is routed through switches/duplex-
`ers 324 and provided to a selected receiver. The description
`below assumes that receiver 3301111 is the selected receiver.
`
`is passed
`Within receiver 33011a, the received RF signal
`through input circuits 33211a, which provides an input RF
`signal to an LNA 34011a. Input circuits 3321111 may include a
`matching circuit, a receive filter, etc. LNA 3401111 amplifies
`the input RF signal and provides an output RF signal. Receive
`circuits 3421111 amplify, filter, and downconvert the output RF
`signal from RF to baseband and provide an analog input
`signal to data processor 380. Receive circuits 3321111 may
`include mixers, a filter, an amplifier, a matching circuit, an
`oscillator, a local oscillator (LO) generator, a phase locked
`loop (PLL), etc. Each remaining receiver 330 in transceiver
`
`10
`
`15
`
`20
`
`25
`
`30
`
`35
`
`40
`
`45
`
`50
`
`55
`
`60
`
`65
`
`4
`
`320 and each receiver 330 in receivers 322 may operate in
`similar manner as receiver 3301111 in transceiver 320.
`
`In the exemplary design shown in FIG. 3, each transmitter
`360 includes transmit circuits 362, a power amplifier (PA)
`364, and output circuits 366. For data transmission, data
`processor 380 processes (e.g., encodes and modulates) data to
`be transmitted and provides an analog output signal to a
`selected transmitter. The description below assumes that
`transmitter 36011 is the selected transmitter. Within transmit-
`
`ter 36011, transmit circuits 36211 amplify, filter, and upconvert
`the analog output signal