Amplifier arrangement for ultra-wideband applications and method

• US 20070085617A1
• Filed: 10/10/2006
• Published: 04/19/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 10/10/2005
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Infineon Technologies AG
• Original Assignee: Infineon Technologies AG
• Inventors: Salerno, Raffaele
• Application Number:
  US11/545,269
• Publication Number:
  US 20070085617A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 331/167
• CPC Class Codes: H03B 2200/0074 Locking of an oscillator by injecting an input signal directly into the oscillator
• CPC Class Codes: H03B 2200/0078 generating or using signals in quadrature
• CPC Class Codes: H03B 5/1212 the amplifier comprising a pair of transistors, wherein an output terminal of each being connected to an input terminal of the other, e.g. a cross coupled pair
• CPC Class Codes: H03B 5/1228 the amplifier comprising one or more field effect transistors
• CPC Class Codes: H03B 5/1256 the means comprising a variable inductance
• CPC Class Codes: H03F 1/42 Modifications of amplifiers to extend the bandwidth
• CPC Class Codes: H03F 1/565 using inductive elements
• CPC Class Codes: H03F 2200/294 the amplifier being a low noise amplifier [LNA]
• CPC Class Codes: H03F 2200/36 the amplifier comprising means for increasing the bandwidth
• CPC Class Codes: H03F 2200/372 Noise reduction and elimination in amplifier
• CPC Class Codes: H03F 2203/45638 the LC comprising one or more coils
• CPC Class Codes: H03F 2203/45641 the LC being controlled, e.g. by a signal derived from a non specified place in the dif amp circuit
• CPC Class Codes: H03F 2203/45704 the LC comprising one or more parallel resonance circuits
• CPC Class Codes: H03F 2203/45726 the LC comprising more than one switch, which are not cross coupled
• CPC Class Codes: H03F 3/191 Tuned amplifiers H03F3/193, H03F3/195 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H03F 3/45188 Non-folded cascode stages
• CPC Class Codes: H03J 2200/10 Tuning of a resonator by means of digitally controlled capacitor bank
• CPC Class Codes: H03J 2200/15 Tuning of resonator by means of digitally controlled inductor bank
• CPC Class Codes: H03J 3/22 of single resonant circuit by varying inductance and capacitance simultaneously

Abstract

An amplifier arrangement for ultra-wideband, UWB, applications and. a method to amplify a UWB signal are presented. A transistor, whose control input forms an input of the arrangement, is connected to a resonant circuit having a controllable resonator frequency. At the resonator circuit, an output of the arrangement is formed. The resonant circuit includes a frequency determining inductance whose value is controllable. By doing this, it is possible to preselect different frequency bands, while achieving the same gain characteristics in each band.

Claims

1. An amplifier arrangement for ultra-wideband applications, comprising:

a signal input configured to receive an input signal;

a resonant circuit having a controllable resonator frequency comprising at least one frequency determining capacitance and at least one frequency determining inductance, wherein the value of the inductance is controllable;

at least one transistor operably coupled to the resonant circuit and comprising a control input connected to the signal input of the amplifier arrangement; and

a signal output configured to output an amplified signal, the signal output coupled to the resonant circuit.

2. The amplifier arrangement of claim 1, further comprising at least one switch connected to the frequency determining inductance, the at least one switch configured to control its value by switching the inductance between a first and at least a second value of inductance.

3. The amplifier arrangement of claim 2, wherein the inductance comprises a first and second series-connected inductors, and wherein one switch is connected in parallel to the first inductor, and another switch is connected in parallel with the first and second inductors.

4. The amplifier arrangement of claim 2, wherein the frequency determining inductance is formed symmetrically having two pairs of inductors, two of which are in each case connected to each other at a tap node, the tap nodes being selectively to each other via the switch.

5. The amplifier arrangement of claim 1, further comprising a control device configured to receive a channel word, and configured to control the frequency determining inductance as a function of the channel word.

6. The amplifier arrangement of claim 5, wherein the control device is connected at an output thereof to a control input of at least one switch that is configured to selectively alter an inductance of the frequency determining inductance.

7. The amplifier arrangement claim 1, wherein the resonant circuit of the amplifier arrangement is formed symmetrically.

8. The amplifier arrangement of claim 1, wherein the at least one frequency determining capacitance comprises a parasitic capacitance.

9. The amplifier arrangement of claim 1, wherein the at least one transistor comprises an integrated metal isolator semiconductor device.

10. The amplifier arrangement of claim 1, wherein the at least one frequency determining capacitance is controllable, thereby providing a fine tuning of a resonant frequency of the resonant circuit.

11. The amplifier arrangement of claim 1, further comprising a cascode stage coupled between the at least one transistor and the resonant circuit.

12. The amplifier arrangement of claim 1, wherein the at least one inductance comprises a spiral device formed in integrated circuitry, having one or more sets of coupling taps associated therewith, and configured to alter an inductance associated therewith based on a selective shorting of one of the sets of coupling taps.

13. The amplifier arrangement of claim 1 configured in a receiver comprising an antenna and a signal processing unit, wherein the amplifier arrangement is coupled between an antenna and a signal processing unit.

14. The amplifier arrangement claim 1 configured in a radio frequency mixer, the arrangement comprising an additional signal input configured to receive a signal having a mixing frequency, the further signal input connected to a control input of a further transistor, wherein the further transistor and the transistor are connected to each other to form a multiplier core.

15. The amplifier arrangement of claim 1 configured in a frequency divider, wherein the at least one transistor is connected to further transistors to form a flip-flop representing the frequency divider.

16. The amplifier arrangement of claim 1 configured in a clock generator, wherein the amplifier arrangement is arranged in a ring oscillator that is controlled by a phase shifter and an injection amplifier.

17. A method to amplify an ultra-wideband signal, comprising:

amplifying an input signal with a transistor that is connected to a resonant circuit including an electric load;

controlling a value of an inductance of the electric load based on a predetermined channel word, the load of the resonant circuit comprising the inductance and a capacitance;

providing an amplified signal at an output node of the resonant circuit.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein controlling the value of the inductance is performed in discrete steps.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the inductance is controlled by the channel word that is formulated in response to a predetermined channel hopping procedure.

20. The method of claim 17, further comprising controlling a value of the capacitance for a fine-tuning of the desired frequency range.