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Integration of a novel CMOS-compatible magnetoelectric antenna with a low-noise amplifier and a tunable input matching

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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 µm MEMS-compatible 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.

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank the XFAB foundry for providing access to the 0.35 µm process design kit.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Electrical and Computer Engineering Department, Northeastern University, 360 Huntington Ave, Boston, MA, 02115, USA

    Mehdi Nasrollahpour, Anthony Romano, Mohsen Zaeimbashi, **anfeng Liang, Huaihao Chen, Neville Sun, Shadi Emam, Marvin Onabajo & Nian **ang Sun

  2. Winchester Technologies, LLC, 21 A Street, Burlington, MA, 01803, USA

    Nian **ang Sun

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  1. Mehdi Nasrollahpour
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  2. Anthony Romano
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  3. Mohsen Zaeimbashi
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  4. **anfeng Liang
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  5. Huaihao Chen
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  6. Neville Sun
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  7. Shadi Emam
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  9. Nian **ang Sun
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Correspondence to Nian **ang Sun.

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Nasrollahpour, M., Romano, A., Zaeimbashi, M. et al. Integration of a novel CMOS-compatible magnetoelectric antenna with a low-noise amplifier and a tunable input matching. Analog Integr Circ Sig Process 105, 407–415 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10470-020-01721-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10470-020-01721-x

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