Tunable Low Noise Amplifier for Wireless Interrogation of a SAW Sensor

A project for ECE 547 "VLSI Design" - Spring Semester 2014
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
University of Maine

Designed by: Anin Maskay

The design, schematic, layout, and simulation of a tunable Low Noise Amplifier (LNA) for wireless interrogation of a one port Surface Acoustic Wave (SAW) resonator based sensor is described in this report. The SAW sensors have resonant frequencies ranging from 285MHz to 345MHz and a high quality factor. The narrowband LNA, which operates between 303MHz and 356MHz, is designed using a 0.18μm CMOS technology in Cadence. Two port analysis of the LNA shows that at 330MHz the LNA has a gain of 12.8dB and Noise Figure (NF) of 3.65dB while drawing 6mA of current. The lowest simulated gain for the design is 11.5dB at 303MHz and the highest simulated noise figure is 3.74dB at 356MHz.

The project report contains a description of the project and details of the design and layout.

The test results and an improved LNA design are described in the test report.