Driver Am plifier B FQ 790 f or G S M9 00 Cell ular R epea ter A p p li ca ti on s Application Note : AN460 About this document Scope and purpose Application note describes a driver amplifier circuit that uses Infineon’s medium-power SiGe bipolar transistor BFQ790. This driver amplifier is designed for GSM900 (cellular repeaters) appplications. 1. This application note presents the measurement results of a driver amplifier design for 900 MHz application purposes. 2. BFQ790 is a single stage driver amplifier provides high linearity and high gain. 3. Key performance paramerters achieved (at 915 MHz) a. Gain = 20 dB b. Input return loss = 11 dB c. Output return loss =10 dB d. Output P1dB = 27 dBm e. Output IP3 = 38.7 dBm 1 Revision 2.0, 2016-01-15 BFQ790 Driver Amplifier for GSM900 Application Table of Contents Table of Contents ........................................................................................................................ 2 List of Figures ............................................................................................................................. 3 1 1.1 1.2 Introduction ............................................................................................................... 4 BFQ790 as Driver Amplifier for GSM900 Cellular Repeaters .............................................................. 4 Infineon Driver Amplifier Family ......................................................................................................... 5 2 2.1 Driver Amplifier BFQ790 for GSM900 Cellular Repeater Applications ................................ 6 Performance Overview........................................................................................................................ 6 3 Measurement Graphs .................................................................................................. 8 4 Evaluation Board and Layout Information ................................................................... 13 5 Authors .................................................................................................................... 14 Application Note AN460 2 Revision 2.0, 2016-01-15 BFQ790 Driver Amplifier for GSM900 Application List of Figures Figure 1 Figure 2 Figure 3 Figure 4 Figure 5 Figure 6 Figure 7 Figure 8 Figure 9 Figure 10 Figure 11 Figure 12 Schematic of the BFQ790 Application Circuit for GSM900................................................................. 7 Insertion Power Gain of the BFQ790 Driver Amplifier ........................................................................ 8 Input Matching of the BFQ790 Driver Amplifier ................................................................................. 8 Input Matching of the BFQ790 Driver Amplifier ................................................................................. 9 Output Matching of the BFQ790 Driver Amplifier............................................................................... 9 Output Matching of the BFQ790 Driver Amplifier............................................................................. 10 Reverse Isolation of the BFQ790 Driver Amplifier ............................................................................ 10 Output 1dB Compression Point ........................................................................................................ 11 Carrier to IM3 Ratio of the BFQ790 Driver Amplifier......................................................................... 11 Stability Mu1, Mu2 - factors of the BFQ790 Driver Amplifier ............................................................ 12 Photo of Evaluation Board (overview).............................................................................................. 13 Photo of Evaluation Board (detailed view) ...................................................................................... 13 List of Tables Table 1 Table 2 Summary of Measurement Results ..................................................................................................... 6 Bill-of-Materials ................................................................................................................................... 7 1) The graphs are generated with the simulation program AWR Microwave Office®. Application Note AN460 3 Revision 2.0, 2016-01-15 BFQ790 Driver Amplifier for GSM900 Application 1 Introduction 1.1 BFQ790 as Driver Amplifier for GSM900 Cellular Repeaters In the procedure normally used for effecting radio transmissions between base stations and cellpnes, when the strength of the signal from the base station falls below minimum levels (as the mobilephone moves from one point to another), the mobilephone does not transfer the transmission in progress to another station without interruption. Now, thanks to the capability of transmitting data between bas station and mobile phones, a transmission can be transferred without interruption from a base station to an adjacent fixed station which is closer to the mobile phone. Besides an insufficient number of cells, the following factors - Road, railway and subway tunnels - Buildings that are especially well-shielded - Radio-electric shadow areas (city centres) - Mountainous or hilly areas Zones without cells, where the coverage is necessarily limited. The situation involving tunnels is the most clear-cut case. The other cases can be resolved by increasing the density of the cells; however, this solution may not be advantageous because the radio-frequency signals may be reflected (especially in mountainous or shadow areas), which causes spurious handovers and probable losses of transmissions. As was described above, the coverage limits of radio base stations can be extended by using cellular repeaters that retransmit a band of carriers from the nearest radio base station into the area or environment to be served. The simplest method for reaching this goal is to use a radio reception/transmission antenna pointed toward the nearest radio base station, a bi-directional amplifier and a radiating element (for example, an antenna) whose spatial transmission characteristics (range, angle of aperture and angle of curvature) can be controlled sufficiently. As can be seen in figure 1, an antenna-antenna type of cellular repeater system is made up of an RBS antenna, a radio-frequency amplifier and an RMA antenna. The signal received by the RBS antenna (from the closest RBS, which is called the "donor RBS"), is amplified and sent to the RMA antenna, which is pointed toward the shadow area to be "illuminated". The signal from the mobile station, which is received by the RMA antenna, is treated in the same way and sent to the donor RBS. RBS ANTENNA RMA ANTENNA DUPLEXER DUPLEXER Application Note AN460 4 Revision 2.0, 2016-01-15 BFQ790 Driver Amplifier for GSM900 Application Figure 1 Bi-directional cellular repeater 1.2 Infineon Driver Amplifier Family The driver amplifier, also known as a gain block, is an important functional block in RF transceiver systems requiring high output power. The Power Amplifier (PA), the final stage of a signal-amplifier chain, requires a certain input power level to operate in the linear mode, which usually cannot be delivered by the transceiver IC directly. In these cases, external one or two stage driver amplifiers are required. Driver amplifiers are generally operated in linear Class-A mode to enable high linearity and high gain, thereby keeping spurious signals generated by the PA low by reducing intermodulation products. Class-A amplifiers are also the right choice for broadband operation at low power levels. BFQ790 and BFP780 are general-purpose medium-power transistors in Infineon’s Silicon Germanium (SiGe) product portfolio for wireless infrastructure applications. These applications include mobile basestation transceivers, cellular repeaters, the industrial, scientic and medical (ISM) radio band amplifiers, and test equipment. Their operating frequency range can be as high as 3.6 GHz, and the application circuit can be optimized for specific frequency bands with external matching components. The BFQ790 is a single-stage driver amplifier with very high linearity. Its output 1dB compression point is 27 dBm. The device is housed in the halogen-free industry-standard package SOT89. The high thermal conductivity of silicon substrate and the low thermal resistance of the package add up to a thermal resistance of only 35 K/W, which leads to moderate junction temperatures even at high dissipated power values. The proper die attach with good thermal contact is 100% tested, so that there is minimum variation of thermal properties. The device is based on Infineon's reliable and cost-effective NPN SiGe technology running in high volume. The collector design allows safe operation with 5 V supply voltage. The BFQ790 is very rugged. A special collector design protects it from thermal runaway secondary breakdown, which makes it rugged when exposed to mismatch at the output. The special design of the emitter/base diode makes it robust and allows for high maximum RF input power. In this application note, the driver application cirucit of BFQ790 for ISM Band (890 - 960 MHz) and its measurement results are presented. The BFQ790 driver provides 20 dB gain in the frequency range of 890 to 960 MHz. The output 1dB compression point (OP1dB) is 27 dBm measured at 915 MHz. Besides, in two-tone test with tone spacing of 1 MHz, the output third order intercept point (OIP3) reaches 38.75 dBm. Application Note AN460 5 Revision 2.0, 2016-01-15 BFQ790 Driver Amplifier for GSM900 Application 2 Driver Amplifier BFQ790 for GSM900 Cellular Repeater Applications 2.1 Performance Overview Table 1 Device: BFP740FESD Application: Driver Amplifier BFQ790 for GSM900 Cellular Repeater Applications PCB Marking: M15211 Summary of Measurement Results Parameter Symbol Value Unit DC Voltage VCC 5 DC Current ICq 260 mA Frequency Freq 890 - 960 MHz Gain G Input Return Loss RLin Output Return Loss V dB 20 11.5 dB RLout 10 dB Reverse Isolation IRev 30 dB Output P1dB OP1dB 27 dBm Output IP3 OIP3 38.7 dBm Stability µ1, µ2 >1 -- Application Note AN460 Comments/Test Conditions 6 Vcc = 5 V, Icc = 260 mA, the PCB and SMA losses (0.1 dB) are substracted. Measured at 915 MHz Power @ Input: 14 dBm f1 = 915 MHz, f2 = 916 MHz Measured up to 10 GHz Revision 2.0, 2016-01-15 BFQ790 Driver Amplifier for GSM900 Application 2.2 Schematic and Bill-of-Materials Figure 1 Schematic of the BFQ790 Application Circuit for GSM900 Bill-of-Materials Table 2 Symbol Value Unit Q1 BFQ790 C1 8 C2 Size Manufacturer Comment SOT89 Infineon SiGe driver transistor pF 0402 Various Input matching & DC blocking 5.6 pF 0402 Various Output matching & DC blocking C3 47 nF 0402 Various RF bypass C4 56 pF 0402 Various RF bypass C5 10 nF 0402 Various RF bypass L1 2 nH 0402 Murata LQG Input matching L2 3 nH 0402 Murata LQG Input matching L3 5.6 nH 0402 Murata LQG RF chock & Input matching R1 100 Ω 0402 Various DC biasing R2 400 Ω 0402 Various DC biasing Application Note AN460 7 Revision 2.0, 2016-01-15 BFQ790 Driver Amplifier for GSM900 Application 3 Measurement Graphs Gain 25 890 MHz 20.24 dB 20 960 MHz 20.11 dB @ -10°C 960 MHz 19.7 dB 890 MHz 19.82 dB @ +25°C S21 (dB) 15 890 MHz 19.38 dB 10 960 MHz 19.29 dB @ +55°C 5 0 -5 500 1000 1500 2000 Frequency (MHz) Figure 2 Insertion Power Gain of the BFQ790 Driver Amplifier Input Return Loss 10 5 S11 (dB) 0 -5 890 MHz -11.87 dB 960 MHz -11.45 dB @ -10°C 890 MHz -12.29 dB 960 MHz -11.57 dB @ +25°C 890 MHz -12.76 dB 960 MHz -11.73 dB -10 -15 @ +55°C -20 -25 500 1000 1500 2000 Frequency (MHz) Figure 3 Input Matching of the BFQ790 Driver Amplifier Application Note AN460 8 Revision 2.0, 2016-01-15 BFQ790 Driver Amplifier for GSM900 Application Swp Max 1000MHz 10.0 5.0 4.0 3.0 2.0 1.0 0.8 Figure 4 Swp Min 800MHz -1.0 -0.8 -0 .6 -2 .0 .0 0.4 0.6 960 MHz r 0.644965 x -0.259193 -3 0 10.0 0 .4 890 MHz r 0.919353 x 0.46648 960 MHz r 0.642484 x -0.244767 0 5.0 0 0.2 0.2 -0 4. -10.0 4 - 960 MHz r 0.642132 x -0.230808 0.2 0 -4 . 0. @ +55°C 3. 890 MHz r 0.915795 x 0.489307 -5. 890 MHz r 0.920645 x 0.442214 @ +25°C 2. 0 0. 6 0.8 1.0 Input Matching @ -10°C Input Matching of the BFQ790 Driver Amplifier Output Return Loss 10 5 960 MHz -9.249 dB S22 (dB) 0 890 MHz -14.4 dB -5 @ -10°C @ +25°C -10 960 MHz -9.904 dB 890 MHz -14.6 dB -15 890 MHz -14.85 dB @ +55°C 960 MHz -10.7 dB -20 500 1000 1500 2000 Frequency (MHz) Figure 5 Output Matching of the BFQ790 Driver Amplifier Application Note AN460 9 Revision 2.0, 2016-01-15 BFQ790 Driver Amplifier for GSM900 Application Swp Max 1000MHz 0 2. @ +25°C 0. 6 0.8 1.0 Output Matching @ -10°C 0. 3. 890 MHz r 1.33385 x 0.227477 4 @ +55°C 0 4. 0.2 10.0 5.0 4.0 3.0 2.0 1.0 0.8 0.6 0.4 0 10.0 .0 Swp Min 800MHz -1.0 -0.8 .6 -2 .0 -3 -0 .0 960 MHz r 0.633758 x -0.375389 .4 0 -0 960 MHz r 0.67382 x -0.363788 -4 960 MHz r 0.5972 x -0.380519 -10.0 2 -5. 0.2 890 MHz r 1.37864 x 0.18785 890 MHz r 1.41614 x 0.139616 -0. 0 5.0 Output Matching of the BFQ790 Driver Amplifier Figure 6 Reverse Isolation -20 960 MHz -29.646 dB S12 (dB) -40 960 MHz -29.637 dB -60 890 MHz -30.321 dB 960 MHz -29.709 dB @ -10°C 890 MHz -30.293 dB @ +25°C -80 890 MHz -30.259 dB @ +55°C -100 0 Figure 7 2000 4000 6000 Frequency (MHz) 8000 10000 Reverse Isolation of the BFQ790 Driver Amplifier Application Note AN460 10 Revision 2.0, 2016-01-15 BFQ790 Driver Amplifier for GSM900 Application OIP1dB 22 @ -10°C 10 dBm 20.4 Gain (dB) 21 @ +25°C 27.7 dBm 19.4 @ +55°C 10 dBm 20 20 27.18 dBm 19 10 dBm 19.7 19 26.7 dBm 18.7 18 10 Figure 8 15 20 Output Power (dBm) 25 28 Output 1dB Compression Point CIMR3 Carrier to IMP3 Ratio (dBc) 70 14 dBm 54.5 60 Left @ -10°C Right @ +25°C Right @ -10°C Left @ +55°C Left @ +25°C Right @ +55°C 50 14 dBm 49 14 dBm 49.5 40 30 10 Figure 9 11 12 13 14 Output Power (dBm) 15 16 17 Carrier to IM3 Ratio of the BFQ790 Driver Amplifier Application Note AN460 11 Revision 2.0, 2016-01-15 BFQ790 Driver Amplifier for GSM900 Application Stability 2 Mu1, Mu2 1.5 1 Mu1 @ -10°C Mu2 @ +25°C Mu2 @ -10°C Mu1 @ +55°C Mu1 @ +25°C Mu2 @ +55°C 0.5 0 100 Figure 10 2100 4100 6100 Frequency (MHz) 8100 10000 Stability Mu1, Mu2 - factors of the BFQ790 Driver Amplifier Application Note AN460 12 Revision 2.0, 2016-01-15 BFQ790 Driver Amplifier for GSM900 Application 4 Evaluation Board and Layout Information In this application note, the following PCB is used: PCB Marking: M15211 PCB material: FR4 r of PCB material: 4.6 Figure 11 Photo of Evaluation Board (overview) Vias FR4 Core, 510 µm Copper 35 µm, FR4 Preg, 360 µm Figure 12 Photo of Evaluation Board (detailed view) Application Note AN460 13 Revision 2.0, 2016-01-15 BFQ790 Driver Amplifier for GSM900 Application 5 Authors Dr. Olim Hidayov, RF Application Engineer of Business Unit “RF and Sensors” Revision History Major changes since the last revision Page or Reference Description of change Application Note AN460 14 Revision 2.0, 2016-01-15 Trademarks of Infineon Technologies AG AURIX™, C166™, CanPAK™, CIPOS™, CIPURSE™, CoolGaN™, CoolMOS™, CoolSET™, CoolSiC™, CORECONTROL™, CROSSAVE™, DAVE™, DI-POL™, DrBLADE™, EasyPIM™, EconoBRIDGE™, EconoDUAL™, EconoPACK™, EconoPIM™, EiceDRIVER™, eupec™, FCOS™, HITFET™, HybridPACK™, ISOFACE™, IsoPACK™, iWafer™, MIPAQ™, ModSTACK™, my-d™, NovalithIC™, OmniTune™, OPTIGA™, OptiMOS™, ORIGA™, POWERCODE™, PRIMARION™, PrimePACK™, PrimeSTACK™, PROFET™, PRO-SIL™, RASIC™, REAL3™, ReverSave™, SatRIC™, SIEGET™, SIPMOS™, SmartLEWIS™, SOLID FLASH™, SPOC™, TEMPFET™, thinQ!™, TRENCHSTOP™, TriCore™. Other Trademarks Advance Design System™ (ADS) of Agilent Technologies, AMBA™, ARM™, MULTI-ICE™, KEIL™, PRIMECELL™, REALVIEW™, THUMB™, µVision™ of ARM Limited, UK. ANSI™ of American National Standards Institute. AUTOSAR™ of AUTOSAR development partnership. Bluetooth™ of Bluetooth SIG Inc. CATiq™ of DECT Forum. COLOSSUS™, FirstGPS™ of Trimble Navigation Ltd. EMV™ of EMVCo, LLC (Visa Holdings Inc.). EPCOS™ of Epcos AG. FLEXGO™ of Microsoft Corporation. HYPERTERMINAL™ of Hilgraeve Incorporated. MCS™ of Intel Corp. IEC™ of Commission Electrotechnique Internationale. IrDA™ of Infrared Data Association Corporation. ISO™ of INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATION FOR STANDARDIZATION. MATLAB™ of MathWorks, Inc. MAXIM™ of Maxim Integrated Products, Inc. MICROTEC™, NUCLEUS™ of Mentor Graphics Corporation. MIPI™ of MIPI Alliance, Inc. MIPS™ of MIPS Technologies, Inc., USA. muRata™ of MURATA MANUFACTURING CO., MICROWAVE OFFICE™ (MWO) of Applied Wave Research Inc., OmniVision™ of OmniVision Technologies, Inc. Openwave™ of Openwave Systems Inc. RED HAT™ of Red Hat, Inc. RFMD™ of RF Micro Devices, Inc. SIRIUS™ of Sirius Satellite Radio Inc. SOLARIS™ of Sun Microsystems, Inc. SPANSION™ of Spansion LLC Ltd. Symbian™ of Symbian Software Limited. TAIYO YUDEN™ of Taiyo Yuden Co. TEAKLITE™ of CEVA, Inc. TEKTRONIX™ of Tektronix Inc. TOKO™ of TOKO KABUSHIKI KAISHA TA. UNIX™ of X/Open Company Limited. VERILOG™, PALLADIUM™ of Cadence Design Systems, Inc. VLYNQ™ of Texas Instruments Incorporated. VXWORKS™, WIND RIVER™ of WIND RIVER SYSTEMS, INC. ZETEX™ of Diodes Zetex Limited. Last Trademarks Update 2014-07-17 www.infineon.com Edition 2016-01-15 Published by Infineon Technologies AG 81726 Munich, Germany © 2016 Infineon Technologies AG. All Rights Reserved. Do you have a question about any aspect of this document? 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