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Efficient Design and Optimization Method for Distributed Amplifiers

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Abstract

A novel design and optimization method for distributed amplifiers (DAs) is proposed to make the circuit design more convenient and efficient. This method combines artificial intelligence (AI) optimization with manual design by two loops, i.e., outer manual loop and inner AI loop. The layout design is followed by AI optimization to take more influencing factors such as parasitic effect into account for the practicability. A DA with three gain cells is designed and optimized in a standard 0.18 μm complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) technology to verify the proposed method. With a chip area of only 0.55 mm2, the DA provides 9.8 dB average forward gain from 1 to 15.2 GHz. The output power at 1 dB output compression point is more than 7.7 dBm in the 2–14 GHz frequency band and the peak power-added efficiency (PAE) is 10.6%. The measurement results validate the proposed method as a robust DA design procedure for improving circuit performance and design efficiency.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thanks LI Wei for his support on the measurement, and the officers at the Institute of Radio Frequency and Optoelectronic Integrated Circuits of Southeast University for the testing environment.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Electronic and Optical Engineering, Nanjing University of Posts and Telecommunications, Nanjing, 210023, China

    Ying Zhang  (张瑛), Zeyou Li  (李泽有) & Hua Yang  (杨华)

  2. School of Internet of Things, Nanjing University of Posts and Telecommunications, Nanjing, 210023, China

    Xin Li  (李鑫)

Authors
  1. Ying Zhang  (张瑛)
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  2. Zeyou Li  (李泽有)
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  3. Xin Li  (李鑫)
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  4. Hua Yang  (杨华)
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Ying Zhang  (张瑛).

Additional information

Foundation item: the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 61106021), the Natural Science Foundation of Jiangsu Province (No. BK20161072), and the Research Fund of Nanjing University of Posts and Telecommunications (No. NY218051)

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Zhang, Y., Li, Z., Li, X. et al. Efficient Design and Optimization Method for Distributed Amplifiers. J. Shanghai Jiaotong Univ. (Sci.) 24, 281–286 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12204-019-2069-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12204-019-2069-3

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