Co-design of on-chip loop antenna and differential class-E power amplifier at 2.4 GHz for biotelemetry applications. (April 2019)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Sunitha, Archana; Manickam, Bhaskar
• Is Part Of: Microelectronics journal. Volume 86(2019)
• Page Start: 40
• Page End: 48
• Publication Date: 2019-04
• Subjects: On-chip antenna -- Class-E power amplifier -- Co-design -- Parallel capacitance network -- Impedance matching -- 2.4 GHz transmitter; Microelectronics -- Periodicals; Microélectronique -- Périodiques; Microelectronics; Electronic journals; Journals - contents and abstracts; Periodicals; 621.3805
• DOI: 10.1016/j.mejo.2019.02.015
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0959-8324

Abstract

Abstract: Degradation in gain and efficiency of on-chip antennas limit the communication range of RF transmitters integrated with on-chip antennas below 10 GHz to few centimeters. In this paper, a novel strategy of co-design of fully integrated differential class-E power amplifier and on-chip loop antenna at 2.4 GHz is proposed to increase communication range and save chip area. In the co-design strategy, inductor used for harmonic rejection and matching in the power amplifier is replaced with a parallel capacitance network for harmonic rejection and a modified two turn on-chip loop antenna is used for matching load impedance of power amplifier. From the post-layout simulation results using Cadence Virtuoso, power amplifier has maximum power added efficiency(PAE) of 50.7%, and output power of 17 dBm. On-chip antenna, simulated in Advanced Design System(ADS) has a gain of −19.9 dBi and efficiency of 0.48%. The transmitter designed in UMC 180-nm technology has a higher computed communication range of 1.5 m and is suitable for biotelemetry applications such as patient monitoring.