Design of Impedance Matching Network for Low-Power, Ultra-Wideband Applications

This paper addresses the design of ultra-wideband (UWB) impedance matching networks operating in the unlicensed 3.1 – 10.6 GHz frequency band for low-power applications. It reviews the most common approaches and shows that an approach based on the simplified real frequency technique (RFT) achieves the best solutions under the constraints of UWB, low-power consumption, and minimum number of circuit components. The comparison of solutions obtained using the simplified RFT with published solutions based on the Chebyshev filter theory is presented. It is shown that the optimal RFT solution provides fewer components in the impedance matching network, maximizes the RF power delivery over the UWB spectrum with a reflection coefficient below −10 dB, and allows for circuit optimization to reduce power consumption. The limitations in designing the input matching networks of different circuit topologies using GlobalFoundries 90nm BiCMOS technology are also discussed.