Custom integrated amplifier chip for VLF magnetic receiver
Abstract/Contents
- Abstract
- Electronic systems for collecting measurements in harsh, remote environments face special challenges that often require custom designs. These systems must have the power capacity, data storage, and robustness to record high fidelity data for many months with no human contact. In this work, an integrated preamplifier for a magnetic sensor is designed to satisfy the size, weight, power, temperature, and noise specifications for long term deployment in Antarctica. The low impedance magnetic antenna (1 [ohm] --1 mH) requires a low input impedance amplifier and operates in the VLF (Very Low Frequency) range (50 Hz--30 kHz). At these low frequencies, 1/f noise becomes the dominating issue that limits performance. Due to the higher 1/f noise corner of MOSFET devices, only bipolar-junction transistors (BJTs) must be used in noise-critical parts of the design. Because of recent interest in BJTs for their superior performance at high frequencies in the gigahertz range, they are becoming available in the fabrication processes for integrated chips. With these new opportunities for using BJTs in integrated designs, low frequency amplifiers used in low noise applications can be integrated for the first time. In this thesis, a low impedance custom amplifier is presented that was implemented in National Semiconductor Corporation's BiCMOS process which meets the impedance and temperature requirements while achieving 2 pA/pHz current noise in band with only 5 mW of power. This noise level corresponds to a magnetic field noise of 0.25 fT/pHz for the loop antenna that is used for this application. The amplifier is field tested at the South Pole, successfully collecting data suitable for science research.
Description
| Type of resource | text |
|---|---|
| Form | electronic; electronic resource; remote |
| Extent | 1 online resource. |
| Publication date | 2010 |
| Issuance | monographic |
| Language | English |
Creators/Contributors
| Associated with | Harriman, Sarah Katharine |
|---|---|
| Associated with | Stanford University, Department of Electrical Engineering |
| Primary advisor | Inan, Umran S |
| Primary advisor | Linscott, Ivan |
| Thesis advisor | Inan, Umran S |
| Thesis advisor | Linscott, Ivan |
| Thesis advisor | Pauly, John (John M.) |
| Advisor | Pauly, John (John M.) |
Subjects
| Genre | Theses |
|---|
Bibliographic information
| Statement of responsibility | Sarah Katharine Harriman. |
|---|---|
| Note | Submitted to the Department of Electrical Engineering. |
| Thesis | Thesis (Ph.D.)--Stanford University, 2010. |
| Location | electronic resource |
Access conditions
- Copyright
- © 2010 by Sarah Katharine Harriman
- License
- This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial 3.0 Unported license (CC BY-NC).
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