A 2.76‐mW, 3‐ to 10‐GHz ultrawideband LNA using 0.18‐μm CMOS technology

Abstract

AbstractA low‐power (2.76 mW) common‐gate (CG) low‐noise amplifier (LNA) for ultrawideband (UWB) systems using standard 0.18 μm CMOS technology is demonstrated.Instead of the traditional single parallel inductor (LS1 only), we propose a new matching network consisting of a series LS1–RS1 in series with a parallel LS2–RS2 to enhance the input matching bandwidth. Flat and high S21 was achieved by using the connecting inductor LC and the peaking inductor LD2 to compensate the gain loss at medium frequency and high frequency, respectively. In addition, for suitable values of LC and LD2, flat and low noise figure (NF; i.e., a nearly critically damped Q‐factor for the second‐order NF frequency response) can also be achieved. Over the 3–10 GHz band of interest, the LNA achieved S21 of 10.1 ± 1.7 dB, minimum NF of 3.9 dB (at 4 GHz) and an average NF of 4.6 dB. The power dissipation was 2.76 mW, and the corresponding figure of merit was 4.3. Both are of the best results ever reported for a CMOS UWB LNA. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Microwave Opt Technol Lett 53:94–97, 2011; View this article online at wileyonlinelibrary.com. DOI 10.1002/mop.25667