A Systematic Approach to Designing Broadband Millimeter-Wave Cascode Common-Source With Inductive Degeneration Low Noise Amplifiers

Abstract

This paper presents a design methodology that can effectively extend the bandwidth of a cascode common-source with inductive degeneration low noise amplifier (LNA), which is one of the most popular LNA topologies in the millimeter-wave bands. Specifically, this methodology addresses how to broaden the input matching bandwidth by realizing dual-resonant <italic xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">S</i> 11, and how to extend the gain bandwidth by synthesizing a transformer-based second-order bandpass output network. As a proof of concept, a 27–46 GHz LNA is implemented in the GlobalFoundries 45-nm CMOS SOI process, achieving 25.5–50 GHz 3-dB gain bandwidth, 27–46 GHz return loss bandwidth, 21.2 dB peak gain, 2.4 dB minimum noise figure, and <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$-$</tex-math> </inline-formula> 9.5 dBm peak IIP3, under 25.5 mW DC power consumption. Consistent performance is measured across multiple samples, demonstrating the robustness of the presented design methodology.