Design and implementation of the cascode and cascade low noise amplifiers for 13 GHz

Abstract

In this paper, we proposed two 13 GHz low noise amplifiers (LNAs) structure with TSMC 0.18 µm RF CMOS process. A cascode two-stage LNA achieves 9.9 dB of power gain (S 21 ), 5.5 dB of the noise figure (NF), −32 dB of input return loss (S 11 ), −5.2 dB of output return loss (S 22 ), −8 dBm of the P 1dB , and 6.66 mW of power consumption at 13 GHz, while consuming 3.7 mA by 1.8 V supply. The second LNA is a three-stage cascade LNA. Measured results show that the input return loss is −15.45 dB, the output return loss is −9.47 dB, the power gain is 9.34 dB, the isolation is −30.364 dB, the NF is 4.76 dB, the total power consumption is 26.64 mW, unconditional stability, the P 1dB is −13 dBm, while consuming 14.8 mA by 1.8 V supply. The paper also discusses design considerations such as the effects of simulation, layout and circuit construction.