Design of a 1.8-mW K-Band Low Noise Amplifier with 19.3-dB Gain and 3.3-dB Noise Figure in 90-nm CMOS

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A K-band ultra-low power low-noise amplifier (LNA) for next generation radio astronomical receivers in 90-nm CMOS process is presented in this letter. Current-reused and gm-boost techniques are utilized to reduce power consumption with slightly gain degradation. In order to achieve high gain and improve stability, a single-ended neutralization method is adopted to the circuit. The proposed LNA exhibits a peak small-signal gain of 19.3 dB at 26 GHz, 3-dB bandwidth of 4.2 GHz covering from 23.8 to 28 GHz, respectively. The lowest NF is 3.3 dB at 27 GHz and is below 4 dB across the 3-dB gain bandwidth. The LNA consumes only 1.8-mW dc power. To the authors’ knowledge, this work shows the competitive figure-of merit (FOM), which is 18.9 GHz/mW, among published K-band LNAs in better IC processes.