High-gain inductorless Wideband Balun-LNA using asymmetric CCC & BIST using RMS detectors

Abstract

In this paper, an inductorless wideband balun-low noise amplifier (LNA) using current source loads, common-mode feedback (CMFB), asymmetric capacitive cross-coupling (CCC) and auxiliary common-source amplifier are proposed to obtain low noise figure (NF) and high gain. The asymmetric CCC boosts the gain and reduces the NF. The CMFB fixes the output to a common mode voltage. RMS detectors are proposed to realize a low-cost built-in self-test (BIST) circuit for measuring the gain of the LNA during its entire lifespan. The proposed balun-LNA is implemented in 0.18 µm CMOS process technology and the performance is studied through post-layout simulations. PVT and Monte Carlo simulations are performed to check for the robustness and yield of the circuit. From these analyses, it is found that the integrated average gain of the LNA obtained with and without the RMS detectors is 19.1 dB and 20.1 dB respectively in the 3 dB-band of 0.18–2 GHz. NF of the LNA in this band is 2.87 dB. The average IIP3, IIP2, and 1 dB compression points of the LNA are (−4.89 dBm, +28.57 dBm, −20.42 dBm) respectively. The proposed LNA dissipates a power of 4.9 mW with a supply of 1.2 V and requires an area of 0.04 mm2.