A Ku-band LNA with 39.2 dB gain, 1.4 dB NF and shunt inductor-based matching network

Abstract

Abstract A low-noise amplifier (LNA) with minimum noise figure, improved gain, operating at Ku-band, and designed using 0.13 μm bipolar complementary metal oxide semiconductor(BiCMOS) technology is described in this article. BJT along with a matching network comprising of a shunt inductor is used for optimizing noise/impedance matching in the proposed common emitter (CE) LNA with inductive emitter degeneration. Thereby, achieving ultra-low NF and gain performance along with inbuilt ESD protection circuitry. Also, the detailed mathematical analysis of design steps, impact of impedance matching network on gain and NF performance of conventional and proposed CE LNA with inductive emitter degeneration are elaborated. This proposed LNA has demonstrated a maximum gain of 39.2 dB, almost static NF of 1.4 dB to 1.64 dB across a frequency bandwidth of 2 GHz from 15.2 GHz to 17.2 GHz. It has also demonstrated a figure-of-merit (FoM) of 18.42, IP 1dB of −29.7 dBm at 16 GHz, a power intake of 24.2 mW, and layout space of 0.468 mm2.