An Ultra Wide Band CMOS Low Noise Amplifier Design

An RF ultra wide band low noise amplifier designed for the frequency range of 12-18 GHz of operation is presented in this paper. The low noise amplifier is designed using the state-of-the-art complementary metal oxide semiconductor 45 nm technology. Berkeley's Predictive Technology Model (PTM) is used to generate a fairly accurate mathematical model and the SPICE data is implemented into the BSIM 4 version of the Advanced Design Systems (ADS) program. The low noise design strategy is mainly based on the analysis of high frequency CMOS operation. This LNA has two stages: the first stage is a RL feedback amplifier with an inductive load, and the second stage is a RC feedback amplifier with an inductive load. High frequency small signal MOSFET models with shunt-shunt feedback are used to determine the input impedance, output impedance and gain equations governing this circuit. Simulation results of this two stage feedback amplifier demonstrate a gain of 19 dB over a 6 GHz bandwidth, high linearity, and a low noise figure - less than 2.4 dB. This is a low voltage high current amplifier which requires a supply voltage of simply 0.5 V and has low power consumption (~13.5 mW).