To overcome limitations on bandwidth extension in conventional design techniques, a novel pole-converging technique with transformer feedback for intrastage bandwidth extension is proposed and analyzed in this paper. For verification, a three-stage cascode low-noise amplifier (LNA) based on the pole converging and negative drain-source transformer feedback is designed and implemented in a 65-nm CMOS technology. Consuming 27 mW dc power from a 1.8 V supply, the fabricated prototype exhibits peak power gain of 18.5 dB, minimum noise figure of 5.5 dB, 3-dB bandwidth of 30 GHz, and fractional bandwidth of 38.7%. The bandwidth of the three-stage cascode LNA is significantly extended without increasing power consumption and die size.

Pole-Converging Intrastage Bandwidth Extension Technique for Wideband Amplifiers

This letter presents a wideband millimeter-wave low-noise amplifier (LNA) in a 65 nm CMOS technology. The amplifier adopts five-stage cascode topology with L-type input matching and T-type output matching. By distributing the peak gains of first four stages at two frequency points, the LNA achieves a flat gain response over a wide bandwidth. The measurement results show that the amplifier features a peak gain of 16.7 dB at 104 GHz, a minimum NF of 7.2 dB, and a 3 dB bandwidth of 21.5 GHz. The LNA consumes 48.6 mW and occupies a compact core area of 0.05 $\text{mm}^{2}$ .

An 88.5–110 GHz CMOS Low-Noise Amplifier for Millimeter-Wave Imaging Applications

This paper presents the design and thorough on-wafer characterization of two G-band low-noise amplifiers (LNAs) implemented using 0.13- $\mu \text{m}$ silicon-germanium (SiGe) heterojunction bipolar transistors (HBTs) with peak $f_{T}/f_{\max }$ of 300/500 GHz. The impact of the substrate network and optimized via interconnections on the SiGe HBT performance is investigated to ensure that maximum performance is extracted from each SiGe HBT. The two LNAs are separately implemented using only cascode pairs and only common-emitter (CE) SiGe HBTs to determine which configuration yields better performance in a multistage G-band LNA. The cascode LNA achieves a peak gain of 24.0 dB at 158 GHz with a mean noise figure (NF) of 8.2 dB from 145 to 165 GHz, while the CE LNA achieves a 17.2 dB of gain at 183 GHz with a mean NF of 8.0 dB across 165–200 GHz. A novel implementation of blackbody noise sources for on-wafer Y-factor NF measurements reduces the waveguide length needed to transition between the antenna and the probe, which significantly reduces the sensitivity to jitter. To the authors’ knowledge, these LNAs achieve the lowest reported NF of all SiGe LNAs at these frequencies to date, and the results demonstrate that SiGe HBTs are viable options for millimeter-wave performance-constrained applications.

Design and On-Wafer Characterization of $G$ -Band SiGe HBT Low-Noise Amplifiers

GaAs metamorphic high electron mobility transistors for future deep space-biomedical-millitary and communication system applications: A review

This article presents an ultra-low-power silicon germanium heterojunction bipolar transistor (SiGe HBT) amplifier operating at 200 GHz. The amplifier consists of three cascaded gain-cell stages and was implemented in an experimental 130-nm SiGe HBT technology with peak $f_{{\textrm {T}}}/f_{\text {max}}$ of 460/600 GHz. In order to achieve the demonstrated extremely low dc power dissipation, the circuit was designed with transistors operating at forward-biased base–collector junction voltage ( $V_{\text {BC}}$ ). With 1.3-V supply voltage ( $V_{\text {BC}}\approx 0.2$ V), this amplifier exhibits a peak gain of 23.5 dB at 180 and 205 GHz with 34-GHz 3-dB bandwidth (BW) from 173 to 207 GHz, consuming 3.2-mW static dc power. Even with a supply voltage of 0.7 V ( $V_{\text {BC}} \approx 0.5$ V), this amplifier still operates with a peak gain of 18.3 dB at 175 GHz, dissipating an extremely low dc power of 1.73 mW. Compared with the previously reported low-power amplifiers operating around 200 GHz, this article achieves the highest linear gain relative to the dc power consumption with an improvement factor of ten, as well as highly competitive performances in terms of noise figure and 3-dB BW.

3.2-mW Ultra-Low-Power 173–207-GHz Amplifier With 130-nm SiGe HBTs Operating in Saturation

This letter presents a 183 GHz low-noise amplifier (LNA), designed primarily for water vapor detection in atmosphere. The LNA requirements were defined by MetOp Second Generation (MetOp-SG) Microwave Sounder, Microwave Imager and Ice Cloud Imager instruments. MetOp-SG is the European contribution to operational meteorological observations from polar orbit. This LNA advances the current state-of-the-art for the InGaAs metamorphic high electron mobility transistor (mHEMT) technology. The five-stage common-source MMIC amplifier utilizes transistors with a gate length of 50 nm. On-wafer measurements show a noise figure of 3.5 dB at the operative frequency, about 1 dB lower than previously reported mHEMT LNAs, and a gain of $24\pm 2~{\rm dB}$ over the bandwidth 160-200 GHz. The input and output matching are $-11~{\rm dB}$ and $-10~{\rm dB}$ , respectively. Moreover, the dc power dissipation at the optimal bias for noise is as low as 24 mW.

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Herman Massler

Papers

A 183 GHz Metamorphic HEMT Low-Noise Amplifier With 3.5 dB Noise Figure