Low-Noise Amplifier ==================== General LNA Design References ----------------------------- .. list-table:: :header-rows: 1 * - Application - Reference - Brief Description * - Low power - [1, 2, 3, 4] - Low power LNA designs and their applications. * - High speed - [5, 6, 7, 8] - High-speed LNAs and their performance characteristics. * - Optimization - [9] - Optimization techniques for CMOS LNAs. * - Ultra-wideband - [10, 11, 12] - Ultra-wideband LNA designs and innovations. * - Low power ultra wideband - [4] - LNAs that combine low power and ultra-wideband features. * - CMOS LNA reconfigurable matching 130nm - [13] - CMOS LNAs with reconfigurable matching networks in 130nm technology. * - Our tech - [14, 15, 4, 16] - Specific LNA technologies developed by the authors or referenced works. * - ESD protection - [17] - Electrostatic discharge protection in LNAs. * - Linearization - [18] - Linearization techniques applied to LNAs. * - Cryo - [19, 20] - Cryogenic LNA designs and their performance at low temperatures. * - Stability improvements - [21] - Methods for improving the stability of LNAs. * - SOI - [22] - LNAs implemented with silicon-on-insulator technology. * - Cryo SiGe LNAs - [23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36] - Research and advancements in cryogenic SiGe LNAs. 1. Belmas, R., et al. "Low-Power LNA Design for Millimeter-Wave Applications." IEEE Transactions on Microwave Theory and Techniques, 2012. 2. Huang, P., et al. "Millimeter-Wave CMOS LNA for 60GHz WPAN Applications." IEEE Journal of Solid-State Circuits, 2009. 3. Hsieh, Y., et al. "Design of Low Power and High Gain LNA for Ultra-Wideband Applications." IEEE Transactions on Circuits and Systems, 2007. 4. Lai, C., et al. "Ultra-Low-Power CMOS LNA for UWB Applications." IEEE Transactions on Microwave Theory and Techniques, 2013. 5. Adabi, E., et al. "30 GHz Wideband Low Noise Amplifier in CMOS." IEEE Journal of Solid-State Circuits, 2007. 6. Antonopoulos, C., et al. "CMOS High-Speed LNAs for Broadband Applications." IEEE Transactions on Microwave Theory and Techniques, 2012. 7. Aspemyr, L., et al. "15 GHz Low Noise Amplifier Design." IEEE Journal of Solid-State Circuits, 2006. 8. Razavi, B. "60 GHz High-Speed LNA in CMOS." IEEE Journal of Solid-State Circuits, 2005. 9. Nguyen, T. "Optimization Techniques for CMOS LNA Design." IEEE Transactions on Circuits and Systems, 2004. 10. Bevilacqua, A., et al. "Ultra-Wideband CMOS LNA Design." IEEE Transactions on Circuits and Systems, 2004. 11. Bruccoleri, F., et al. "Wideband LNA for Ultra-Wideband Applications." IEEE Journal of Solid-State Circuits, 2004. 12. Kim, J., et al. "Ultra-Wideband LNA with Improved Linearity." IEEE Transactions on Microwave Theory and Techniques, 2005. 13. El, A. "CMOS LNA with Reconfigurable Matching Networks for 130nm Technology." IEEE Transactions on Circuits and Systems, 2009. 14. Guan, X., et al. "24 GHz CMOS LNA Design and Implementation." IEEE Journal of Solid-State Circuits, 2004. 15. Fujimoto, Y., et al. "7 GHz Low Noise Amplifier in CMOS Technology." IEEE Transactions on Microwave Theory and Techniques, 2002. 16. Park, J., et al. "Low Power LNA for UWB Systems." IEEE Transactions on Circuits and Systems, 2009. 17. Linten, D., et al. "ESD Protection Strategies for LNAs." IEEE Transactions on Circuits and Systems, 2005. 18. Zhang, Z. "Linearization Techniques for LNAs." IEEE Journal of Solid-State Circuits, 2010. 19. Varonen, M., et al. "Cryogenic LNAs: Design and Performance." IEEE Transactions on Microwave Theory and Techniques, 2018. 20. Peng, H., et al. "Cryogenic CMOS LNA for Quantum Computing Applications." IEEE Journal of Solid-State Circuits, 2021. 21. Kong, L. "Stability Improvements in CMOS LNAs." IEEE Transactions on Circuits and Systems, 2019. 22. Li, Z. "SOI-Based CMOS LNA Design." IEEE Journal of Solid-State Circuits, 2018. 23. Ramirez, A., et al. "SiGe Cryogenic LNAs: Performance and Design." IEEE Transactions on Microwave Theory and Techniques, 2009. 24. Shiao, Y., et al. "4K Cryogenic SiGe LNA Design." IEEE Transactions on Circuits and Systems, 2014. 25. Wong, K., et al. "1K Cryogenic SiGe LNA for Space Applications." IEEE Journal of Solid-State Circuits, 2020. 26. Bardin, J., et al. "Advances in Cryogenic SiGe LNAs." IEEE Transactions on Microwave Theory and Techniques, 2009. 27. Weinreb, S., et al. "Design of Cryogenic SiGe LNAs." IEEE Journal of Solid-State Circuits, 2007. 28. Montazeri, H., et al. "Sub-1K SiGe LNAs for Quantum Computing." IEEE Transactions on Microwave Theory and Techniques, 2017. 29. Montazeri, H., et al. "2K SiGe LNAs for Astrophysics." IEEE Journal of Solid-State Circuits, 2018. 30. Bardin, J., et al. "DC-Coupled Cryogenic SiGe LNAs." IEEE Transactions on Microwave Theory and Techniques, 2010. 31. Montazeri, H., et al. "Silicon-Based Cryogenic LNAs." IEEE Journal of Solid-State Circuits, 2018. 32. Ramirez, A., et al. "Cryogenic SiGe LNAs: Design and Implementation." IEEE Transactions on Circuits and Systems, 2019. 33. Wong, K., et al. "1K SiGe LNA: Design and Performance." IEEE Journal of Solid-State Circuits, 2020. 34. Aja, B., et al. "Cryogenic SiGe LNAs for Radio Astronomy." IEEE Transactions on Microwave Theory and Techniques, 2019. 35. Thrivikraman, T., et al. "SiGe LNAs for Low-Temperature Applications." IEEE Journal of Solid-State Circuits, 2008. Ultra-Wideband LNAs -------------------- Let's understand types of ultra-wideband LNAs. Ultra-wideband systems have been continuously developed for high-speed wireless communications capable of transmitting over a wide frequency band at low powers, including the 2.4 GHz and 5.2/5.7 GHz 802.11b/g/a IEEE standards [1, 2]. Broadband input matching can be obtained by employing a common-gate at the input-stage of a two-stage common-gate & common-source LNA configuration [1]. This type of architecture, compared to other broadband techniques, can demonstrate less design complexity, low high-frequency noise, relatively low power dissipation, and a comparatively small size. Distributed amplifiers, common-ground amplifiers, noise-cancellation, resistive-feedback are a number of commonly-used wideband architectures. Distributed wideband amplifiers have increased power consumption as observed by [3] compared to common-ground common-source wideband LNAs in [1]. Inductive source-degeneration is a narrowband input matching technique achieving target gate real impedance by canceling the imaginary impedance from a gate inductor with an accurately designed source inductor at a resonant frequency [4]. Since this is a pure reactive impedance, no resistive thermal noise is added to the LNA since this is a purely reactive real impedance. An improved narrowband matching technique is using an LC-network using the parasitic RF input-resistance of the MOSFET to achieve improved input matching without degrading the noise figure (NF) and increasing DC-power consumption [5]. A review on inductive-series peaking, feedback low-noise amplifier design is presented in [6] to achieve wideband 50 Ω input matching through an active-load & resistive-feedback current-reuse circuit design. However, this type of architecture can suffer from instability risks from input bondwire inductance [7]. There is a design tradeoff between noise and gain requirements that increase design complexity. For cryogenic applications, a suitable tradeoff to minimize power consumption may be targeted. This type of architecture has shown high gain with low power consumption and low noise figures [8, 9]. Another wideband input matching, noise-figure reduction technique is using a simultaneous "electronic feedforward" technique. This uses a parallel input voltage-sensing amplifier to cancel the input-impedance stage noise with the output signal combination network [10, 11]. Another method to achieve wideband input matching is to design a multi-section band-pass filter LC network that resonates with the target wideband [2]. This can achieve low power consumption and can suppress high-frequency noise-figure increases, but requires a large number of accurate inductors with a large footprint as observed in Table 1. .. list-table:: :header-rows: 1 * - Metric - [1] - [3] - [6] - [5] * - **Bandwidth (GHz)** - 0.4 - 10 - 0.5 - 14 - 0.1 - 7 - 5.7 * - **Power Consumption (mW)** - 12 - 52 - 0.75 - 4 * - **Power Gain (dB)** - 11.2-12.4 - 10.6 - 12.6 - 11.45 * - **Supply Voltage (V)** - 1.8 - 1.3 - 0.5 - 0.5 * - **Minimum Noise Figure (dB)** - 4.4 - 6.5 - 3.2-5.4 - 5.5 - 3.4 * - **Technology** - 180nm - 180nm - 90nm - 180nm * - **Footprint (mm^2)** - 0.42 - 1.0 x 1.6 - 0.23 - 0.950 x 0.900 **Table 1**: Compiled electronic performance available from selected CMOS LNA architecture. References ========== 1. Chen, Yi-Ping Eric, and Le Cai. Ultra-Wideband Impulse Radio: Implementation and Performance Analysis. Springer, 2007. 2. Bevilacqua, Andrea, and Ali M. Niknejad. "An Ultra-Wideband CMOS Low-Noise Amplifier for 3.1–10.6 GHz Wireless Receivers." IEEE Journal of Solid-State Circuits, vol. 39, no. 12, 2004, pp. 2259-2268. 3. Liu, Chih-Ming, et al. "A 5.25-GHz Broadband CMOS Low-Noise Amplifier Using Wideband Input Matching." IEEE Microwave and Wireless Components Letters, vol. 13, no. 5, 2003, pp. 174-176. 4. Lee, Thomas H., and Behzad Razavi. Design of Analog CMOS Integrated Circuits. McGraw-Hill, 2003. 5. Asgaran, Siavash, and Asad A. Abidi. "A CMOS High-Linearity 5-GHz Power Amplifier." IEEE Journal of Solid-State Circuits, vol. 41, no. 2, 2006, pp. 287-295. 6. Parvizi, Parviz, et al. "A Wideband Low-Noise Amplifier with Active-Inductor Peaking." IEEE Transactions on Microwave Theory and Techniques, vol. 62, no. 12, 2014, pp. 2894-2902. 7. Janssens, J., et al. "Broadband Monolithic Microwave Amplifier Design Using Active Negative Resistance Circuits." IEEE Transactions on Microwave Theory and Techniques, vol. 45, no. 7, 1997, pp. 1012-1020. 8. Walling, J. S., et al. "A 28.6 mW 3.0–8.5 GHz Receiver in 130 nm CMOS for MB-OFDM UWB Communications." IEEE Journal of Solid-State Circuits, vol. 42, no. 4, 2007, pp. 812-821. 9. Chen, Y.-J., et al. "A 1.5 V 5 mW 7 GHz Low-Noise Amplifier Using Forward Body Bias." IEEE Journal of Solid-State Circuits, vol. 44, no. 8, 2009, pp. 2202-2211. 10. Bruccoleri, Fabio, et al. "Wideband CMOS Low-Noise Amplifier Exploiting Thermal Noise Canceling." IEEE Journal of Solid-State Circuits, vol. 39, no. 2, 2004, pp. 275-282. 11. Lai, Yi-Hsuan, and Shyh-Jye Lu. "Ultra-Wideband Low-Noise Amplifier with Gain Control." IEEE Transactions on Microwave Theory and Techniques, vol. 61, no. 8, 2013, pp. 3084-3094.