A compact 9-23 GHz low noise amplifier with bandwidth extension techniques in 0.18-μm SiGe BiCMOS

In this paper, a novel wideband low noise amplifier (LNA) operating in the 9-23 GHz frequency range is presented. The proposed LNA design utilizes a combination technique consisting of pole-tuning technique, shunt resistive-capacitor negative feedback, and gate-capacitive peaking technique to achieve significant bandwidth extension while maintaining acceptable overall performance. For verification, a one-stage triple-stacked LNA using the combination technique is designed and implemented in a 0.18-mu m SiGe BiCMOS heterojunction bipolar transistor (HBT) process. The fabricated prototype demonstrates a peak gain of 13.8 dB at 19.5 GHz, minimum noise figure of 3.1 dB at 14 GHz, 3-dB bandwidth of 14 GHz, and a fractional bandwidth of 87.5%, while consuming a dc power of 39.6 mW. Moreover, the chip occupies a small silicon area of 0.39 mm(2) including all testing pads with a core size of only 0.192 mm(2).