A K-band low-noise amplifier using shunt RC-feedback and series inductive-peaking techniques

A 28.2 GHz (K-band) low-noise amplifier (LNA) using standard 0.18-mu m CMOS technology was designed and implemented. To achieve sufficient gain, this LNA was composed of three cascaded common-source stages, and a peaking inductor (L-g3) was added in the input terminal of the third stage to boost the peak gain (S-21) of 34.9% (simuation). Shunt RC feedback was adopted in the second and the third stage, respectively, for achieving good input and output impedance matching. At 28.2 GHz, this LNA achieved input return loss (S-11) of -13.4 dB, output return loss (S-22) of -20.5 dB, forward gain (S-21) of 12.9 dB, reverse isolation (S-12) of -50.2 dB, noise figure of 607 dB and input-referred 1-dB compression point (P1dB-in) of -10.8 dBm. The minimum noise figure was 5.75 dB at 28.8 GHz. The chip area was only 950 mu m x 590 mu m excluding the test pads. The power consumption was 30.56 mW from a 1.8-V power supply. (C) 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.