Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-t7fkt Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-22T08:29:48.176Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Ultra compact multi-standard low-noise amplifiers in 28 nm CMOS with inductive peaking

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 November 2017

Elena Sobotta ,
Guido Belfiore  and
Frank Ellinger
Elena Sobotta*
Affiliation:
Chair of Circuit Design and Network Theory, TU Dresden, Dresden, Germany
Guido Belfiore
Affiliation:
Chair of Circuit Design and Network Theory, TU Dresden, Dresden, Germany
Frank Ellinger
Affiliation:
Chair of Circuit Design and Network Theory, TU Dresden, Dresden, Germany
*
Corresponding author: E. Sobotta Email: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This work presents the design of two compact multi-standard low-noise amplifier (LNA) in a 28 nm low-power bulk CMOS process. The transistor parameters were optimized by the gm/ID method taking into account the parasitics and the behavior of highly scaled transistors. To cover the industrial science medical (ISM)-bands around 2.4 and 5.8 GHz, the WLAN band as well as the Ku band a bandwidth enhancement is required. Two versions of LNAs, one with vertical inductors and one with active inductors, are implemented and verified by measurements. The noise figure (NF) exhibits 4.2 dB for the LNA with active inductors and 3.5 dB for the LNA with vertical inductors. The voltage gain reaches 12.8 and 13.4 dB, respectively, with a 3 dB-bandwidth of 20 GHz. Both input referred 1-dB-compression points are higher than −12 dBm making the chips attractive for communication standards with high linearity requirements. The chips consume 53 mW DC power and the LNA with active inductors occupies a core area of only 0.0018 mm2, whereas the version with vertical inductors requires 0.021 mm2.

Keywords

Low-noise amplifiersPassive components and circuitsVertical inductors
Type
Research Papers
Information
International Journal of Microwave and Wireless Technologies , Volume 10 , Special Issue 1: Journee Nationale des Micro-ondes 2017 , February 2018 , pp. 47 - 57
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press and the European Microwave Association 2017 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

[1]Fritsche, D.; Tretter, G.; Carta, C.; Ellinger, F.: Millimeter-wave low-noise amplifier design in 28-nm low-power digital CMOS. IEEE Trans. Microwave. Theory Tech., 63 (2015), 1910–1922.Google Scholar
[2]Ponton, D.; Palestri, P.; Esseni, D.; Selmi, L.; Tiebout, M.; Parvais, B. et al. : Design of ultra-wideband low-noise amplifiers in 45-nm CMOS technology: comparison between planar bulk and SOI FinFET devices. IEEE Trans. Circuits Syst., 56 (2009), 920–932.Google Scholar
[3]Antonopoulos, A.; Papathanasiou, K.; Bucher, M.; Papathanasiou, K.: CMOS LNA design at 30 GHz, a case study, in 8th Int. Caribbean Conf. on Devices, Circuits and System, 2012, 1–4.Google Scholar
[4]Blaakmeer, S.C.; Klumperink, E.A.M.; Leenaerts, D.M.W.; Nauta, B.: Wideband Balun-LNA with simultaneous output balancing, noise-canceling and distortion-canceling. IEEE J. Solid-State Circuits, 43 (2008), 1341–1350.Google Scholar
[5]Egels, M.; Gaubert, J.; Pannier, P.; Bourdel, S.: Design method for fully integrated CMOS RF LNA. Electron. Lett., 40 (2004), 1513–1514.Google Scholar
[6]Bevilacqua, A.; Camponeschi, M.; Tiebout, M.; Gerosa, A.; Neviani, A.: Design of broadband inductorless LNAs in ultra-scaled CMOS technologies, in IEEE Int. Symp. on Circuits and Systems, 2008, 1300–1303.Google Scholar
[7]Tsai, M.-H.; Hsu, S.S.H.; Hsueh, F.-L.; Jou, C.-P.; Chen, S.; Song, M.-H.: A wideband low -noise amplifier with 4 kV HBM ESD protection in 65 nm RF CMOS. IEEE Microw. Wireless Compon. Lett., 19 (2009), 734–736.Google Scholar
[8]Machiels, B.; Reynaert, P.; Steyaert, M.: Power efficient distributed low-noise amplifier in 90 nm CMOS, in IEEE Radio Frequency Integrated Circuits Symp., Technical Reports, 2010.Google Scholar
[9]Chirala, M.; Guan, X.; Huynh, C.; Nguyen, C.: Extremely wideband 0.18-?m CMOS compact distributed low-noise amplifier, in IEEE Antennas and Propagation Society Int. Symp. (APSURSI), Technical Report, 2010.Google Scholar
[10]Joram, N.; Wagner, J.; Sobotta, E.; Ellinger, F.: Fully integrated wideband sub-10 GHz radio frequency front end with active matching, in 11th Conf. on Ph.D. Research in Microelectronics and Electronics (PRIME), 2015, 57–60.Google Scholar
[11]Silveira, F.; Flandre, D.; Jespers, P. G. A.: A gm/ID based methodology for the design of CMOS analog circuits and its application to the synthesis of a silicon-on-insulator micropower OTA. IEEE J. Solid-State Circuits, 31 (1996), 1314–1319.Google Scholar
[12]Foty, D.; Bucher, M.; Binkley, D.: Re-interpreting the MOS transistor via the inversion coefficient and the continuum of gms/Id, in 9th Int. Conf. on Electronics, Circuits and Systems, 3, 2002, 1179–1182.Google Scholar
[13]Molavi, R.; Mirabbasi, S.; Djahanshah, H.: Design and verification of integrated inductors in CMOS, in IEEE Canadian Conf. on Electrical and Computer Engineering (CCECE), 2012.Google Scholar
[14]Tretter, G.; Fritsche, D.; Khafaji, M.M.; Carta, C.; Ellinger, F.: A 55-GHz-bandwidth track-and-hold amplifier in 28-nm low-power CMOS. IEEE Tran. Circuits Systems II: Express Briefs, 63 (2015), 229–233.Google Scholar
[15]Belfiore, G.; Henker, R.; Ellinger, F.: Measurement and application of vertical inductors in high-speed broadband circuit. Electron. Lett., 50 (2014), 1915–1917.Google Scholar
[16]Belfiore, G.; Henker, R.; Ellinger, F.: New design approach of vertical inductors for high-frequency integrated circuits, in SBMO/IEEE MTT-S Int. Microwave & Optoelectronics Conf. (IMOC), 2013, 1–4.Google Scholar
[17]Chironi, V.; D'Amico, S.; De Matteis, M.; Baschirotto, A.: A dual-band Balun LNA resilient to 5–6 GHz WLAN blockers for IR-UWB in 65 nm CMOS, in Proc. of 2013 Int. Conf. on IC Design & Technology (ICICDT), 2013, 171–174.Google Scholar
[18]Sturm, J.; Xiang, X.; Pretl, H.: A 65 nm CMOS Wide-band LNA with Continuously Tunable Gain from 0 dB to 24 dB, in IEEE Int. Symp. on Circuits and Systems, 2013, 733–736.Google Scholar