A 52–73-GHz LNA With Tri-Coupled Transformer for <i>G</i> _<i>m</i> Boosting and Enhanced Noise Canceling

Abstract

This article presents a broadband low-noise amplifier (LNA) based on tri-coupled transformer (XFMR) for <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">${G}_{m}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> boosting and enhanced noise canceling (NC). In contrast to conventional NC structures, the proposed design uses the combination of a single transistor and a tri-coupled XFMR innovatively to achieve noise reduction, <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">${G}_{m}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> boosting, as well as wideband matching, simultaneously. Fabricated in a 40-nm CMOS process, the LNA achieves a 3-dB bandwidth of 22.1 GHz from 51.6 to 73.7 GHz, a peak gain of 22.4 dB, a minimum NF of 3.8 dB, and an average IP1dB of −12 dBm with a dc power consumption of 34 mW.