A <i>D</i>-Band Wideband Low-Noise Amplifier Adopting Pseudo-Simultaneous Noise and Input Matched Dual-Peak <i>G</i> <sub>max</sub>-Core
Ho‐Keun Lee, Byeonghun Yun, Hyo-Ryeong Jeon, Wooyong Keum, Sang‐Gug Lee, Kyung‐Sik Choi
Abstract
This article presents a high-gain and wideband <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$D$</tex-math> </inline-formula> -band low-noise amplifier (LNA) adopting a proposed wideband pseudo-simultaneous noise-and input-matched (p-SNIM) dual-peak (DP) maximum achievable gain ( <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$G_\text{max}$</tex-math> </inline-formula> )-core. For a transmission line (TL)-based DP <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$G_\text{max}$</tex-math> </inline-formula> -core, the p-SNIM condition is satisfied by adjusting the stability factor ( <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$K_f$</tex-math> </inline-formula> ) without requiring additional components. Comprehensive analysis of the DP <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$G_\text{max}$</tex-math> </inline-formula> -core is performed to investigate the unique behaviors of input admittance for simultaneous conjugate matching ( <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$Y_{\text{in}}^*$</tex-math> </inline-formula> ) and optimal admittance for minimum noise figure (NF) ( <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$Y_{n\text{opt}}$</tex-math> </inline-formula> ) as a function of <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$K_f$</tex-math> </inline-formula> , which is fully exploited to implement the wideband p-SNIM DP <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$G_\text{max}$</tex-math> </inline-formula> -core. Moreover, we present the design procedure of a proposed dual-frequency inter-stage matching network that enables the wideband multistage LNA implementation. Implemented in a 40-nm CMOS technology, the <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$D$</tex-math> </inline-formula> -band three-stage LNA achieves a peak power gain of 16.3 dB, a 3-dB bandwidth of 24 GHz, and a minimum NF of 4.9 dB while dissipating only 16.1 mW.