Low noise amplifier in the RF front end employing wide band impedance matching tecnique for applications operating above 10 GHZ

Abstract

Design and simulation of a wideband LNA in the RF front end employing wide band impedance matching technique for applications operating above 10 GHz is presented. The LNA is designed to operate at a center frequency of 24 GHz and in the 22-26 GHz frequency band. The CG-CS topology is used for the LNA. The circuit is simulated using both Cadence Spectre and HSpice RF. The CG amplifier provides an excellent mean of matching input impedance over a wide range of frequencies. The input matching parameter S11 shows a value less than -15.5 dB in the entire bandwidth. The CS amplifier provides a high gain. The overall forward gain, S21 of the LNA is 14.3 dB at 24 GHz having a 3-dB bandwidth of 8.1 GHz. In the entire bandwidth reverse isolation S12 is found to be less than -26.5 dB, and output matching S22 is -8.5 dB. The average noise figure (NF) is 4.92 dB for the entire bandwidth. The input referred 1-dB compression point and IIP3 are -14.46 and -5.2 dB, respectively. This LNA consumes only 27.5 mW when driven from a 1.2 V supply. The proposed LNA can be suitable for low power, high frequency applications such as short distance wireless communication system.