A 300-GHz Low-Noise Amplifier in 130-nm SiGe SG13G3 Technology

• Published in: IEEE microwave and wireless components letters Vol. 32; no. 4; pp. 331 - 334
• Main Authors: Gadallah, Ahmed, Eissa, Mohamed Hussein, Mausolf, Thomas, Kissinger, Dietmar, Malignaggi, Andrea
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: IEEE 01.04.2022
• Subjects: 300 GHz; BiCMOS integrated circuits; Frequency measurement; Gain; millimeter wave integrated circuits; Noise measurement; Silicon germanium; subterahertz; terahertz (THz) low-noise amplifier (LNA); Transmission line measurements; Wireless communication
• ISSN: 1531-1309; 1558-1764
• DOI: 10.1109/LMWC.2021.3128762

This work presents a 300-GHz low-noise amplifier (LNA) in a SiGe:C 130-nm BiCMOS technology, featuring <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">f_{t}/f_{\text {max}} </tex-math></inline-formula> of 470/700 GHz. The designed amplifier uses three cascaded stages in a pseudo-differential cascode topology with input and output baluns facilitating single-ended measurements. The first stage is matched trading off noise and gain performance, while a T-type output matching network is used for broadband matching. The interstage matching is performed using center tap transformers. On-wafer measurements show that the designed LNA has a peak small-signal gain of 10.8 dB at 325 GHz, along with a 3-dB bandwidth of 68 GHz and an input 1-dB compression point of −15.6 dBm at 287.5 GHz. The simulated noise figure is better than 12.7 dB over the required band. The circuit occupies 0.26-mm 2 silicon area and consumes 119 mW from a 3.3-V supply.