A Broadband PVT-Insensitive All-nMOS Noise-Canceling Balun-LNA for Subgigahertz Wireless Communication Applications

• Published in: IEEE microwave and wireless components letters Vol. 31; no. 2; pp. 165 - 168
• Main Authors: Kim, Dongmin, Jang, Seunghyeok, Lee, Junghyup, Im, Donggu
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: IEEE 01.02.2021
• Subjects: and temperature (PVT) variations; Balun; Broadband communication; common-gate (CG); common-source (CS); Current measurement; diode-connected load; Gain; low-noise amplifier (LNA); MOSFET; Noise measurement; noise-canceling; post linearization; process; subgigahertz; Transistors; voltage; wideband; Wireless communication
• ISSN: 1531-1309; 1558-1764
• DOI: 10.1109/LMWC.2020.3042233

A broadband process, voltage, and temperature (PVT)-insensitive noise-canceling balun-low-noise amplifier (LNA) was implemented in the 0.13-<inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">\mu \text{m} </tex-math></inline-formula> CMOS process for subgigahertz wireless communication applications. The proposed LNA is based on the traditional common-gate common-source (CGCS) balun-LNA topology, and it adopts the diode-connected loads to reduce the noise contribution originated from CGCS transistors and enhance the linearity due to post linearization. The auxiliary common-source (CS) amplifier with a diode-connected is added to reduce the overall noise figure (NF) of the LNA by sharing an input signal with CGCS transistors and applying its output signal to the diode-connected load of CS transistor. Because the voltage gain of the LNA is determined by the transconductance (<inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">g_{m} </tex-math></inline-formula>) ratio of the same types of nMOS transistors, its power gain (<inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">S_{21} </tex-math></inline-formula>) and NF are quite roust over PVT variations. In experiments, it showed <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">S_{21} </tex-math></inline-formula> of 14 dB and NF of 4 dB with an input return loss (<inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">S_{11} </tex-math></inline-formula>) of greater than 10 dB at 450 MHz. Concerning voltage variation (1.08-1.32 V) and temperature variation (<inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">- 20\,\,^{\circ }\text {C} \sim +80 \,\,^{\circ }\text{C} </tex-math></inline-formula>), the worst variations in <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">S_{21} </tex-math></inline-formula> and NF were approximately 1.4 and 1.1 dB, respectively.