2.1 dB noise figure 5.2 GHz CMOS low noise amplifier using wafer-level integrated passive device technology with a DC power consumption of 10 mW

• Published in: IET microwaves, antennas & propagation Vol. 6; no. 11; pp. 1286 - 1290
• Main Authors: LIN, K.-C, CHIOU, H.-K, CHANG, D.-C, JUANG, Y.-Z
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Stevenage Institution of Engineering and Technology 21.08.2012; The Institution of Engineering & Technology
• Subjects: Amplifiers; Applied sciences; Circuit properties; CMOS; Design. Technologies. Operation analysis. Testing; Devices; Electric, optical and optoelectronic circuits; Electronic circuits; Electronic equipment and fabrication. Passive components, printed wiring boards, connectics; Electronics; Exact sciences and technology; Inductors; Integrated circuits; Low noise; Magnetic devices; Noise levels; Power consumption; Semiconductor electronics. Microelectronics. Optoelectronics. Solid state devices; Semiconductors; Asia; Taiwan; Passive component; Performance evaluation; Noise figure; Mass production; High Q factor; Q factor; Differential amplifier; Stacking; Low noise amplifier; Inductor; Microelectronic fabrication; Electronics industry; Complementary MOS technology; Integrated circuit; Electric power consumption; Figure of merit; Wafer
• ISSN: 1751-8725; 1751-8733
• DOI: 10.1049/iet-map.2011.0274

This work presents an inductor with a high quality factor (Q) that is fabricated using wafer-level integrated passive device (IPD) technology and a 5.2 GHz differential low noise amplifier (DLNA) in a Taiwan semiconductor manufacturing company (TSMC(TM)) 0.18 µm complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) process. The IPD inductors were stacked on top of a CMOS DLNA. The use of IPD inductors in the input matching network (IMN) is an efficient alternative to on-chip inductors for mass production. The performance of the DLNA with and without an IPD inductor is studied. The IPD CMOS-DLNA achieves a noise figure (NF) of 2.1 dB with a power consumption of 10 mW. The measured NF of the CMOS-IPD DLNA is 0.6 dB better than that of the typical CMOS DLNA at the same power consumption. The CMOS-IPD DLNA achieves the best figure of merit of any of the recently described 5-6 GHz CMOS LNAs.