A Low-Power Linear SiGe BiCMOS Low-Noise Amplifier for Millimeter-Wave Active Imaging

• Published in: IEEE microwave and wireless components letters Vol. 20; no. 2; pp. 103 - 105
• Main Authors: Chen, A.Y.-K., Baeyens, Y., Young-Kai Chen, Jenshan Lin
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York, NY IEEE 01.02.2010; Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
• Subjects: Amplifiers; Applied sciences; Automotive radar; BiCMOS integrated circuits; Circuit properties; Compressing; Design optimization; Electric, optical and optoelectronic circuits; Electronic circuits; Electronics; Exact sciences and technology; Gain; Germanium silicon alloys; Linearity; low-noise amplifier (LNA); Low-noise amplifiers; Microwave circuits, microwave integrated circuits, microwave transmission lines, submillimeter wave circuits; Microwaves; Millimeter wave technology; millimeter-wave (mm-wave); Noise levels; Noise measurement; Power consumption; SiGe BiCMOS; Silicon germanides; Silicon germanium; W-band; Wideband; Millimeter wave imaging; millimeter-wave (mm-wave); Road vehicle radar; SiGe BiCMOS; Ge-Si alloys; Power gain; Low noise amplifier; Microwave; Automotive radar; BiCMOS technology; Millimetric wave; Wide band; Electric power consumption; Peak power; Multistage circuit; Cost lowering; Semiconductor alloys; Multistage method; Return loss; low-noise amplifier (LNA); Power consumption; Linearity; W-band; W band; Low-power electronics
• ISSN: 1531-1309; 1558-1764
• DOI: 10.1109/LMWC.2009.2038528

This letter presents a low-power linear and wideband two-stage millimeter-wave low-noise amplifier (LNA) fabricated in a low-cost 0.18 ¿m SiGe BiCMOS technology. Design techniques utilized to optimize the gain and NF and to achieve high linearity and wideband at W-band are addressed. The LNA achieves a peak power gain of 14.5 dB at 77 GHz with a 3 dB bandwidth of 14.5 GHz from 69 to 83.5 GHz. The measured NF is 6.9 dB at 77 GHz and is lower than 8 dB from 64 to 81 GHz. Both input and output return losses are better than 11 dB and 17 dB at 77 GHz, respectively. The measured input 1 dB compression point is -11.4 dBm at 77 GHz with low power consumption of only 37 mW.