Ultra-low noise amplifier for x-band SiGe BiCMOS phased array applications

Official URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1109/TCSII.2019.2891133

This paper presents a low noise amplifier (LNA) with sub-1dB noise figure (NF) at X-Band. Different than generally known noise-and-power match technique, the presented LNA is designed by considering impedance between the base-collector terminals of an HBT in CE configuration. The presented amplifier stage can achieve sub-1dB NF performance with 10 dB gain. The LNA dissipates 19.8 mW of dc power and has 0.77 dB NF while occupying 0.4 mm2. It succeeds 1.5 dBm of input-referred compression point. To the best of authors’ knowledge, the presented work achieves the best NF performance in the literature of any LNA that utilizes SiGe technology.