58–72 GHz CMOS wideband variable gain low-noise amplifier

Abstract

A V-band wideband variable gain low-noise amplifier (VGLNA) with a 3 dB bandwidth of 14 GHz (58-72 GHz) is developed in a 65 nm RFCMOS technology. The three-stage VGLNA, adopting the current steering method for the gain control, shows a measured peak power gain of 21.8 dB with a 1 dB gain flatness of 10 GHz (60-70 GHz). With tuning voltage adjusted from 0.8 to 2.8 V, the gain and noise figure are varied from 21.8 to 12.8 dB and from 4.2 to 5.7 dB, respectively, at 64 GHz. Input P 21dB was measured to be 222.1 dBm. DC power consumption is 36 mW with V DD ¼ 1.2 V and the chip size is 0.75 × 0.65 mm.Introduction: The availability of the frequency band around 60 GHz for unlicensed use in many regions in the world is attracting growing attention for broadband wireless communication applications. Along with the high attenuation level in the Earth's atmosphere around this band, the ample bandwidth available with this band makes it a highly attractive option, particularly for the wireless personal area network (WPAN) for the multi-Gbit/s short-range data link. According to the standard developed for this application, the band for WPAN systems encompasses four channels ranging from 57 to 66 GHz [1]. This requires the low-noise amplifier (LNA) to have a bandwidth wide enough to cover this range, preferably with a flat gain throughout this band. In addition, the gain controllability is desired for the LNA to maintain high linearity as well as constant output power of the entire receiver system against variation in the input signal power level. There have been recent reports on variable gain low-noise amplifiers (VGLNAs) intended for 60 GHz application based on either Si CMOS [2] or SiGe BiCMOS [3,4], but their bandwidths were rather limited. In this Letter, a wideband VGLNA for 60 GHz WPAN application is developed in a 65 nm RFCMOS technology

E‐band broadband digital controlled phase‐inverting variable gain amplifier in 65‐nm CMOS

“…This structure has broader bandwidth than [6,8] because of the constant input and output impendences and the utilisation of transformer matching networks. Compared to [8,9], this work can achieve 180°phase inversion and has lower phase error due to the application of superimposed bipolar differential cells. Besides, the proposed PIVGA can realise wider tuning range, more accurate tuning step, lower power consumption and smaller chip area.…”

A novel method to design variable gain amplifier

“…Meanwhile, the VGA is very useful module in Radio Frequency (RF) applications in where it serves as a universal purpose gain block to adjust the overall gain of a transceiver which may be affected from manufacturing tolerances or other blocks influence in the system. Some of VGAs use a fixed gain amplifier followed by a variable attenuator to control the gain [3]. In other works, the main amplifier parameters are supposed to change.…”

A 65–77 GHz low power, meander-type transmission line CMOS low-noise amplifier

“…In III-V compound semiconductors and SiGe technologies, a single LNA could consume 50 mW to 150 mW quiescent power. Although CMOS technologies reduce the power consumption, the LNA powers are still high [9,10]. In this Letter, we present a 17.7 mW 65-77 GHz LNA with 11.7 dB power gain and 5.5 dB NF.…”

“…These technologies are not able to be integrated with CMOS baseband circuits and the cost is also high. In recent researches [5,6,7,8,9,10], CMOS technology has been becoming a good candidate for the design of millimeter-wave components. In these CMOS millimeter-wave ICs, using transmission lines is the major solution.…”