Wideband Balun-LNA With Simultaneous Output Balancing, Noise-Canceling and Distortion-Canceling

• Published in: IEEE journal of solid-state circuits 2008-06, Vol.43 (6), p.1341-1350
• Main Authors: Blaakmeer, S.C., Klumperink, E.A.M., Leenaerts, D.M.W., Nauta, B.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Amplifiers; Applied sciences; Baluns; Circuit properties; CMOS integrated circuits; Design. Technologies. Operation analysis. Testing; Distortion; distortion canceling; Electric, optical and optoelectronic circuits; Electronic circuits; Electronics; Energy consumption; Exact sciences and technology; Gain; Impedance matching; Integrated circuits; Linearity; low noise; Low-noise amplifiers; low-noise amplifiers (LNAs); low-power electronics; Noise; noise canceling; Noise cancellation; Noise figure; Noise levels; Noise measurement; Performance gain; Phase error; Semiconductor devices; Semiconductor electronics. Microelectronics. Optoelectronics. Solid state devices; Signal convertors; Transistors; Voltage; Wideband; wideband LNA; wideband matching
• ISSN: 0018-9200; 1558-173X
• DOI: 10.1109/JSSC.2008.922736

An inductorless low-noise amplifier (LNA) with active balun is proposed for multi-standard radio applications between 100 MHz and 6 GHz. It exploits a combination of a common-gate (CGH) stage and an admittance-scaled common-source (CS) stage with replica biasing to maximize balanced operation, while simultaneously canceling the noise and distortion of the CG-stage. In this way, a noise figure (NF) close to or below 3 dB can be achieved, while good linearity is possible when the CS-stage is carefully optimized. We show that a CS-stage with deep submicron transistors can have high IIP2, because the nu gs ldr nu ds cross-term in a two-dimensional Taylor approximation of the I DS (V GS , V DS ) characteristic can cancel the traditionally dominant square-law term in the I DS (V GS ) relation at practical gain values. Using standard 65 nm transistors at 1.2 V supply voltage, we realize a balun-LNA with 15 dB gain, NF < 3.5 dB and IIP2 > +20 dBm, while simultaneously achieving an IIP3 > 0 dBm. The best performance of the balun is achieved between 300 MHz to 3.5 GHz with gain and phase errors below 0.3 dB and plusmn2 degrees. The total power consumption is 21 mW, while the active area is only 0.01 mm 2 .