Ka-band (35 GHz) 3-stage SiGe HBT low noise amplifier

We present design, simulation, and measurement of a Ka-band (35 GHz) low noise amplifier (LNA) fabricated in a 120 GHz f t /f m a x SiGe BiCMOS technology (IBM 7HP). To our knowledge, this is the first demonstration of a Ka-band LNA in a SiGe technology, representing the first of a set of desired building blocks for integrating a Ka-band transmit and receive (T/R) module in a single chip environment. At 35 GHz, the 3-stage LNA exhibited 15.1 dB gain, -5.9 dBm output compression (P1dB), 9 dBm third order intercept (IP3), and 5.6 dB noise figure at 25.6 mW DC power. Peak gain and bandwidth of the LNA were found to be 19.0 dB and 10.7 GHz respectively at a center frequency of 31.3 GHz.

[1]  T. Itoh,et al.  Contact properties of micromachined Ni probes , 2003, Proceedings of the Forty-Ninth IEEE Holm Conference on Electrical Contacts, 2003..

[2]  H. Schumacher,et al.  A Ku band SiGe low noise amplifier , 2000, 2000 Topical Meetings on Silicon Monolithic Integrated Circuits in RF Systems. Digest of Papers (Cat. No.00EX397).

[3]  D. Friedman,et al.  Noise performance and considerations for integrated RF/analog/mixed-signal design in a high-performance SiGe BiCMOS technology , 2001, International Electron Devices Meeting. Technical Digest (Cat. No.01CH37224).

[4]  B. Gaucher,et al.  SiGe bipolar transceiver circuits operating at 60 GHz , 2005, IEEE Journal of Solid-State Circuits.

[5]  S.C. Schiff.  Systems engineering of RF system-on-wafer applications in SiGe [radar active electronic steered array example] , 2004, Digest of Papers. 2004 Topical Meeting onSilicon Monolithic Integrated Circuits in RF Systems, 2004..

[6]  B. Jagannathan,et al.  A 0.18 /spl mu/m BiCMOS technology featuring 120/100 GHz (f/sub T//f/sub max/) HBT and ASIC-compatible CMOS using copper interconnect , 2001, Proceedings of the 2001 BIPOLAR/BiCMOS Circuits and Technology Meeting (Cat. No.01CH37212).

[7]  B. Jagannathan,et al.  Noise performance scaling in high-speed silicon RF technologies , 2003, 2003 Topical Meeting on Silicon Monolithic Integrated Circuits in RF Systems, 2003. Digest of Papers..

[8]  U.R. Pfeiffer,et al.  A 77 GHz SiGe power amplifier for potential applications in automotive radar systems , 2004, 2004 IEE Radio Frequency Integrated Circuits (RFIC) Systems. Digest of Papers.

[9]  M. Feng,et al.  Low noise, and high gain wideband amplifier using SiGe HBT technology , 2004, 2004 IEEE MTT-S International Microwave Symposium Digest (IEEE Cat. No.04CH37535).