A Simple Figure of Merit of RF MOSFET for Low-Noise Amplifier Design

In this letter, it is proposed that g<sub>m</sub> <sup>2</sup>/I<sub>D</sub>, which has been used as the figure of merit (FoM) of MOSFETs for analog amplifiers, can also be used as the RF MOSFET FoM for optimizing low-noise amplifier (LNA) performance. From a simple small-signal equivalent circuit, signal gain, noise figure, and power consumption equations are derived analytically and verified with the measurement results of the fabricated LNA. The proposed g<sub>m</sub> <sup>2</sup>/I<sub>D</sub> predicts the optimal bias point for the maximum LNA performance.

[1]  B. Heydari,et al.  Millimeter-Wave Devices and Circuit Blocks up to 104 GHz in 90 nm CMOS , 2007, IEEE Journal of Solid-State Circuits.

[2]  In Man Kang,et al.  A New Noise Parameter Model of Short-Channel MOSFETs , 2007, 2007 IEEE Radio Frequency Integrated Circuits (RFIC) Symposium.

[3]  P. Schvan,et al.  Algorithmic Design of CMOS LNAs and PAs for 60-GHz Radio , 2007, IEEE Journal of Solid-State Circuits.

[4]  Jongwook Jeon,et al.  An analytical channel thermal noise model for deep-submicron MOSFETs with short channel effects , 2007 .

[5]  S.S. Taylor,et al.  Measurement and Modeling of Drain Current Thermal Noise to Shot Noise Ratio in 90nm CMOS , 2008, 2008 IEEE Topical Meeting on Silicon Monolithic Integrated Circuits in RF Systems.

[6]  Hyungcheol Shin,et al.  Optimization of cascode configuration in CMOS low‐noise amplifier , 2008 .

[7]  P.W.H. de Vreede,et al.  RF-CMOS Performance Trends , 2000, 30th European Solid-State Device Research Conference.

[8]  M.J. Deen,et al.  High-Frequency Noise of Modern MOSFETs: Compact Modeling and Measurement Issues , 2006, IEEE Transactions on Electron Devices.

[9]  S. Kaya,et al.  Optimization of RF linearity in DG-MOSFETs , 2004, IEEE Electron Device Letters.

[10]  P. Heydari,et al.  Ultra-low power RFIC design using moderately inverted MOSFETs: an analytical/experimental study , 2006, IEEE Radio Frequency Integrated Circuits (RFIC) Symposium, 2006.

[11]  Trung-Kien Nguyen,et al.  CMOS low-noise amplifier design optimization techniques , 2004, IEEE Transactions on Microwave Theory and Techniques.

[12]  K.W. Kobayashi,et al.  5 mW GaAs HBT low power consumption X-band amplifier , 1994, 1994 IEEE MTT-S International Microwave Symposium Digest (Cat. No.94CH3389-4).

[13]  Shey-Shi Lu,et al.  A 2.17 dB NF, 5 GHz band monolithic CMOS LNA with 10 mW DC power consumption , 2002, VLSIC 2002.

[14]  Yuhua Cheng.  A Study of Figures of Merit for the High Frequency Behavior of MOSFETs in RF IC Applications , 2005 .

[15]  M. B. Das.  High-frequency performance limitations of millimeter-wave heterojunction bipolar transistors , 1988 .

[16]  P. De Vita,et al.  A sub-1-dB NF±2.3-kV ESD-protected 900-MHz CMOS LNA , 2001, IEEE J. Solid State Circuits.

[17]  B. Jagannathan,et al.  Record RF performance of 45-nm SOI CMOS Technology , 2007, 2007 IEEE International Electron Devices Meeting.