A Study on the Effects of the Structure of Passive Devices on the Performance of CMOS Low-Noise Amplifiers

In this paper, the effects of the structure of passive devices on the performance of LNA circuits are investigated. Using a 0.25 mum CMOS process, several LNA circuits employing the common-source topology with cascode configuration are designed, implemented, fabricated, and tested. The gain, isolation, and matching characteristics of LNA circuits implemented using different inductor and capacitor structures are characterized. Actual measurement results are compared and analyzed. From these results, recommendations on the suitable capacitor and inductor structures for LNA circuits are given