SPICE simulation and tradeoffs of CMOS LNA performance with source-degeneration inductor

In this brief, we study the tradeoffs of CMOS low noise amplifiers using source-degeneration inductor with both experimental data and simulation data. SPICE models based on the quasistatic (QS) assumption ignores the channel resistance and leads designers to overly rely on source-degeneration inductance. The non-QS model is much better. Source inductor adversely affects noise and gain. The parasitic capacitance at the gate imposes additional challenges for matching.