Low Power Consumption DC-18 GHz Internally Matched Amplifier using Si/SiGe HBTs

Very wideband amplifiers with low input and output reflection coefficients are important building blocks for applications ranging from high-bitrate fiberoptic communication systems to advanced radar. Low power consumption, small chip area and low manufacturing cost become priority issues for battery-operated mobile devices and large market volume systems. Si/SiGe HBTs with highly doped base layers are uniquely qualified to address these issues. In this paper, we present a monolithically integrated wideband amplifier using SiGe HBTs. It provides 9.5 dB of gain with 18 GHs bandwidth, while drawing only 50 mW from a 3V supply. The phase delay varies linearly with frequency within the operating bandwidth, making this amplifier equally well suited for high-speed digital applications. The noise figure was 5.3 dB over the bandwidth of the amplifier.