A Wideband Low-Power-Consumption 22–32.5-GHz 0.18- $\mu \text{m}$ BiCMOS Active Balun-LNA With IM2 Cancellation Using a Transformer-Coupled Cascode-Cascade Topology

A low-power-consumption wideband 0.18-μm BiCMOS active balun-low noise amplifier (LNA) with linearity improvement technique for millimeter-wave applications is proposed. The linearity technique utilizes constant Gm transconductance structure with the second-order intermodulation (IM
₂
) cancellation that provides robustness to input and output variations. The constant Gm is established with equal emitters' area ratios and proper base-emitter biasing voltage, thus improving linearity. Furthermore, power saving is achieved using inductive coupling boosting the overall Gm structure and reducing the current consumption for the auxiliary gain stage. The measured balun-LNA's power gain between the input and two outputs is 15.4 and 15.6 dB with input return loss greater than 8.7 dB. The gain and phase mismatches are less than 1.8 dB and 12°, respectively. The balun-LNA noise figures between the input and two outputs are less than 5.5 and 6 dB at 32.5 GHz. The measured input points [referred 1-dB gain compressions (P
_in
1dB's), input referred third-order intercept IIP3's] and the input referred second-order intercept points (IIP2's) are more than -14.6, -5.7, and 42 dBm across 22-32.5 GHz, respectively, and the total power consumption is less than 9 mW drawn from 1.8 V power supply.