A low power CMOS low noise amplifier for ultra-wideband wireless applications

A CMOS low noise amplifier (LNA) for low-power ultra-wideband (UWB) wireless applications is presented. To achieve low power consumption and wide operating bandwidth, the proposed LNA employing a stagger tuning technique consists of two stacked common-source stages with different resonance frequencies. This work is implemented in 0.18-/spl mu/m CMOS process and shows a 2.6-9.2-GHz bandwidth. The amplifier provides a maximum forward gain (S/sub 21/) of 10.9 dB while drawing 7.1 mW from a 1.8-V supply. A noise figure as low as 3.5 dB and an IIP3 of -5.1 dBm have been demonstrated. The design optimization for the power-constrained stacked amplifiers in wide bandwidth applications is also presented.