A Broadband 60-GHz Low Noise Amplifier with 3.2 dB Noise Figure and 24 dB Gain

This paper presents a broadband mm-wave low noise amplifier (LNA). The amplifier consists of two cascode stages and is realized in a 130-nm SiGe BiCMOS technology over a total chip area of 0.41 mm
²
. For maximizing the bandwidth, the LNA employs dual-band inter-stage and output matching networks. As a result, a 3-dB bandwidth (BW) of 23 GHz, from 54 to 77 GHz, is achieved. The amplifier demonstrates a maximum gain of 23.8 dB, while consuming a dc power of only 8 mW. Measurement results show that the LNA has an average noise figure (NF) of 3.2 dB, which is - to the best knowledge of the authors - the lowest reported NF for amplifiers operating in this band. Compared to state of the art, this LNA provides the best figure of merit considering noise, gain, BW, large signal performance and power consumption.