A highly compact SiGe HBT differential LNA for 3.1–10.6 GHz ultra-wideband applications

A fully differential low noise amplifier (LNA) using SiGe HBT technology for ultra-wide band applications is presented. Measured results show the maximum power gain of 19.9 dB with a variation of 1.8dB within the entire band, the noise figure is between 2.1dB and 2.9dB in the FCC-allocated UWB band from 3.1–10.6 GHz. The input 1-dB compression point is −17.5 dBm measured at 7GHz. All measured results show excellent agreement with the simulated ones. The total current consumption is 22 mA from a 3.5 V supply. The inductor-less design occupies a chip size of only 0.14 mm² including bond pads.