5.9 GHZ Inductor-Less Low Noise Amplifier

This paper presents a novel way to design an inductor-less low noise amplifier. The LNA created uses an artificial tank (AT) created from a damped ring oscillator (RO) to replace the LC-tank normally used in tuned circuits. The measured results show the LNA has an 18 dB voltage gain, 2.3 dB noise figure, an IP3 of -11 dBm, a 1 dB compression point of -19 dBm, and a power consumption of 4.85 mW. The main advantage of using the AT is to minimize the silicon area and to operate at a high frequency of 5.9 GHz. The prototype, made using CMOS 0.18-micron technology, occupied one-fiftieth of the silicon area generally used by circuits of this type