3.6mW, 30dB gain preamplifiers for an FM-UWB receiver

Two low-power, high-gain preamplifiers designed for a 7.2-7.7GHz (high band) FM-UWB receiver in 0.25mum SiGe:C-BiCMOS technology are described. Each preamplifier has single-ended input/differential outputs and is aimed at low-power, low data rate applications. Both amplifiers consume 3.6mW from a 1.8V supply. The maximum measured voltage gain is Gt30dB with 500MHz bandwidth for both designs, and they remain functional down to 1.4V supply voltage. The first amplifier (with active input balun) realizes 5.7dB measured 50Omega noise figure (NF), while the second amplifier (with passive output balun) has 4.3dB measured (50Omega) NF. This performance is sufficient to realize better than -80dBm sensitivity in a FM-UWB receiver dissipating less than 10mW at 100kbit/s data rate.