A wideband LNA design for Ku-Band applications

A novel circuit structure of a common-gate single-stage low-noise amplifier (LNA) has been proposed in this work. The LNA has been designed for Ku-Band (12 to 18 GHz) applications using the TSMC 0.18-μm CMOS process. New analytical expressions have been derived for the noise factor of a common-gate LNA. A minimum noise figure (NF) of 4.86 dB and a maximum S₂₁ of 10.55 dB has been obtained for the design. The circuit displays a high linearity with an IIP3 value equal to 12 dBm and P_1-dB value equal to -3 dBm at the mid-band. Detailed input and output matching networks have been designed to maintain a low NF and a high gain across the band. The LNA operates from a 1.8 V supply and consumes a current of 5.56 mA excluding the output buffer.