A low power LNA using miniature 3D inductor without area penalty of passive components

A low power 5GHz LNA without area penalty of inductors has been fabricated. Because of a miniature 3D vertical solenoid inductor, a chip area of this LNA is as small as that of feedback type LNAs which do not need passive components. A noise and a power consumption are smaller than those LNAs. Because of a small parasitic capacitance of the 3D inductor and a controlled series resistance considering skin and proximity effects, a 15.7dB power gain and a 2.0dB noise factor at 5GHz have been achieved with only 3.6mW power consumption. This LNA with the miniature 3D solenoid inductor is preferable for low power and low cost RF/mixed-signal SoCs.