X-band high dynamic range flat gain SiGe BiCMOS low noise amplifier

This paper presents design and measurement results of a high dynamic range (HDR) X-band (8-12 GHz) low noise amplifier (LNA) implemented in 130nm silicon-germanium (SiGe) BiCMOS process technology targeting phased array RADAR applications. A single-stage hetero-junction bipolar transistor (HBT) and inductively degenerated cascode topology is used in order to achieve a high gain, low noise figure (NF), high stability, reverse isolation and linearity. The measurement results demonstrate that HDRLNA has a NF of 2.6 dB at 9GHz. In addition, the LNA exhibits a measured flat gain of 15 dB with less than ±0.5 dB variation across X-band and input referred compression point (IP1dB) of 3.6 dBm which is believed to be the highest reported for a SiGe LNA at X-band. The gain variation of ±0.5 dB across 8-12GHz is also the lowest reported for similar work those available in the literature. The LNA dissipates 23.1 mW DC power whereas occupying a die area of 0.73 × 0.84 mm2.