LNA Design with CMOS SOI Process — 1.4dB NF K/Ka Band LNA

In this paper we first discuss about how to select the device type to get best LNA NF for applications ranging from sub-6GHz to 5G mm-Wave Ka-band. A prototype Ka-band fully integrated LNA is designed and fabricated in 45nm CMOS SOI process with a chip area of 530µm × 570µm. The LNA achieves a 3dB bandwidth greater than 10 GHz while the NF remains below 2dB. From 24 to 28 GHz, the LNA achieves a gain of 14–12.8dB, IIP3 of 4–5 dBm, and NF around 1.4 dB (1.3–1.6 dB over several tests), from a 1.5 V supply with 10mA of current. In low power mode, the NF is around 1.5dB with a gain of 12.6dB and 7mW power consumption. To the authors knowledge, this is the best NF achieved at 28 GHz by any CMOS process and close to latest GaAs data with FOM larger than 250.