A 141-GHz amplifier was designed for the 40-nm CMOS process. The core was kept reasonably compact 201 x 284 μm² in spite of the five-stage differential amplifier by using a layout avoiding the coupling effect of adjacent shunt stub lines. The peak gain and 3-dB bandwidth were 20dB at 148 and 22 GHz, respectively. The power consumption was 75 mW from a 0.94-V power supply. The minimum NF was 8.5 dB at 135 GHz. The P1dB was 1.7 dB m at 138 GHz. The proposed “millipede” layout technique enables an amplifier with a small footprint to realize without sacrificing performance.

Chapter Contents:

• 2.1 Amplifier theory
• 2.1.1 Introduction
• 2.1.2 Maximum conditionally stable gain
• 2.1.3 Possible application to amplifier design
• 2.1.3.1 132-GHz CMOS amplifier
• 2.1.3.2 60-GHz amplifier design with parameter dispersion
• 2.1.4 Summary and discussion
• 2.2 Gain and noise optimization of small-signal amplifier [23]
• 2.3 Gain-boosting by feedback
• 2.3.1 Introduction
• 2.3.2 Gain and stability of feedback amplifier [22]
• 2.3.3 Gain boosting by lossless reciprocal feedback [22]
• 2.3.4 Graphical design of feedback network [37]
• 2.3.5 Gain boosting using leaky tapped transformer
• 2.4 Compact layout techniques [43], [53]
• 2.4.1 "Fishbone" layout for single-ended amplifiers
• 2.4.2 Extension of " fishbone" for differential amplifiers
• 2.4.3 Design
• 2.4.3.1 Transmission lines
• 2.4.3.2 Crosstalk between shunt stubs
• 2.4.3.3 Capacitive cross-coupling technique
• 2.4.3.4 Rat-race balun
• 2.4.3.5 Five-stage differential amplifier
• 2.4.4 Results and discussion
• 2.4.5 Conclusion
• References

Inspec keywords: differential amplifiers; field effect MIMIC; millimetre wave amplifiers; CMOS integrated circuits; power consumption

Other keywords: compact core; power 75 mW; millipede layout technique; size 40 nm; CMOS process; peak gain; voltage 0.94 V; coupling effect; noise figure 8.5 dB; five-stage differential amplifier; power consumption; 3-dB bandwidth; frequency 22 GHz to 148 GHz

Subjects: Microwave integrated circuits; Amplifiers; CMOS integrated circuits