A 36-42 GHz 0.18-m CMOS Amplifier Using Cascode-Cascade Matching Topology for Millimeter-wave Broadband Applications

In this paper, a Q-band low noise amplifier (LNA) is presented using a 0.18-mu m CMOS process for millimeter-wave broadband applications. The LNA is composed of common-source (CS) and cascode gain stages to achieve high small-signal gain with broad bandwidth. The bandwidth of the LNA can be further enhanced due to the low- quality matching between the CS and cascode stages. The chip size of the LNA is 0.8x0.7 mm2. The measured maximum small-signal gain is 15.3 dB with a 3-dB bandwidth from 35.7 to 41.7 GHz. The measured noise figure is between 7.3 and 9 dB. The total dc power consumption is 73 mW.