A Ka-Band Low Noise Amplifier for Phased Array Radar System in 65nm CMOS

Abstract

An optimized Ka-band low noise amplifier (LNA) for phased array radar system is presented in this paper. Two gain-boosting techniques are quantitatively analyzed and employed on the proposed LNA to achieve high gain and low noise performances. Meanwhile, three switched-capacitor arrays are inserted to prevent the center frequency (35GHz) from shifting with the PVT variations. Implemented in 65nm CMOS, the presented LNA features 26.2dB gain over 7GHz-3dB bandwidth (BW-3dB) while drawing 24.5mA current from one 1V power supply. The noise figure (NF) is lower than 3.4dB at 35GHz. S11 and S22 are below -10dB within the entire operating frequency band (33GHz-37GHz). The input third-order intercept point (IIP3) is higher than -22dBm.