CMOS LNA for IoT RFID

Abstract

Radio frequency identification (RFID) technology is currently reader protocol specific. For a common RFID standard to be used as the internet of things (IoT) devices, the reader should either be general or be avoided to facilitate tag communication with a common protocol. A complementery metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) low noise amplifier (LNA) is recommended for 2.4 GHz IoT RFID. Spiral inductor based LNA cannot overcome the problems of bulky die area, lesser Q factor, limited tuning flexibility etc. Therefore, an LNA with an inductor less approach is designed in 90nm CMOS process cadence software. The post-layout simulation exhibits a 19 dB gain, a 164.2 MHz bandwidth and a 1.55 dB noise figure at 2.4 GHz. The LNA consumes very low power which is only 1.08 mW from a 1.5 V supply. A very compact layout of 127.7 µm2 has been achieved because of the inductor less approach.