A 122-150 GHz LNA with 30 dB gain and 6.2 dB noise figure in SiGe BiCMOS technology

This paper presents a D-Band Low Noise Amplifier (LNA) for imaging applications designed in an advanced 90 nm SiGe BiCMOS process. The LNA consists of 3 cascode stages and one common-emitter stage and achieves peak gain of 30 dB and 3 dB bandwidth at 122-150 GHz. The measured noise figure is maintained below 7.5 dB over the measurement band with minimum of 6.2 dB at 140 GHz. The amplifier consumes DC power of only 45 mW, and occupies area of 0.11 mm2 (without pads), which make it suitable for integration in large scale imaging arrays. To our knowledge, this work demonstrates the highest gain, highest bandwidth and lowest noise figure achieved so far at D-Band in any silicon-based technology.