Design and analysis of a 300-GHz low-noise amplifier with 100+ GHz 3-dB bandwidth in a 130-nm SiGe BiCMOS technology

This work presents a broadband two-stage pseudo-differential low-noise amplifier (LNA) fabricated in an advanced 130-nm SiGe BiCMOS technology with ft fₜ f t / fmax fₘₐₓ f m a x of 470/650 GHz. The design combines Electromagnetic (EM)-based device co-simulations with novel broadband transformer matching networks. The input transformer employs asymmetric broadside-coupled lines to achieve wideband impedance transformation with insertion losses below 2 dB. The novel interstage and output transformers are designed as tapered asymmetric broadside coupled lines, providing a distributed transformation with a high impedance transformation ratio of 5:1 and 4:1, respectively, over a bandwidth (BW) of 100 GHz. The LNA provides a peak small-signal gain of 11.8 dB at 295 GHz with a 111 GHz 3-dB bandwidth spanning 211–322 GHz. The simulated noise figure is between 9.7 dB at 226 GHz and 14 dB at 330 GHz. The LNA has a saturated output power of 4.65 dBm at 280 GHz and an OP 1 dB OP1dB O P 1 d B of 3.6 dBm, including balun losses and consumes 118 mW DC power. It has a measured group delay (GD) variation of plus or minus 3.8 ± 3.8 ± 3.8 ps, making it suitable for broadband wireless communication.