A fully integrated K-band receiver front-end in CMOS

As the transit frequency fT of CMOS technology approaches 100GHz, it is becoming more attractive for RF designers. The goal of this thesis is to explore the possibility of realizing a fully integrated receiver front-end using standard low cost CMOS process. The thesis starts with LNA design. A high frequency noise model is introduced which takes into account Miller capacitance, gate resistance and finite transit time. The model and the analysis introduced in this thesis are applicable for LNA design close to the fT of the technology. The model was verified with a 23 GHz LNA designed in standard 0.18 mum technology, which provides a gain of 18 dB and a noise figure of 5.8 dB. To provide a fully integrated differential LNA solution a novel transformer based coupler has been introduced. The simulated transformer provide a phase mismatch less than 0.5 degree and gain mismatch less than 0.1 dB over the bandwidth of 17 to 40 GHz. The coupler is integrated with a differential LNA which uses a neutralization network to provide wideband performance. Designed and simulated in a standard CMOS 0.18 mum process, the integrated differential LNA with transformer provides a gain of 9 dB/stage with a minimum noise figure that is less than 5.5 dB. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)...