| This thesis presents a novel design of a 6 GHz Low Noise Amplifier (LNA) incorporating a damped ring oscillator, which is used as the tuning circuit to replace the LC-tank in the LNA. Algebraic equations necessary to describe the behaviour of the ring oscillator as an artificial tank were developed and derived. The simulated design of the LNA gave a power gain of 9 dB. The LNA was fabricated in CMOS 0.18 micron technology, mounted and bondwired to a glass printed circuit board (PCB) and its S-parameters were tested. The test results obtained were different from the simulated ones mainly because of process variation, but demonstrated the operation of the artificial tank. |
