A 5–25.7-GHz CMOS LNA With Weakly Coupled Transformer for X-/Ku-/Ka-Band SATCOM Receivers

Xuzhi Liu; Fang Han; Zicheng Liu; Xiaoran Li; Xinghua Wang; Zhiming Chen

doi:10.1109/LMWT.2025.3600740

A 5–25.7-GHz CMOS LNA With Weakly Coupled Transformer for X-/Ku-/Ka-Band SATCOM Receivers

Xuzhi Liu
, Fang Han
, Zicheng Liu
, Xiaoran Li
, Xinghua Wang
, Zhiming Chen^*

^*Corresponding author for this work

School of Integrated Circuits and Electronics

Beijing Institute of Technology

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

This letter presents a low-noise amplifier (LNA) for multiband satellite communication (SATCOM) applications, featuring a wide effective bandwidth (BW _eff). Based on a feedback cascode structure, the design methodology to achieve wideband input matching in a multistage LNA is presented. A compact input matching network consisting of a parallel capacitor and a weakly coupled transformer is introduced to generate three distinct peaks in S₁₁, effectively covering the 3-dB bandwidth (BW _{3 dB}) of the LNA. The fabricated LNA demonstrates a peak gain of 21.2 dB with a BW _{3 dB} from 5 to 25.7 GHz while consuming 16 mW. The noise figure (NF) remains within the range of 2.6–3.8 dB. S₁₁ and S₂₂ are better than –10 dB across 5.2–28 GHz. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, the FoMs of this work are one of the best results reported for CMOS LNAs with such a wide bandwidth.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	1977-1980
Number of pages	4
Journal	IEEE Microwave and Wireless Technology Letters
Volume	35
Issue number	12
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1109/LMWT.2025.3600740
Publication status	Published - 2025

Keywords

Broadband
CMOS
feedback
low-noise amplifier (LNA)
transformer

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10.1109/LMWT.2025.3600740

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title = "A 5–25.7-GHz CMOS LNA With Weakly Coupled Transformer for X-/Ku-/Ka-Band SATCOM Receivers",

abstract = "This letter presents a low-noise amplifier (LNA) for multiband satellite communication (SATCOM) applications, featuring a wide effective bandwidth (BW eff). Based on a feedback cascode structure, the design methodology to achieve wideband input matching in a multistage LNA is presented. A compact input matching network consisting of a parallel capacitor and a weakly coupled transformer is introduced to generate three distinct peaks in S11, effectively covering the 3-dB bandwidth (BW 3 dB) of the LNA. The fabricated LNA demonstrates a peak gain of 21.2 dB with a BW 3 dB from 5 to 25.7 GHz while consuming 16 mW. The noise figure (NF) remains within the range of 2.6–3.8 dB. S11 and S22 are better than –10 dB across 5.2–28 GHz. To the best of the authors{\textquoteright} knowledge, the FoMs of this work are one of the best results reported for CMOS LNAs with such a wide bandwidth.",

keywords = "Broadband, CMOS, feedback, low-noise amplifier (LNA), transformer",

author = "Xuzhi Liu and Fang Han and Zicheng Liu and Xiaoran Li and Xinghua Wang and Zhiming Chen",

note = "Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2023 IEEE.",

year = "2025",

doi = "10.1109/LMWT.2025.3600740",

language = "English",

volume = "35",

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T1 - A 5–25.7-GHz CMOS LNA With Weakly Coupled Transformer for X-/Ku-/Ka-Band SATCOM Receivers

AU - Liu, Xuzhi

AU - Han, Fang

AU - Liu, Zicheng

AU - Li, Xiaoran

AU - Wang, Xinghua

AU - Chen, Zhiming

PY - 2025

Y1 - 2025

N2 - This letter presents a low-noise amplifier (LNA) for multiband satellite communication (SATCOM) applications, featuring a wide effective bandwidth (BW eff). Based on a feedback cascode structure, the design methodology to achieve wideband input matching in a multistage LNA is presented. A compact input matching network consisting of a parallel capacitor and a weakly coupled transformer is introduced to generate three distinct peaks in S11, effectively covering the 3-dB bandwidth (BW 3 dB) of the LNA. The fabricated LNA demonstrates a peak gain of 21.2 dB with a BW 3 dB from 5 to 25.7 GHz while consuming 16 mW. The noise figure (NF) remains within the range of 2.6–3.8 dB. S11 and S22 are better than –10 dB across 5.2–28 GHz. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, the FoMs of this work are one of the best results reported for CMOS LNAs with such a wide bandwidth.

AB - This letter presents a low-noise amplifier (LNA) for multiband satellite communication (SATCOM) applications, featuring a wide effective bandwidth (BW eff). Based on a feedback cascode structure, the design methodology to achieve wideband input matching in a multistage LNA is presented. A compact input matching network consisting of a parallel capacitor and a weakly coupled transformer is introduced to generate three distinct peaks in S11, effectively covering the 3-dB bandwidth (BW 3 dB) of the LNA. The fabricated LNA demonstrates a peak gain of 21.2 dB with a BW 3 dB from 5 to 25.7 GHz while consuming 16 mW. The noise figure (NF) remains within the range of 2.6–3.8 dB. S11 and S22 are better than –10 dB across 5.2–28 GHz. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, the FoMs of this work are one of the best results reported for CMOS LNAs with such a wide bandwidth.

KW - Broadband

KW - CMOS

KW - feedback

KW - low-noise amplifier (LNA)

KW - transformer

UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/105014499664

U2 - 10.1109/LMWT.2025.3600740

DO - 10.1109/LMWT.2025.3600740

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:105014499664

SN - 2771-957X

VL - 35

SP - 1977

EP - 1980

JO - IEEE Microwave and Wireless Technology Letters

JF - IEEE Microwave and Wireless Technology Letters

IS - 12

ER -

A 5–25.7-GHz CMOS LNA With Weakly Coupled Transformer for X-/Ku-/Ka-Band SATCOM Receivers

Abstract

Keywords

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