IEEE MICROWAVE AND WIRELESS COMPONENTS LETTERS, VOL. 32, NO.

12, DECEMBER 2022 1451

A 5.9 mW E-/W-Band SiGe-HBT LNA

With 48 GHz 3-dB Bandwidth and
4.5-dB Noise Figure
Eren Vardarli , Graduate Student Member, IEEE, Paulius Sakalas, Member, IEEE,
and Michael Schröter , Senior Member, IEEE

Abstract— The theory, design, and implementation of a E-band [7], [8]. Therefore it is of interest to have wideband
millimeter-wave (mm-wave) two-stage common-emitter (CE) front-end circuit blocks that can perform well in multiple
low noise amplifier (LNA) using a 130-nm silicon-germanium frequency bands to enable multipurpose chipsets for future
(SiGe):C Bipolar CMOS technology is presented. The LNA was 5G/6G systems [9].
optimized for wideband performance from 62 to 110 GHz for Silicon-germanium (SiGe) heterojunction bipolar transis-
both mm-wave radar/sensing and wireless communication appli-
cations. A two-stage broadband noise and impedance matching
tor (HBT) technologies have shown great improvement during
technique is used to obtain a relativity flat gain (13.5 dB) and the last two decades [10] and offer high potential for future
noise figure (NF) (4.5 dB) across the E-/W-band. Low-voltage high-frequency applications [11]. Mm-wave circuit blocks
(VCC = 0.7 V) and low-power (5.9 mW) operation is achieved by designed with SiGe-HBTs have a particular advantage of
forward biasing the base–collector junction, while the wideband providing high performance even when they are operated with
capability is further improved by a T-type input matching very low supply voltages which make them attractive for
network utilizing constant quality factor curves. To the best mobile applications [12]–[14].
of authors’ knowledge, the presented LNA has the widest 3-dB This letter is organized as follows. The circuit design
bandwidth with the lowest power consumption in the literature method and analysis based on noise and gain circles are
for silicon-based E-/W-band LNAs. presented in Section II. The chip fabrication and measure-
Index Terms— 3-dB bandwidth, E-band, low noise ampli- ment setups are discussed in Section III. Section IV shows
fier (LNA), low-voltage operation, millimeter-wave (mm-wave) measured versus simulated results and a comparison to results
circuit design, noise figure (NF), silicon-germanium (SiGe)- from the literature.
heterojunction bipolar transistor (HBT), W-band.

I. I NTRODUCTION II. C IRCUIT T OPOLOGY, D ESIGN , AND A NALYSIS

In order to cover both the E- and W-band ranging
M ILLIMETER-WAVE (mm-wave) low noise ampli-
fiers (LNAs) are critical circuit blocks for various
wireless applications that include radars for autonomous vehi-
from 60 to 110 GHz, a 3-dB bandwidth (BW3dB ) of 50 GHz is
targeted. Therefore the center frequency is chosen as 85 GHz.
cles, high-resolution imaging systems and high-speed com- The quality factor (Q) of the input matching network to
munication links. Among these applications, the lower end achieve this bandwidth is given by Q = fcenter /BW3dB = 1.7.
of the W-band is of high interest for short-range ultraw- The HBT unit cells have an emitter window length of 0.95 μm
ideband (77–81 GHz) and long-range frequency-modulated and a width of 0.12 μm. Fig. 1(a) shows that the HBT provides
continuous-wave (FMCW) (76–77 GHz) automotive radar a minimum measured noise figure (NFmin ) of 2.1 dB at JC,opt =
systems [1]–[3] whereas the upper end of W-band is used 8.8 mA·μm−2 while Fig. 1(b) shows simulated NFmin points
in imaging systems for medical and surveillance/security with the same value of 2.05 dB for different device sizes. The
purposes [4]–[6]. Moreover, the high-speed point-to-point transistor with four unit cells is selected for the design due
and area network communication links utilize both W- and to the proximity of the NFmin point to the 50- resistance
circle which makes it possible to stay within the constant
Manuscript received 13 April 2022; revised 31 May 2022 and 7 July
2022; accepted 15 July 2022. Date of publication 3 August 2022; date
Q = 1.7 curves. The proposed topology given in Fig. 2 is
of current version 6 December 2022. This work was supported by the composed of cascaded common-emitter (CE) HBTs. The first
German National Science Foundation (DFG) under Project SCHR695/27. stage is biased with JC,opt (70 = 85 GHz) where IB = 7 μA
(Corresponding author: Eren Vardarli.) and is loaded with a 60- resistor for wideband operation.
Eren Vardarli and Michael Schröter are with the Chair for Electron Devices The load resistor in parallel with the output resistance (Rout )
and Integrated Circuits (CEDIC), Technische Universität Dresden, 01069
Dresden, Germany (e-mail: [email protected]). forms a low-pass filter with the parasitic (and Miller) capac-
Paulius Sakalas was with the Chair for Electron Devices and Integrated itance (Cpar ) at the collector of Q 1 . Therefore the maximum
Circuits (CEDIC), Technische Universität Dresden, 01069 Dresden, Germany. available power gain of the first stage is given as
He is now with MPI Corporation, Hsinchu 30267, Taiwan, also with the Center  2
for Physical Sciences and Technology, 02300 Vilnius, Lithuania, and also with   Rload  Rout (ω)
the Baltic Institute of Advanced Technology, 01403 Vilnius, Lithuania. |H1(ω)| = Re Y21,1 (ω) ·  
2
2
Color versions of one or more figures in this letter are available at 1+ ω(Rload  Rout (ω))Cpar (ω)
https://doi.org/10.1109/LMWC.2022.3192488.
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/LMWC.2022.3192488 (1)
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1452 IEEE MICROWAVE AND WIRELESS COMPONENTS LETTERS, VOL. 32, NO. 12, DECEMBER 2022

Fig. 4. Simulated (a) gain and (b) noise figure of each stage along with
calculated total gain and calculated cascaded noise figure using Friis’ equation.

first stage is optimized around 70 GHz. This technique was

proposed in [15] for microwave frequencies. Its success across
multiple mm-wave frequency bands is demonstrated here for
the first time.
As seen from Fig. 3(a), the optimum impedance associated
∗
with NFmin and Z in (Gav,max ) move closer to each other when
Q 1 is loaded with 60 . This facilitates both noise and
conjugate matching where a point on the NFmin + 0.2-dB
Fig. 1. (a) Measured and simulated transit frequency (fT ) at VCE = 0.7 V and
NFmin at 85 GHz of a PDK device with four unit cells in parallel (Np = 4). noise circle is chosen. This point also lies on the Q = 1.7 curve
(b) Constant noise figure circles of a single PDK device with 0.2-dB steps which allows the desired bandwidth while preventing further
for two (red), four (blue), and eight (black) unit cells in parallel (Np ) at loss in gain. The load resistor increases the simulated NFmin
VCE = 0.7 V, VBE = 0.88 V and the corresponding Z in ∗ at 85 GHz.
by 0.41 dB. The minimal effect of resistive loading can be
verified by calculating the noise factor of Q 1 with Rload at
85 GHz
v base
2
· gm2 + i b,shot
2
· |β|2 + i c,shot
2
+ i 2Rload
F1 = 1 +
v source
2 · gm2
 
Fmin,Q 1 − 1 · 4kT  f /Rload
= Fmin,Q 1 +
4kT  f (RB )gm2 + 2kT  f gm · (1 + |β|)
(1.6 − 1) · 1/60 
= 1.6 + = 1.66
(10 )(55 mS)2 + 55 mS/2 · (1 + 4)
(2)

Fig. 2. Schematic of the proposed two-stage CE LNA. Electrical length

where Fmin,Q 1 = 1 + (v base 2
· gm2 + i b,shot
2
· |β|2 + i c,shot
2
)/
values are given at 85 GHz (±5◦ for 70/100 GHz). (v source · gm ) is the minimum noise factor of Q 1 calculated
2 2

from the NFmin of 2.05 dB, v base

2
is the thermal noise voltage
of the base resistance (RB ), i b,shot
2 2
and i c,shot are the base and
collector shot noise currents and β is the ac current gain.
In the input matching network, instead of a high value poly
resistor, a parallel stub realized with the thickest metal layer
is used for the base bias in order to reduce the overall noise
figure. The second stage is biased with JC,opt (100 GHz) =
11 mA·μm−2 which also gives peak fT performance. The
maximum available power gain of the second stage is given as
Fig. 3. Constant available power gain (0.5-dB step) and noise figure (0.2-dB    2
step) circles of (a) first stage at 70 GHz and (b) second stage at 100 GHz |H2 (ω)|2 = Re Y21,2 (ω) · | j ωL| (3)
under matched output conditions. Impedance transformations are shown for
respective frequencies with elements indicated in Fig. 2. where Re(Y21,2 (ω)) is the transconductance of Q 2 with an
inductive load realized by a microstrip line.

where Re(Y21,1 (ω)) is the transconductance (gm ) of Q 1 under III. FABRICATION AND M EASUREMENT S ETUPS
the 60  load condition, Rout (ω) = 1/ Re(Y22,Q 1 (ω)) and The mm-wave LNA was fabricated in SG13G2, a 130-nm
Cpar (ω) = Im(Y22,Q 1 (ω))/ω. In order to achieve broadband BiCMOS production technology of IHP microelectronics. The
noise and impedance matching performance, each stage is micro-graph of the chip is shown in Fig. 5. The die has a
optimized for a different frequency band as shown in Fig. 3. core area of 340μm × 250μm without the pads. The zero-
Since the gain of the first stage drops beyond 65 GHz [see  transmission lines used for wideband ac grounding and dc
Fig. 4(a)], the noise figure of the second stage plays a critical distribution can be seen on each side of the die. The entire
role in reducing the overall (cascaded) noise figure in the upper circuit, including the pads, is electro-magnetically (EM)-
portion of the W-band [see Fig. 4(b)]. Therefore the second simulated with ADS Momentum. The S-parameters were
stage gain and noise is optimized around 100 GHz while the measured with a PNA 8361C from Keysight and 67–110 GHz

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VARDARLI et al.: 5.9 mW E-/W-BAND SiGe-HBT LNA WITH 48 GHz 3-dB BANDWIDTH AND 4.5-dB NOISE FIGURE 1453

TABLE I
C OMPARISON OF THE S TATE - OF - THE -A RT E-/W-BAND LNA S

Fig. 5. Micrograph of the fabricated E-/W-band LNA.

NF personality. The noise figure of the input and output

chain before and after the DUT was measured separately for
calibration [19].
Fig. 6. Simulated and measured S-parameters of the LNA with Vcc = 0.7 V. IV. E XPERIMENTAL R ESULTS
The S-parameter results are provided in Fig. 6 where a peak
gain of 13.5 dB is observed at 85 GHz. The 3-dB bandwidth
extends into the D-band and could not be measured due to
the limit of the frequency extenders. The lower end of the
3-dB bandwidth is at 62 GHz. S11 is lower than −10 dB
from 68 to 94 GHz which shows that wideband matching has
been realized. The output (S22 ) was matched to the load–pull
impedance at the upper end of the spectrum to boost the
output power and hence improve linearity. The simulated NF
in Fig. 7(a) exhibits only 1-dB variation across the spectrum.
The cubic polynomial fit of the measured NF data shows
excellent agreement with the simulation. Fig. 7(b) displays
PSAT and IP1dB at W-band. The circuit offers a relatively flat
output power with 1.3-dB variation while the linearity perfor-
mance improves with increasing frequency. Table I provides a
comparison of silicon-based E-/W-band LNAs from the recent
literature.

V. C ONCLUSION
The two-stage broadband noise and impedance matching
technique was used across the E- and W-band for the first
time to demonstrate very high bandwidth with low noise
Fig. 7. (a) Simulated and measured noise figure (W-band only) of the LNA. figure. It was shown through rigorous analysis that, contrary
Simulated minimum noise figure shows the noise matching performance.
(b) Simulated and measured saturated output power (PSAT ) and input-referred to popular belief, resistive loading does not have a significant
1-dB compression point (IP1dB ) of the LNA. impact on the noise figure while it improves the operation
bandwidth and brings available power gain and noise circles
closer to each other. The custom-designed zero- transmission
Agilent N5260-60003 extenders that are integrated with com- lines provide robust/wideband ac grounding and prevent gain
biners (10 MHz–67 GHz) for continuous sweep. An short- peaking. The HBTs were biased in saturation (VBC,Q 1 ≈ 0.4 V,
open-load-through (SOLT) calibration was made to move the VBC,Q 2 ≈ 0.2 V) for achieving low-power operation. Therefore
reference plane of measurement to the probe tips. Large-signal the LNA presented here is well-suited for battery-critical
measurements were performed with the same extender as the multipurpose chipsets that operate across multiple frequency
input power source and a VDI-Erickson power meter (PM5) bands to enable joint communication and sensing systems.
with a WR-10 sensor head. Noise figure was measured using
the Y-factor method with a W-band noise source, isolators, ACKNOWLEDGMENT
a W-band LNA as a pre-amplifier for reducing measurement The authors would like to thank Dr. S. Schumann of
uncertainty, a W-band balanced mixer, a ×6 multiplier for the Chair of Circuit Design and Network Theory (CCN),
generating mixer local oscillator (LO), an IF amplifier and Technische Universität Dresden, Dresden, Germany, for his
a spectrum analyzer from Keysight (E4440A) with installed valuable advice on noise measurements.

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1454 IEEE MICROWAVE AND WIRELESS COMPONENTS LETTERS, VOL. 32, NO. 12, DECEMBER 2022

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