Minimal area 65nm CMOS amplifier for Ultra-Wideband transmitter applications

This work presents the design of an inductorless, monolithically integrated differential CMOS wideband amplifier covering the frequency range from 0.2 to 10.2 GHz, thus being a suitable candidate for full-band Ultra-Wideband transmitter applications. The amplifier is processed in a 1.2 V 65nm CMOS technology and is comprised of two pseudo differential current-reuse shunt-feedback stages combined with active inductor loads. Measurement results of the bonded chip show a power gain of 10.2 dB and return losses of better than -10 dB for the input and output respectively. The measured output referred 1 dB compression point is above 3.9 dBm within the entire specified frequency range. With a power consumption of 39 mW and a die size of only 370μm × 370μm, this circuit represents a capable minimal area alternative to classical distributed amplifier approaches focussing on that frequency range.