A 1.2-V 0.09-µm high-gain buffered amplifier for 14.2-GHz satellite applications

Employing a 90-nm CMOS process, this article presents a high-gain, low-power (9.2 mW), highly-linearized (IIP3: 8.5 dBm), buffered amplifier for satellite applications near the lower edge of K_u-band (14.2 GHz). Over the frequencyband of interest (13.2-15.4 GHz), the amplifier achieves low noise contribution (<;3.41 dB) and excellent port-matching (<;-10 dB) simultaneously. With an effective 3-dB bandwidth of 2.2 GHz, the circuit demonstrates a small-signal forward gain of 24 dB and a noise figure (NF) of 3.25 dB at 14.2 GHz while maintaining a minimum input return-loss of -35 dB. Effect of impedance mismatch and process parasites are included in the design to facilitate a layout-sensitive RF analysis. When compared with simulated results of published amplifiers, the proposed design fares better in terms of linearity, forward gain and watt-per-decibel requirements.