Exploration of energy requirements at the output of an LNA from a thermodynamic perspective

The fundamental energy per bit of information created, kTln(2), is given by the theory of thermodynamics. This paper investigates how this limit compares with the energy requirements of an amplifier. The link between bound information and physical energy is shown and a proposal of how information processing occurs in an LNA is made. Current LNA implementations require seven orders of magnitude greater than this limit. This is due to the energy which is required in order to represent the signal at the output of the amplifier to a given resolution and accuracy.