Linearity issue in 2.4 GHz 0.35μm BiCMOS low noise amplifier

Abstract

In addition to LNA (Low Noise Amplifier) noise figure, gain and input matching, its linearity is also an important consideration. An LNA must amplify signal without adding too much noise but also remain linear even when strong signals are received. In the narrowband LNA topology, good values of S-parameters and noise performance are achieved at the expense of linearity. In order to improve LNA linearity, trade-off between several conflicting metrics is necessary together with applying some linearization techniques. In this work, importance of the LNA linearity would be given, together with overview of the up-to-date linearization techniques. Their influence on LNA measure of linearity IP3 (the third-order intercept point) would be presented. ©2009 IEEE.