An Inductorless Gain-Controllable Wideband LNA Based on CCCIIs

In this paper, an inductorless and gain-controllable 0.5~2.5 GHz wideband low noise amplifier (LNA) based on second generation current controlled current conveyors (CCCIIs) is presented. The proposed wideband LNA utilizes CCCIIs as building blocks to implement the amplifier stage and impedance matching stage. By varying the DC biasing current of the CCCII, the voltage gain of the proposed LNA is controllable in the range of 1~18 dB. In the frequency range of 0.5~2.5 GHz, the post-layout simulation results show that the proposed LNA has a typical voltage gain S21 of 12.6 dB with a gain ripple of ±1.5 dB, an input and output return loss (S11 and S22) of, respectively, -21.4 dB to -16.6 dB and -18.6 dB to -10.6 dB, and a high reverse isolation S12 of -65.2 dB to -39.5 dB. A noise figure of 4.05~4.35 dB is obtained across the whole band, and the input third-order intercept point (IIP3) is -2.5 dBm at 1.5 GHz. Using a 0.18 μm RF CMOS technology, the LNA occupies an active chip area of only 0.096 mm² with a power consumption of 12.0 mW.