A 300-μW 2.4-GHz PVT-Insensitive Subthreshold Reference-Based LNA

This article introduces a novel ultra-low-power reference-based low-noise amplifier (LNA) designed to reduce performance variations due to process, voltage, and temperature (PVT) when operating in the subthreshold region. The LNA is embedded within a reference circuit that directly controls the performance of the LNA over PVT variations. By combining the LNA with a reference, the PVT variations of the LNA are suppressed through the closed-loop feedback mechanism of the reference circuit while reducing the power overhead needed for separate reference and biasing circuits. This reduces the complexity of compensating for PVT variations compared with methods proposed by other works. Fabricated in TSMC’s 130-nm CMOS process, the experimental results show the proposed LNA is the least sensitive LNA to PVT variations while having the largest operating range with
$S_{21}$
and noise figure (NF) having a voltage and temperature coefficient of 2157 ppm/V°C over PVT variations and 1991 ppm/V°C over voltage and temperature variations, respectively. The proposed LNA achieves a gain of 13.96 dB with 4.51-dB NF while consuming 300
$\mu \text{W}$
with the bias circuit at nominal operating conditions.