2.44 GHz ISM Band LNA Front-End in 180-nm CMOS for High-Throughput IR-UWB Receivers

Abstract

This paper presents the design and measurement of a 2.44 GHz common-source cascode LNA with source degeneration for IR-UWB receivers. The LNA has a 300 MHz bandwidth and is employed in the Impulse Radio Ultra Wide Band (IR-UWB) receiver front-end. The post-layout simulations show around 5 dB noise figure over the working bandwidth. The LNA is manufactured in a 180 nm CMOS process. The measured S11 varies between - 10 dB and - 15 dB, whereas S21 is 9.24 dB at 2.44 GHz. The time domain UWB pulse measurements are conducted with a transmitter and LNA connection through an attenuator, and a 200 Mbps operation is achieved. The total energy consumption of the LNA core is 8.44 mW, corresponding to 42 pJ/bit. When including the output buffers for 50-ohm measurements, the total consumption increases to 32.4 mW. © 2025 IEEE.