ABSTRACT
This chapter presents a low-noise amplifier (LNA) that is a prerequisite–as a building block–for the receiver chain of the radio frequency (RF) transceiver. The low noise and high gain in the LNA are mainly used to suppress the noise contribution from the subsequent building blocks in the receiver chain to improve the overall signal-to-noise ratio in the receiver chain. An LNA is a RF transceiver's front-end amplifier, and there are certain design challenges when operating around the 60 GHz frequency range. The LNA gain can be controlled based on the detected input power level using the received signal strength indicator (RSSI) by a RF front-end power detector or from the baseband chipset. The variable gain control can also introduced for the subsequent amplifiers and building blocks in the overall receiver chain. The RF LNA design must provide a better compromise between the available power gain and the NF based on the transistor S-parameters.
