SiGe HBT X-Band LNAs for Ultra-Low-Noise Cryogenic Receivers

摘要

We report results on the cryogenic operation of two different monolithic X-band silicon-germanium (SiGe) heterojunction bipolar transistor low noise amplifiers (LNAs) implemented in a commercially-available 130nm SiGe BiCMOS platform. These SiGe LNAs exhibit a dramatic reduction in noise temperature with cooling, yielding ${T}_{eff}$ of less than 21 K (0.3dB noise figure) across X-band at a 15K operating temperature. To the authors'' knowledge, these SiGe LNAs exhibit the lowest broadband noise of any Si-based LNA reported to date.