Implementation of a Low Noise Amplifier With Self-Recovery Capability

Yanchen Liu, Caizhi Zhang, Tupei Chen, Deyu Kong, Rui Guo, Junjie Wang, Yuancong Wu, Shaogang Hu, L. M. Rong, Qi Yu, Yang Liu

Abstract: In this paper, an RF low noise amplifier (LNA) with self-recovery capability has been designed and implemented. A degradation model of hot carrier injection (HCI) of n-channel MOSFETs is proposed to simulate the aging process of the RF circuits, and a method for monitoring the HCI degradation in the RF circuits has been developed. Self-recovery mechanism of the LNA is triggered automatically by monitoring the HCI degradation to compensate for the HCI degradation. With the self-recovery capability, the LNA can maintain its performance under HCI stress over time. The proposed LNA has been fabricated with a <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$0.13\mu m$ </tex-math></inline-formula> CMOS technology and the self-recovery capability has been experimentally demonstrated.