Low Noise Amplifier with Air-suspended RF MEMS Inductors

This work presents the development of a CMOS Ultra-wideband differential Low Noise Amplifier with air-suspended MEMS inductors substituting standard planar spiral inductors. Air-suspended MEMS inductors offer higher quality inductance factor and higher self-resonant frequency of operation when compared to monolithic spiral planar inductors. This extends the capabilities of a mixed-signal CMOS process, allowing for a high gain, full-spectrum, 3.1 – 10.6GHz UWB Low Noise Amplifier. This is in collaboration with Dr. JB Lee’s group at UT Dallas.