A Low Noise Amplifier with 27 dB Gain and 1.78 dB Noise for Satellite Communications with 0.1 µm GaAs pHEMT Technology

Abstract

This paper proposes a design of a 38 GHz Low Noise Amplifier (LNA) that uses a three-stage common source inductive degeneration topology with a gain of 27 dB and noise figure of 1.78 dB using 0.1 µm GaAs pHEMT as an active device. The novelty of the design is the usage of inductive load in series with the resistor instead of resistive load, resulting in higher gain performance. A recent pp1010 active device of WIN foundry was explored for this LNA design at the Q band. The high transition frequency offered by this technology succeeded in obtaining competitive results with a minimum number of cells. The designed LNA obtained the lowest noise compared to other recently published LNA designs at the Q band. The total power consumption of this design is 57 mW.

Keywords

• gallium arsenide (GaAs)
• inductive source degeneration
• common source topology
• pseudomorphic high electron mobility transistor (pHEMT)
• low noise amplifier
• radio frequency (RF)