Design of MMIC Ka Band Low Noise Amplifier

A Ka-band monolithic low-noise amplifier (LNA) with high gain, low noise figure (NF), good input (output) return loss with high linearity has been designed for the operating frequency range of 33-37.4 GHz using 0.15um enhancement mode (E-mode) gallium arsenide (GaAs) pseudomorphic high electron mobility transistor (p-HEMT) process. The LNA employs FET feedback along with a source degeneration to achieve peak performance. The three-stage monolithic microwave integrated circuit (MMIC) LNA has attained a gain of 22.5 dB and a NF of 1.74 dB with good input return loss of 18dB and output return loss of 19dB at center frequency (35.61GHz). The output 1-dB compression point (P1dB) at 35.61 GHz is 17.3dBm. To our knowledge, this combination of NF, input/output return losses, gain, and linearity performance represents the state of the art in this frequency band.