Low Current & Self-biased C-band MMIC LNA Design

This article describes design technique of Low Noise Amplifier (LNA) at C-band (5.7GHz-7.2GHz) based on self-bias with low current approach. Design carried out using GaAs based 130nm MMIC technology. Simulated results show noise figure of better than 1.22dB with a minimum gain of 27.9dB in the given frequency band. Input return loss is better than 13dB and output return loss is better than 15dB.The die operates at 5V,36.7mA. A comparison study with existing hardware and an MMIC design that uses conventional biasing approach has also been presented. 55% efficient in terms of power consumption and 50% reduction in size of the receiver front end can be achieved using this LNA. MMIC die is designed with a chip size of 2.9mm x1.8mm.