GaN Low Noise Amplifier at 8~15 GHz Frequency

This study presents an 8~15 GHz low noise amplifier (LNA) using a 0.25 μm GaN on SiC process. The LNA is designed in three stages with source degeneration in the first stage to optimize the noise figure and operation bandwidth. Lossy matching using a resistor is applied to the drain nodes in each stage to enhance stability. An RC parallel equalizer is applied to the output port to flatten the frequency response. The chip size of the fabricated LNA MMIC is 3.0 mm×0.9 mm. At operating frequencies of 8~15 GHz, the small signal gain is 23 to 27 dB, return loss is lower than 10 dB, and noise figure is 1.6 to 2.8 dB.