Avago Technologies

The design and realization of a dual lownoise amplifier (LNA) module in the 2 GHz band suitable for balanced receiver front-end application is presented. The module was designed to operate from a 5 V supply with a control voltage for convenient adjustment of bias condition for optimum noise figure. The MMIC portion of the designed was fabricated in Avago Technologies' proprietary 0.5 um GaAs enhancement-mode Pseudomorphic High-Electron-Mobility Transistor (e-pHEMT) process. This module is suitable for balanced amplifier applications when combined with external 3-dB hybrids, giving an extremely low noise figure (NF) of 0.55-0.8 dB, coupled with a moderately high OIP3 (Output Third Order Intercept Point) of 38-42 dBm at 28-32 dB gain. It is also capable of delivering a P-1 dB of more than 20 dBm at 180 mA current drain.