Ka-Band and Q-Band Low Noise Amplifiers

ABSTRACT:Low Noise Amplifiers covering the 27.5-31.0 GHz and 43.5-47.0 GHz bands with ultra-low noise figures of less than 0.6 and 0.9 dB at the MMIC level, and 0.8 and 1.1 dB at the modules waveguide flange level, respectively, are proposed. This represents a reduction of nominally 0.5 to 1.0 dB over newly announced MMICs, and 1 to 2 dB reduction relative to commercial LNAs. WGS and AEHF satellite receivers are the near-term application. In addition there is a continuing need for front-end components to exploit the increasingly crowded Ka-band and Q-band spectrums for both space and terrestrial government and commercial communications links. The LNAs will be compact, have minimal power consumption, and be producible. They will be operable over the -20 oC to +70 oC range, and can be expected to have very low noise temperatures when operated at cryogenic temperatures. The proposed technology, 50 nm InP MHEMTs grown on GaAs, will have a path to space-qualification i.e. high reliability and radiation-hardened. The noise figure, gain, power consumption and dynamic range, and other characteristics will be investigated. Additional circuitry such as on-MMIC linearization and interstage gain-control will be simulated as improvements in dynamic range and allowance for temperature compensation.BENEFIT:The near-term, driving, application of the ultra-low-noise amplifiers is efficient WGS and AEHF satellite uplink reception in the target bands. In general, government and military applications include satellite downlink and uplink reception of spectrally efficient waveforms, Satcom-On-The-Go, satellite-to-satellite links, full-waveguide bandwidth weather and ice-coverage observation, radio astronomy (low-power consumption cooled and cryogenic LNAs), battlefield communications, and secure communications. Dual-use applications include commercial Satcom fixed and mobile reception. The technology is transferrable to communications applications in general.