X-Band and Ka Band Low Noise Block Downconverter

Nitronex Corporation has identified unique innovations in Gallium Nitride (GaN) high electron mobility transistors (HEMT) for realizing advancements in X and Ka-Band low noise amplifiers (LNAs). These advancements are based on existing GaN on silicon (Si), radio frequency (RF) power amplifier (PA) device techniques and when applied to LNAs, improve Satellite Communication (SATCOM) receiver systems in the presence of wideband high powered RF signals. It is well established that GaN based semiconductor structures, specifically AlGaN/GaN heterostructures, provide advantages over GaAs, SiC, Si, & SiGe in the domain of high power operation. GaN-based materials have wide bandgap and high breakdown fields, which allow the device to operate at a voltage>2.5 times the maximum operating voltage of a GaAs device. The reduction in signal distortion due to non-linearity of a LNA or a low noise block downconverter (LNB), while maintaining low noise figure is of particular significance to SATCOM systems The proposed GaN on Si technology will produce cost effective LNA and LNB building blocks that are highly-reliable, extremely linear and very robust to signal overload in X and Ka-Band SATCOM applications. BENEFIT: The proposed GaN on Si technology will produce cost effective LNA and LNB building blocks with high performance for use in military and commercial SATCOM applications at X or Ka-Band.