Design of a Ku-band high gain low noise amplifier

A single stage low noise amplifier is developed for Ku-band applications. The design is aimed to provide low noise figure and high associated gain. Submicron gate length GaAs MESFET is used as an active device because of its superior high frequency properties. Device equivalent circuit parameters are first evaluated with and without pad capacitors using measured S-parameters. Low noise amplifier is then designed by employing common source configuration. Additional circuit components are employed to achieve unconditional stability. Whereas, matching networks of different types are evaluated to achieve VSWR closer to unity. Simulated data showed a bandwidth of 1.63 GHz with minimum noise figure 1.02 dB and 14.1 dB associated gain.