A novel small PHEMT LNA that integrates active matching for 1 to 20GHz and 1.1dB NF performance

This paper demonstrates a novel LNA (Low Noise Amplifier) design that utilizes active inter-stage and I/O matching to dramatically reduce size and increase performance over traditional inductor/capacitor matching. The results are dramatic when implemented on PHEMT GaAs where a 3 stage LNA is only .35 × .70mm yet covers 1 to 20 GHz. The LNA typically provides 20 dB gain, as low as 1.1dB NF and 12dB return loss across band. The die is small enough to be packaged in a 1.2×1.5 mm plastic QFN making it the smallest SMT amplifier known with this bandwidth and performance.