Ku-Band MMIC Packaging for Space Application

This paper describes the packaging of Ku Band MMIC LNA to be used in RF front end of Ku band satellite command receiver. An indigenous design is introduced for GaAs MMIC packaging replacing the existing discrete based LNA gain block design. The air-cavity package is designed and implemented using Alumina substrate to operate the package up to 18 GHz, the package simulations and other design aspects are discussed in this paper. A low noise MMIC is packaged for practical application and compared with bare die measurements to verify the package performance. The enclosure effect was analyzed by comprehensive 3D electromagnetic modeling, simulation and measurement of active MMIC in the package. A maximum of 1.5 dB insertion loss degradation occurred near 15 GHz.