Enhancement Mode pHEMT LNA with Super Low Noise and High
Gain for S Band Application
Hua Huang *, Hai-Ying Zhang, Jun-Jian Yin, Tian-Chun Ye
Institute of MicroelectronicsChinese Academy of SciencesBeijing 100029, China
* Email: hua0021@sina.com
Abstract
A monolithic low noise amplifier has been
developed for S band telecommunication system, using
enhancement mode pHEMT technology with gate-length
of 0.5um. The LNA which approach the noise
performance of discrete designs shows a 50 noise
figure less than 1.0dB, gain greater than 28dB, return
loss less than -10dB and more than 10dBm output power
at 1dB compression point from 3.0 to 3.6GHz. A good
agreement between measured and simulated data had
been achieved. These results are attributed to the low
noise performance of the enhancement mode pHEMT
and minimized parasitic resistance of the input match
network.
1. Introduction
Nowadays, high speed data rate requirement of
wireless communication system is pushing the
communication carriers frequency from L to S or C
band Such as Ground-based microwave radar systems,
satellite communication, wireless LAN, and smart
antenna. These systems require low noise performance to
deliver high speed data between RF ends and base band
computing systems. The bit error rate is mainly limited
by the noise performance of the RF receiver. A low noise
amplifier is one of the most important building blocks in
a telecommunication receiver system since its main
function is to provide enough gain to overcome the noise
of subsequent stages while adding as little noise as
possible to the received signals.
Several designs have been reported from S to C
band applications using GaAs pHEMT, MESFET, and
HBT technologies [1-4]. Up to the present the best data
reported was a two-stage pHEMT MMIC LNA which
had a minimum noise figure of 0.76dB and an associated
gain of 16 dB at 5 GHz [5]. Enhancement mode pHEMT
have been greatly researched in wireless communication
system applications because they have the characteristic
of single power supply operation [6]. This paper
demonstrated a fully monolithic LNA using
enhancement mode pHEMT technology achieving a
noise figure below 1.0dB between 3.0-3.6GHz with an
associated gain more than 28dB. The LNA provide low
noise and high gain performance approaching discrete
1-4244-0161-5/06/$20.00 2006 IEEE
designs while offering the benefit of integration.
2. Circuit design
The amplifier was designed for the application of S
band telecommunication system. Selecting a suitable
active element is the first and the most crucial step in
designing an MMIC LNA once the major performance
requirements are known. The design target for this
amplifier was gain more than 26dB, output power at 1dB
compression point more than 10dBm, noise figure less
than 1.0dB, and return loss less than 10dB between
3.0-3.6GHz. The power supply was 5V and dc power
dissipation was limited in 250mW.
The two-stage common source amplifier was
designed including on-chip input and output matching
networks. Figure 1 shows the circuit schematic diagram
of the amplifier consisting of ideal lumped elements. The
08h50(400um gate width) enhancement mode pHEMT
was chosen for both stages as the active elements in the
circuit. Because the total noise performance of the
amplifier is mainly decided by the noise figure and gain
of the first stage, the 08h50 pHMET has a super low
minimum noise figure and high gain below 4GHz with
bias point being VGS 0.45V , VDS 2.0V . At the
same time, the long width of the transistor degenerate the
difficulty of input impedance matching. One of the most
important amplifier design criteria is unconditional
stability at any frequency and any source or load
conditions. The scattering parameters of the selected
transistor revealed instability below 10GHz. So a series
feedback inductor at source is introduced to improve the
amplifier stability. The feedback inductor provides
several advantages for the low noise amplifier design.
Inductive reactance in source can increase the real part
of the transistors gate input impedance to improve the
transistor stability. R.E. Lehmann has reported that S11
*
is altered by both the source feedback inductor and the
output load impedance, whereas Sopt is unaffected by
the output load impedance and only varies with feedback
inductor [7]. So regulating the series feedback inductor
and load impedance, the convergence of input
impedance and optimum noise match impedance can be
obtained. Then the input impedance can be matched to
50 by an impedance matching network. In this article,
after carefully regulate the series inductor and load
impedance, both the input impedance and the optimum
noise match impedance can be situated on 50
resistance circle in Smith Chart at 3.3GHz. It means that
only a series inductor at gate can make a coincidence of
the optimum noise match and input impedance
conjugated match.

Figure 3. Simulated and measured gain and

reverse isolation vs. frequency (measured data
plotted with triangle)

Figure 1. Schematic circuit of the LNA

The second stage also used an 8x50um

enhancement mode pHEMT with a bias point
VGS 0.6V , VDS 3.0V to get high linearity. A Figure 4. Simulated and measured 50 noise
figure vs. frequency
segment short microstrip was used to replace the source
inductor. To achieve high quality-factors, some inductors
are implemented using two metal layers. The circuit was
fabricated using a 0.5um gate length low noise
enhancement mode pHEMT process as shown in Figure
2. The wafer processed with passivation and thinned to
100um, then etch the back via holes to provide low
ground parasitic inductance. The chip size is
2.2mm u 1.2mm u 0.1mm .

Figure 5. Input return loss vs. frequency of the

LNA(measured data plotted with triangle)

Figure 2. Photograph of the two-stage MMIC LNA

3. Testing result

On-wafer measurements were performed using both

microwave probes and dc bias probes. A 50 test
equipment for small signal S parameters (HP 8510C) and
Figure 6. Output return loss vs. frequency of the
noise figure (Agilent N8975A) was used. When the dc
LNA(measured data plotted with triangle)
supply is 5V, the total dc current of the circuit is 49mA.
So the dc power dissipation is less than 250mW. The
amplifier had a small signal gain over 28dB, a gain
flatness less than 0.5dB, and a reverse isolation less than
40dB from 3.0-3.6GHz, as shown in Figure 3. The
simulated gain was plotted with the measured gain to
verify the difference between design and final
measurement. As expected, the gain curve shape of
measured data is similar as the simulated curve but is
1.3 dB noise figure direct coupled MMIC LNAs using a
high current gain 1 um GaAs HBT technology, GaAs
IC Symposium, p. 240-243(1997).
[4] Y. Tsukahara, S. Chaki and Y . Sasaki,A C-band 4
stage low noise miniaturized amplifier using lumped
elements, IEEE MTT-S Digest, p. 1125-1128(1995).
[5] Choi.B.G., Lee.Y.S, A low noise on-chip matched
T

slightly reduced about 0.5dB. It was expected in the MMIC LNA of 0.76 dB noise figure at 5 GHz for high
tolerable vibration range because the losses such as speed wireless LAN applications, GaAs IC
T

radiation of passive elements had not been considered Symposium,22nd Anuual 5-8 Nov, p. 143-146(2000).
P P

completely when the simulation was done.
The measured and simulated noise figures from
1.5-5.0GHz are shown in Figure 4. It reveals noise figure
less than 1.0dB between 3.0-3.6GHz. This low noise
performance was approaching discrete designs while
[6]Y.Tkachenko, A. Klimashov and C. Wei,
Enhancement mode PHEMT for single supply high
efficiency power amplifiers, Eur. Microwave Workshop,
Munich, Germany(1999).
[7]R.E. Lehmann, D.D. Heston, X-band Monolithic
T

offering the benefit of integration. We believe our noise Series Feedback LNA, Microwave Symposium Digest,
T

figure is the best result ever reported to data of MMIC MTT-S International, Volume 85, Issue 1, Jun, p.51
LNA with gain more than 28dB for S band frequency 54(1985).
range. Figure 5 and 6 show the measured input and
output return loss vs. frequency. The simulated data also
plotted with the measured results. From the Figs, both
input and output return loss all be less than 10dB from
3.0GHz to 3.6GHz. The output power at 1 dB
compression point also was measured at ambient
temperature from 3.0-3.6GHz. The worst result was
11.4dBm at 3.0GHz.

4. Summary

A two-stage S band monolithic low noise amplifier

using series source inductor had been fabricated with
0.5um enhancement mode pHEMT technology. It
reveals a super low noise less than 1.0dB and high gain
more than 28dB from 3.0-3.6GHz. The amplifier
demonstrated excellent gain, noise figure, input/output
return loss and linearity performance.

Acknowledgments

The author would like to thank professor Zhang Hai

Ying and her colleagues of the MMIC design team for
their valuable assistance.

References

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