Title :
A low noise Ka-band amplifier for radio astronomy
Author :
McCulloch, Malcolm ; Blackhurst, E. ; Davis, Ronald W. ; Galtress, A. ; George, Dani ; Melhuish, S. ; Piccirillo, L.
Author_Institution :
Sch. of Phys. & Astron., Univ. of Manchester, Manchester, UK
fDate :
Oct. 29 2012-Nov. 1 2012
Abstract :
We present the designs for and the results of a prototype cryogenic Ka-band low noise amplifier (LNA), that is based on the hybridization of microwave integrated circuits (MICs) and monolithic microwave integrated circuits (MMICs). The resulting transistor plus MMIC (T+MMIC) 5 stage LNA, has a peak gain of 52dB, a minimum noise temperature of 12K at an ambient temperature of ≈23K, and a 20% bandwidth of 27-33GHz. We outline the background behind the LNA, our measurement process, the LNA´s performance, our future development plans and discuss the possible advantages that this amplifier layout may offer.
Keywords :
MMIC; astronomical instruments; cryogenics; low noise amplifiers; radioastronomical techniques; radiotelescopes; MMIC; amplifier layout; cryogenic Ka-band low noise amplifier; low noise Ka-band amplifier; monolithic microwave integrated circuits; radioastronomy; Cryogenics; MMICs; Microwave transistors; Noise; Transistors; HEMTs; MMICs; Millimeter wave transistors; astronomy; indium phosphide; low-noise amplifiers; microwave integrated circuits;
Conference_Titel :
Microwave Conference (EuMC), 2012 42nd European
Conference_Location :
Amsterdam
Print_ISBN :
978-1-4673-2215-7
Electronic_ISBN :
978-2-87487-026-2
