Wide-band CMOS low noise amplifier for applications in radio astronomy

Abstract

A CMOS low noise amplifier (LNA) is proposed for a proof-of-concept design of the square kilometer array (SKA) radio telescope. A novel variation on a well-known source-degenerated LNA topology is introduced that allows tuning of the power match centre frequency independently from the frequency at which the LNAs noise figure approaches its minimum noise. The 0.7-1.4 GHz LNA designed in 0.18/spl mu/m CMOS achieves better than 11 dB return loss with a noise temperature of 40 K, provides a power gain of 17 dB and IP1dB of -10dBm while consuming 50 mW of power from a 1.8 V supply. The design procedure of the LNA is presented and performance of the LNA is compared with previously published results.