A GaAs Ka-band (26–36 GHz) LNA for radio astronomy

A low noise amplifier (LNA) has been designed to operate across the Ka-band from 26 GHz to 36 GHz. It has been designed using a commercial 100 nm GaAs process, and according to the simulations, it presents an average gain of 33 dB, a noise figure less than 1.8 dB and return loss better than 12 dB at both the input and the output. To the knowledge of the authors, the performance of this LNA would be superior to any other GaAs based LNA so far reported in the same frequency band at room temperature. Due to the increasing importance of arrays and multi-pixel systems in radio astronomy, the utilization of this low-cost LNA in this new concept of telescopes will be discussed. Two possible applications of this LNA, in the new 13.2 meter radio telescope of Yebes (Spain), and a use in large format arrays, will be highlighted and a possible 10% reduction in observing time will be shown.