A 5 GHz LNA for a radio-astronomy experiment

The paper describes the project, implementation and test of a C-band (5GHz) Low Noise Amplifier (LNA) using new low noise Pseudomorphic High Electron Mobility Transistors (pHEMTS) from Avago. The amplifier was developed to be used as a cost effective solution in a receiver chain for Galactic Emission Mapping (GEM-P) project in Portugal with the objective of finding affordable solutions not requiring strong cryogenic operation, as is the case of massive projects like the Square Kilometer Array (SKA), in Earth Sensing projects and other niches like microwave reflectometry. The particular application and amplifier requirements are first introduced. Several commercially available low noise devices were selected and the noise performance simulated. An ultra-low noise pHEMT was used for an implementation that achieved a Noise Figure of 0.6 dB with 13 dB gain at 5 GHz. The design, simulation and measured results of the prototype are presented and discussed.