Wideband highly linear LNA using modified cascode for simultaneous input and noise matching technique

Abstract

In this letter, a highly linear low-noise amplifier (LNA) MMIC configured by a modified cascode structure with the operation band from 1.8 GHz to 2.8 GHz is proposed. The modified cascode structure adopts inductive degeneration and an additional transistor used for linearity enhancement and simultaneous input and noise matching. Also, the resistive feedback at the input and inductive peaking at the output are applied to ensure the stability over the wideband operation. The proposed LNA MMIC was implemented by 0.5m GaAs pHEMT process and showed the measured input third-order intercept point (IIP3) of 15.5 +/- 1.3 dBm, gain of 16.3 +/- 2.2 dB, output P-1-dB of 16.7 +/- 0.3 dBm and noise figure (NF) of 1 +/- 0.2 dB from 1.8 GHz to 2.8 GHz . (c) 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Microwave Opt Technol Lett 59:15-17, 2017