A C-band low power high dynamic range GaAs MESFET low noise amplifier

This article describes a C-band low power high dynamic range GaAs MESFET ca scode low noise amplifier (LNA). Accurate small-signal and noise models of the device based upon measurement have been developed for an LNA design. At 5 GHz, the LNA has a 50 Omega noise figure of 1.9 dB, an input third-order intercept point (IIP3) of 5 dBm and a DC power consumption of 13.2 mW with a 3 V DC supply. Measurement results show good agreement with simulation r esults. This design has the highest IIP3 compared to LNAs using other devic e technologies at this frequency range.