LNAFIN Oy Features in an MMIC LNA Design Article in 2014

Waveguide Packaged MMIC LNA Design Draws Attention

LNAFIN Oy got featured in an NI (formerly AWR Corporation) design article in October 2014. The article is titled “LNAFIN Designs MMIC LNA Module for 40 GHz Space
Application Using NI AWR Design Environment.” The article features MMIC LNA design results, which were achieved recently so as to meet a very demanding Q-band LNA specification. Since the LNA is waveguide (WG) packaged, the design tasks include: design and optimization of the WG-to-PCB transitions, supporting PCB design and the MMIC design challenge itself. For example bonding wire compensation as part of the matching network has to be accomplished at the same time as a successful waveguide design is realized.

One designed WG-to-PCB transition has been shown in the attached figure. The figure includes 3D mesh which is utilized by the EM-simulator used (MWO Analyst). Low insertion loss results around 0.2 dB were obtained, which helps to achieve the specified NF-values towards 1 dB @40GHz. Yet at the same time gain should exceed 25 dB and the matched input and output bandwidths should be wide (>5 GHz).

The full article can be downloaded from the NI website at:
https://www.awrcorp.com/customer-stories/LNAFIN.