U-Band LNA Design for Radio Astronomy Applications

The paper demonstrates the development and simulation results of an LNA built for U-band radio astronomy applications which provides high performance. A multi-stage cascode topology with LC impedance matching and advanced peaking techniques designs the proposed LNA for achieving superior gain, bandwidth along with enhanced stability. Simulation in Advanced Design System (ADS) shows that the design delivers forward gain between 26 and 33 decibels together with a noise figure under 2.1 decibels and outstanding return loss results (S₁₁ less than –13 decibels and S₂₂ less than –12 decibels). The DC analysis shows that the amplifier operates with power usage of 7.06 mW at 1.8 V which makes it appropriate for energy-efficient cryogenic system applications. Stability evaluations indicate unconditional stability above 45 GHz through Rollet's stability factor (K greater than 1) together with determinant (|Δ| less than 1). The LNA operates best to enhance weak signals from cosmic sources including pulsars and galactic nuclei therefore serving nicely as front-end amplifier for radio telescope receivers utilizing millimeter-wave frequency bands. A comparative analysis proves that the design achieves superior results than current designs regarding gain along with noise figure and bandwidth capacity. The proposed architecture achieves a new standard for scalable U-band receiver front ends which provide low noise operation with power-efficient systems that can benefit satellite communications and phased array radar and deep-space exploration.