• The Journal of Korean Institute of Electromagnetic Engineering and Science
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• v.11 no.5
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• pp.796-805
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• 2000

A 30GHz band low noise amplifier module, which has linear gain of 30dB and noise figure of 2.6dB, for 30GHz satellite communication transponder was developed by use of MMIC and thin film MIC technologies. Two kinds of MMIC circuits were used for the low noise amplifier module, the first one is ultra low noise MMIC circuit and the other is wideband and high gain MMIC circuit. The pHEMT technology with 0.15$mu extrm{m}$ of gate length was applied for MMIC fabrication. Thin film microstrip lines on alumina substrate were used to interconnect two MMIC chips, and the thick film bias circuit board were developed to provide the stabilized DC bias. The input interface of the low noise amplifier module was designed with waveguide type to receive the signal from antenna directly, and the output port was adopted with K-type coaxial connector for interface with the frequency converter module behind the low noise amplifier module. Space qualified manufacturing processes were applied to manufacture and assemble the low noise amplifier module, and space qualification level of environment tests including thermal and vibration test were performed for it. The developed low noise amplifier was measured to show 30dB of minimum gain, $\pm$0.3dB of gain flatness, and 2.6dB of maximum noise figure over the desired operating frequency range from 30 to 31 GHz.