A 0.1-5 GHz Cryogenic SiGe MMIC LNA

In this letter, the design and measurement of the first SiGe integrated-circuit LNA specifically designed for operation at cryogenic temperatures is presented. At room temperature, the circuit provides greater than 25.8 dB of gain with an average noise temperature (T-e) of 76 K (NF = 1 dB) and S-11 of -9 dB for frequencies in the 0.1-5 GHz band. At 15 K, the amplifier has greater than 29.6 dB of gain with an average T-e of 4.3 K and S-11 of -14.6 dB for frequencies in the 0.1-5 GHz range. To the authors' knowledge, this is the lowest noise ever reported for a silicon integrated circuit operating in the low microwave range and the first matched wideband cryogenic integrated circuit LNA that covers frequencies as low as 0.1 GHz.