Avago Technologies Introduces Two Balanced Low Noise Amplifiers for Cellular Infrastructure Applications

(Product News, 10 Jul 2009)

Avago Technologies announced two ultra-low noise, high gain, high linearity Gallium Arsenide (GaAs) balanced low noise amplifiers for cellular infrastructure applications. Avago’s MGA-16516/17516, which are the latest additions to its family of economical, easy to use LNAs, helps to significantly improve the sensitivity and dynamic range of cellular infrastructure applications. Both LNAs feature a compact footprint and are designed to be used as first stage LNAs. Typical applications include cellular base station transceiver radio cards, tower mounted amplifiers, combiners, repeaters and remote/digital radio heads.

Avago’s MGA-16516/17516 LNAs are housed in a 4 mm by 4 mm by 0.85 mm surface mount 16-lead QFN package, and were developed using Avago’s proprietary 0.25 m GaAs enhancement-mode pHEMT process. The MGA-16516 operates from 500 to 1,700 MHz, while the MGA-17516 operates from 1,700 to 2,700 MHz. These new LNAs will enable Avago to provide support for GSM, CDMA, UMTS and next generation LTE cellular bandwidths. The MGA-16516/17516 have been designed to be used with 3dB hybrid couplers at the input and output of LNAs typically found in the front end of cellular base stations, combiners and transceiver radio cards.

In a typical operating environment of 5-Volts and 50mA per channel, the MGA-16516 delivers a 0.45 dB noise figure, 17.5 dB gain, 11.5 dBm input Third Order Intercept Point (IIP3), and 18 dBm output power at 1 dB compress point (P1dB) at 850MHz. Under the same operating conditions, the MGA-17516 delivers enhanced performance of 0.52 dB noise figure, 17.2 dB Gain, 13.7 dBm IIP3, and 21.5 dBm output power at P1dB at 1,850 MHz.