The technology center Ceit, together with the Public University of Navarra, ESTIA Addimadour and LISI AEROSPACE Additive Manufacturing (LAAM) has participated in the project LNA-250 for the development of a low noise amplifier for millimeter frequencies.

The team of design of Integrated Circuits of the technology center Ceit and the group of Antennas of the Public University of Navarra (UPNA), in partnership with the ESTIA Addimadour Technology Platform and the business LISIAEROSPACE Additive Manufacturing (LAAM), are carrying out the project LNA-250 in the framework of the cross-border cooperation program EUROREGION New Aquitaine-Euskadi-Navarre. goal The main objective of this project is to develop a Low Noise Amplifier (LNA) for the last millimeter frequency band (250 GHz).

The LNA is a device core topic in receivers, since it amplifies very low level signals without significantly degrading their signal-to-noise ratio. Therefore, the main characteristics sought in an LNA are the necessary gain and a noise figure as leave as possible. In the case of the LNA-250, a minimum goal of 10 dB gain, 20 GHz bandwidth and a noise figure below 10 dB has been set. It has been realized with a European BiCMOS manufacturing technology (IHP Microelectronics).

design and manufacturing by Additive Manufacturing

On the other hand, the project aims to design and manufacture the amplifier enclosure using additive techniques (metallic and/or plastic). The partnership with the ESTIA Addimadour Technology Platform and the business LISI AEROSPACE Additive Manufacturing (LAAM) will allow to manufacture the metal envelope of the LNA-250 using metal Additive Manufacturing (AF) techniques, something new in the frequency signal processing devices sector. AF increases the speed of the prototyping process, making it a less costly and more versatile solution in terms of modification possibilities. It also generates less waste, which makes it more environmentally friendly, especially when moving to mass production. Finally, the final part manufactured by Additive Manufacturing is lighter, which is especially important in space-borne applications.

The solution will have applications in various sectors such as advanced instrumentation, future 5G and 6G networks, the automotive industry, the bio-health sector, the food industry and the metal industry. For example, in future 5G and 6G networks at millimeter frequencies, the LNA-250 will be of great use for cell phone backhaul networks in urban environments.

Final event of the project

Next July 11th at 10:00h the Final Workshop of project, graduate "Progress and challenges in the design of 250 GHz low noise amplifiers and their assembly using additive manufacturing" will be held at the Ceit building in Miramon. At the event, the partners will discuss the challenges encountered throughout the project. In particular, David del Rio, researcher of Ceit, will give a presentation at discussion paper entitled "design and Testing of the 250 GHz Low Noise Amplifier". 

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