Euskadi-Navarra-New Aquitaine Euroregion fosters state-of-the-art communication technologies

The Ceit Technology Centre, together with the Public University of Navarra, ESTIA Addimadour and LISI AEROSPACE Additive Manufacturing (LAAM), has taken part in the LNA-250 project to develop a low-noise amplifier for millimetre frequencies.

The Integrated Circuit design team at the Ceit Technology Centre and the Antenna Group at the Public University of Navarra (UPNA), in collaboration with the ESTIA Addimadour Technology Platform and the company LISI AEROSPACE Additive Manufacturing (LAAM), are currently working on the LNA-250 project within the framework of the New Aquitaine-Euskadi-Navarra EUROREGION cross-border cooperation programme. The main purpose of this project is to develop a low-noise amplifier (LNA) for the latest millimetre frequency band (250 GHz).

The LNA is a key device in receivers as it amplifies very low-level signals without having any significant negative effect on the signal/noise link. Therefore, the main features sought in the LNA are the necessary gain and the lowest possible noise level. In the case of the LNA-250, a minimum target has been set of 10dB gain, 20 GHz bandwidth and a noise level below 10 dB. This has been undertaken using European BiCMOS manufacturing (IHP Microelectronics).

Design and manufacture using Additive Manufacturing

Furthermore, the project attempts to design and manufacture the amplifier surround using additive (metal and/or plastic). Collaboration with the ESTIA Addimadour Technology Platform and the company LISI AEROSPACE Additive Manufacturing (LAAM) enables the LNA-250 metal surround to be manufactured using additive manufacturing (AF) techniques - a new feature in the frequency signal processing device sector. AF increases speed in the prototyping process, which makes it a less costly and more versatile solution in terms of modification possibilities. Moreover, it generates fewer residues, which makes it more environmentally-friendly – especially in terms of mass production. Lastly, the end part manufactured using additive manufacturing is lighter, which is of special importance in applications launched in space.

The solution will be applied in several sectors such as state-of-the-art instrumentation, in future 5G and 6G networks, in the car industry, in the bio-health sector, in the food industry and in the metal industry. For instance, the LNA-25’0 will of great use for mobile phone return networks in urban environments in future 5G and 6G millimetre frequency networks.

Final project event

The final project workshop, titled “Progress and challenges in the design of 250 GHz low- noise amplifiers and their assembly using additive manufacturing”, will be held on 11th July at 10:00h at the Ceit building in Miramon. “At the event, partners will be speaking about the challenges encountered throughout the project. Specifically, Ceit researcher David del Río will be presenting a paper titled “Design and Testing of the 250 GHz low-noise amplifier”.

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