We are pleased to release the second in a series of design guides compiled from articles published in Applied Microwave & Wireless magazine (AMW). These design guides collect into one source the experience and tutorial skills of leading wireless, RF and microwave engineers. Small-Signal Amplifier Design will help you design amplifiers considering S-parameter design techniques, stability, low-noise amplifiers (LNAs), amplifier distortion and modeling. Soon to follow in the series is the power amplifier design guide.

Four articles written by Les Besser and Rex Frobenius, Avoiding RF Oscillations, RF/MW Amplifier Design, Available Gain Amplifier Design and RF/Microwave Amplifier Design, are excellent tutorials on small-signal amplifier design. Three articles cover LNA design. Dale Henkes discusses how series feedback (source degeneration) is used to control match and noise. Two articles by Sean Mercer and Giorgios Stratakos review LNA design through case histories of 900 MHz and GPS band amplifiers.

Distortion prediction and reduction are the subjects of Intermodulation: Concepts and Calculations by Henkes and Kwok, Wideband Gain Block Amplifier Design Techniques by Chris Arnott, Second Order Effects in Feedforward Amplifiers by Barney Arntz and A High IIP3 Low-Noise Amplifier for 1900 MHz Applications Using the SiGe BFP620 Transistor by Gerard Wevers.

In modern amplifier design, CAE is a ubiquitous tool and its accuracy is heavily dependent on the quality of models for passive and active devices. Five articles cover computer simulation and device modeling. They include Evaluation of Parasitic Parameters for Packaged Microwave Transistors by Oleksandr Gorbachov, Linear and EM Simulation...