A compact, microstrip, two-stage, room temperature, single-ended low noise amplifier (LNA) is designed using commercial components for Aperture Tile in Focus (APERTIF), a square kilometre array (SKA) pathfinder project. Various techniques are investigated to insert inductance between the source pad of the package and the ground plane of the printed circuit board (PCB), with the chosen design able to do this using standard manufacturing techniques. The desired noise temperature of 25 K (noise figure (NF) of 0.36 dB) is met over the 1.0–1.8 GHz band, with an input return loss better than 10 dB.
