Small-sized MMIC amplifiers using thin dielectric layers

Miniaturized MMIC amplifiers utilizing a multilayer structure composed of thin film transmission lines are presented. The fundamental characteristics of the thin film transmission lines for use in microwave active circuits are discussed through calculations by numerical analysis. A two-stage low-noise amplifier, a single-stage wideband amplifier, and a balanced amplifier are designed within very small areas, while good performance is maintained. The results include that a Ka-band single-stage amplifier is fabricated in a 0.8 mm×0.6 mm area with a gain of 8.0-9.5 dB in the frequency range of 16-26.5 GHz and input/output return losses of better than 8 dB at 26.5 GHz. The proposed amplifier configurations can be applied to high density integration of one-chip MMIC modules     

（英）D波段InP基高增益、低噪声放大芯片的设计与实现

利用90-nm InAlAs/InGaAs/InP HEMT工艺设计实现了两款D波段（110~170 GHz）单片微波集成电路放大器。两款放大器均采用共源结构,布线选取微带线。基于器件A设计的三级放大器A在片测试结果表明：最大小信号增益为11.2 dB@140 GHz,3 dB带宽为16 GHz,芯片面积2.6×1.2 mm2。基于器件B设计的两级放大器B在片测试结果表明：最大小信号增益为15.8 dB@139 GHz,3dB带宽12 GHz,在130~150 GHz频带范围内增益大于10 dB,芯片面积1.7×0.8 mm2,带内最小噪声为4.4 dB、相关增益15 dB@141 GHz,平均噪声系数约为5.2 dB。放大器B具有高的单级增益、相对高的增益面积比以及较好的噪声系数。该放大器芯片的设计实现对于构建D波段接收前端具有借鉴意义。     

220GHz低噪声放大器研究

基于IHP锗硅BiCMOS工艺,研究和实现了两种220 GHz低噪声放大器电路,并将其应用于220 GHz太赫兹无线高速通信收发机电路。一种是220 GHz四级单端共基极低噪声放大电路,每级电路采用了共基极（Common Base, CB）电路结构,利用传输线和金属-绝缘体-金属(Metal-Insulator-Metal, MIM)电容等无源电路元器件构成输入、输出和级间匹配网络。该低噪放电源的电压为1.8 V,功耗为25 mW,在220 GHz频点处实现了16 dB的增益,3 dB带宽达到了27 GHz。另一种是220 GHz四级共射共基差分低噪声放大电路,每级都采用共射共基的电路结构,放大器利用微带传输线和MIM电容构成每级的负载、Marchand-Balun、输入、输出和级间匹配网络等。该低噪放电源的电压为3 V,功耗为234 mW,在224 GHz频点实现了22 dB的增益,3 dB带宽超过6 GHz。这两个低噪声放大器可应用于220 GHz太赫兹无线高速通信收发机电路。     

Design of high-power, high-efficiency 60-GHz MMICs using animproved nonlinear PHEMT model

This work describes the design and nonlinear modeling of two V-band monolithic microwave integrated circuit (MMIC) power amplifiers using a nonlinear high electron mobility transistor (HEMT) model developed specifically for very short gate length pseudomorphic HEMTs (PHEMTs). Both circuits advance the state-of-the-art of V-band power MMIC performance. The first, a single-ended design, produced 293 mW of output power with a record 26% power-added efficiency (PAE) and 9.9 dB of power gain at 62.5 GHz when measured on-wafer. The second MMIC, a balanced design with on-chip input and output Lange couplers for power combining, generated a record 564 mW of output power (27.5 dBm) with 21% PAE and 9.8 dB power gain. The MMIC's are passivated, thinned to 2 mils, and down-biased to 4.5 V for high reliability space applications. These excellent first-pass MMIC results are attributed to the use of an optimized 0.1-/μm PHEMT cell structure and a design based on millimeter-wave on-wafer device characterization, together with a new and very accurate large signal analytical FET model developed for 0.1-/μm PHEMTs     

Development of 60-GHz front-end circuits for a high-data-rate communication system

Recent results from a Swedish program for development of 60-GHz monolithic microwave integrated circuits (MMICs) for high-data-rate communication links are presented. Front-end circuits such as mixers, amplifiers, frequency multipliers, IF amplifiers with gain control, and voltage-controlled oscillators (VCOs) have been realized utilizing GaAs PHEMT and MHEMT technologies. A newly developed 7.5-GHz coupled Colpitt VCO shows a minimum phase noise of -95 dBc at 100 kHz offset. A second-harmonic 14-GHz VCO shows a minimum phase noise of less than -90 dBc at 100 kHz. A novel balanced 7-28-GHz MMIC frequency quadrupler is described and compared with a single-ended quadrupler at the same input frequencies. To demonstrate its feasibility and potential application, the quadrupler is combined with the Colpitt VCO and the output characteristics of the resulting 30-GHz MMIC source are measured. A three-stage MHEMT wide-band amplifier covering 43-64 GHz with a gain of 24 dB, a minimum noise figure of 2.5 dB, and a passband ripple of 2 dB is also described. In future 60-GHz systems for mass markets where cost is of utmost importance, Si-based technologies, especially CMOS, are highly interesting. Some recent circuit results based on a 90-nm CMOS technology are also reported.     

A 1-V 45-GHz Balanced Amplifier With 21.5-dB Gain Using 0.18-$mu{hbox {m}}$ CMOS Technology

A fully integrated balanced amplifier was realized in a standard 0.18-mum CMOS technology. From the measured-parameters, a gain up to 21.5 dB was achieved at 45.4 GHz under a supply voltage of only 1 V and a total power consumption of 89 mW. An effective technique, i.e., pi-type parallel resonance, was proposed to enhance the device and circuit frequency response. In addition, the semicoaxial line structure was used to reduce the signal loss and physical size of the Lange couplers in the amplifier. To the best of the authors' knowledge, the proposed balanced amplifier demonstrated the highest operation frequency and the lowest operation voltage among the published millimeter-wave amplifiers using a similar technology.     

Millimeter Wave MMIC Low Noise Amplifiers Using a 0.15 µm Commercial pHEMT Process

This paper presents millimeter wave monolithic microwave integrated circuit (MMIC) low noise amplifiers using a 0.15 µm commercial pHEMT process. After carefully investigating design considerations for millimeter-wave applications, with emphasis on the active device model and electomagnetic (EM) simulation, we designed two singleended low noise amplifiers, one for Q-band and one for V-band. The Q-band two stage amplifier showed an average noise figure of 2.2 dB with an 18.3 dB average gain at 44 GHz. The V-band two stage amplifier showed an average noise figure of 2.9 dB with a 14.7 dB average gain at 65 GHz. Our design technique and model demonstrates good agreement between measured and predicted results. Compared with the published data, this work also presents state-of-the-art performance in terms of the gain and noise figure.     

InAlAs/InGaAs/InP基PHEMTs小信号建模及低噪声应用

利用改进的小信号模型对采用100nmInAlAs/InGaAs/InP工艺设计实现的PHEMTs器件进行建模, 并设计实现了一款W波段单片低噪声放大器进行信号模型的验证。为了进一步改善信号模型低频S参数拟合差的精度, 该小信号模型考虑了栅源和栅漏二极管微分电阻, 在等效电路拓扑中分别用Rfs和Rfd表示.为了验证模型的可行性, 基于该信号模型研制了W波段低噪声放大器单片.在片测试结果表明:最大小信号增益为14.4dB@92.5GHz, 3dB带宽为25GHz@85-110GHz.而且, 该放大器也表现出了良好的噪声特性, 在88GHz处噪声系数为4.1dB, 相关增益为13.8dB.与同频段其他芯片相比, 该放大器单片具有宽3dB带宽和高的单级增益.     

W-band InP HEMT MMICs using finite-ground coplanar waveguide(FGCPW) design

In this paper, we report on the development of W-band monolithic microwave integrated circuit (MMIC) power amplifiers using 0.1-μm AlInAs/GaInAs/InP high electron mobility transistor (HEMT) technology and finite-ground coplanar waveguide (FGCPW) designs. In the device modeling, the Angelov nonlinear HEMT model was employed to predict the large signal performance of the device, and the results were validated by using state-of-the-art vector load-pull measurements. A two-stage single-ended W-band FGCPW MMIC using a 150-μm-wide HEMT as the driver and a 250-μm-wide HEMT for the output stage was designed, fabricated, and tested. The MMIC amplifier demonstrates a maximum output power of 18.6 dBm with 18.2% power-added efficiency and 10.6 dB associated gain at 94 GHz. This result is the best output power to date reported from an InP-based MMIC using FGCPW design at this frequency     

一款X波段高效率GaN负载调制平衡放大器MMIC

报道了一款采用0.25μm GaN HEMT工艺的X波段高效率负载调制平衡放大器芯片。该芯片由两个射频端口的90°Lange耦合器,一对平衡功率放大器和一个控制信号功率放大器组成。通过改变同频率处控制信号的幅度与相位去调制平衡功率放大器的阻抗。在连续波测试条件下,该负载调制平衡放大器芯片在8~11 GHz范围内,最大输出功率为42.5 dBm,饱和效率为45%~55%,当输出功率回退6 dB时,效率为40%~45%。     

高效率X波段GaN MMIC功率放大器的研制

突破了GaN MMIC功率放大器的设计、制造、测试等关键技术,研制成功X波段GaN MMIC功率放大器。设计及优化了电路拓扑结构及电路参数,放大器芯片采用了国产外延材料及标准芯片制作工艺。单片功率放大器包含两级放大电路,采用了功率分配及合成匹配电路,输入输出阻抗均为50Ω。制作了微波测试载体及夹具,最终实现了X波段GaN MMIC功率放大器微波参数测试。在8.7～10.9 GHz频率范围内,该功率放大器输出功率大于16 W,功率增益大于14 dB,增益波动小于0.4 dB,输入驻波比小于2∶1,功率附加效率大于40%,带内效率最高达52%。     

100-GHz high-gain InP MMIC cascode amplifier

A high-gain InP monolithic millimeter-wave integrated circuit (MMIC) cascode amplifier has been developed which has 8.0 dB of average gain from 75 to 100 GHz when biased for maximum bandwidth, and more than 12 dB of gain at 80 GHz at the maximum-gain bias point, representing the highest gains reported to date, obtained from MMICs at W band (75-100 GHz). Lattice-matched InGaAs-InAlAs high-electron-mobility-transistors (HEMTs) with 0.1-μm gates were the active devices. A coplanar waveguide (CPW) was the transmission medium for this MMIC with an overall chip dimension of 600×500 μm     

Multilayer MMIC directional couplers using thin dielectric layers

Low-loss and small-sized MMIC directional couplers utilizing a multilayer structure composed of coupled thin-film transmission lines on a GaAs wafer surface are newly proposed. The fundamental characteristics of the couplers are discussed through calculations by numerical analysis, and the performance of the couplers and an application to reverse-phase hybrid ring are demonstrated. The results show that a 3 dB coupler can be designed within a 0.8 mm×0.8 mm area for a center frequency of 20 GHz. Coupling losses of 3.7 dB±0.2 dB over a 4-GHz bandwidth and isolation of better than 26 dB in the frequency range of 0-30 GHz are achieved. The proposed coupler configurations can be applied to the high-density and multifunction integration of MMIC's     

Coplanar millimeter-wave ICs for W-band applications using 0.15μm pseudomorphic MODFETs

A small signal S-parameter and noise model for the cascode MODFET has been validated up to 120 GHz, allowing predictable monolithic microwave integrated circuit (MMIC) design up to W-band. The potential of coplanar waveguide technology to build compact, high performance system modules is demonstrated by means of passive and active MMIC components. The realized passive structures comprise a Wilkinson combiner/divider and a capacitively loaded ultra miniature branch line coupler. For both building blocks, very good agreement between the measured and modeled data is achieved up to 120 GHz. Based on the accurate design database, two versions of compact integrated amplifiers utilizing cascode devices for application in the 90-120 GHz frequency range were designed and fabricated. The MMICs have 26.3 dB and 20 dB gain at 91 GHz and 110 GHz, respectively. A noise figure of 6.4 dB was measured at 110 GHz. The 90-100 GHz amplifier was integrated with an MMIC tunable oscillator resulting in a W-band source delivering more than 6 dBm output power from 94 to 98 GHz     

Broad-band GaAs monolithic equalizing amplifiers formultigigabit-per-second optical receivers

The authors discuss the development of ICs (integrated circuits) for a preamplifier, a gain-controllable amplifier, and main amplifiers with and without a three-way divider for multigigabit-per-second optical receivers using a single-ended parallel feedback circuit, two (inductor and capacitor) peaking techniques, and advanced GaAs process technology. An optical front-end circuit consisting of a GaAs preamplifier and an InGaAs p-i-n photodiode achieves a 3-dB bandwidth of 7 GHz and -12-dBm sensitivity at 10 Gb/s. Moreover, a gain-controllable amplifier obtains a maximum gain of 15 dB, a gain dynamic range of 25 dB, and a 3-dB bandwidth of 6.1 GHz by controlling the source bias of the common-source circuit. Gain, 3-dB bandwidth, and output power of the main amplifier with the three-way divider are 17.4 dB, 5.2 GHz, and 5 dBm, respectively. These ICs can be applied to optical receivers transmitting NRZ signals in excess of 7 Gb/s     

Millimeter-wave CMOS design

This paper describes the design and modeling of CMOS transistors, integrated passives, and circuit blocks at millimeter-wave (mm-wave) frequencies. The effects of parasitics on the high-frequency performance of 130-nm CMOS transistors are investigated, and a peak f/sub max/ of 135 GHz has been achieved with optimal device layout. The inductive quality factor (Q/sub L/) is proposed as a more representative metric for transmission lines, and for a standard CMOS back-end process, coplanar waveguide (CPW) lines are determined to possess a higher Q/sub L/ than microstrip lines. Techniques for accurate modeling of active and passive components at mm-wave frequencies are presented. The proposed methodology was used to design two wideband mm-wave CMOS amplifiers operating at 40 GHz and 60 GHz. The 40-GHz amplifier achieves a peak |S/sub 21/| = 19 dB, output P/sub 1dB/ = -0.9 dBm, IIP3 = -7.4 dBm, and consumes 24 mA from a 1.5-V supply. The 60-GHz amplifier achieves a peak |S/sub 21/| = 12 dB, output P/sub 1dB/ = +2.0 dBm, NF = 8.8 dB, and consumes 36 mA from a 1.5-V supply. The amplifiers were fabricated in a standard 130-nm 6-metal layer bulk-CMOS process, demonstrating that complex mm-wave circuits are possible in today's mainstream CMOS technologies.     

Ultra-low-noise indium-phosphide MMIC amplifiers for 85-115 GHz

This paper describes a high-performance indium-phosphide monolithic microwave integrated circuit (MMIC) amplifier, which has been developed for cooled application in ultra-low-noise imaging-array receivers. At 300 K, the four-stage amplifier exhibits more than 15-dB gain and better than 10-dB input and output return loss from 80 to 110 GHz. The room-temperature noise figure is typically 3.2 dB, measured between 90-98 GHz. When cooled to 15 K, the gain increases to more than 18 dB and the noise figure decreases to 0.5 dB. Only one design pass was required to obtain very good agreement between the predicted and measured characteristics of the circuit. The overall amplifier performance is comparable to the best ever reported for MMIC amplifiers in this frequency band     

Metamorphic HEMT MMICs and Modules for Use in a High-Bandwidth 210 GHz Radar

In this paper, we present the development of advanced W-band and G-band millimeter-wave monolithic integrated circuits (MMICs) and modules for use in a high-resolution radar system operating at 210 GHz. A W-band frequency multiplier by six as well as a subharmonically pumped 210 GHz dual-gate field-effect transistor (FET) mixer and a 105 GHz power amplifier circuit have been successfully realized using our 0.1 mum InAlAs/InGaAs based depletion-type metamorphic high electron mobility transistor (mHEMT) technology in combination with grounded coplanar circuit topology (GCPW). Additionally, a 210 GHz low-noise amplifier MMIC was fabricated using our advanced 0.05 mum mHEMT technology. To package the circuits, a set of waveguide-to-microstrip transitions has been realized on 50 mum thick quartz substrates, covering the frequency range between 75 and 220 GHz. The presented millimeter-wave components were developed for use in a novel 210 GHz radar demonstrator COBRA-210, which delivers an instantaneous bandwidth of 8 GHz and an outstanding spatial resolution of 1.8 cm.     

基于GaAs PHEMT工艺的60~90GHz功率放大器MMIC

研制了一款60~90 GHz功率放大器单片微波集成电路(MMIC),该MMIC采用平衡式放大结构,在较宽的频带内获得了平坦的增益、较高的输出功率及良好的输入输出驻波比(VSWR)。采用GaAs赝配高电子迁移率晶体管(PHEMT)标准工艺进行了流片,在片测试结果表明,在栅极电压为-0.3 V、漏极电压为+3 V、频率为60~90 GHz时,功率放大器MMIC的小信号增益大于13 dB,在71~76 GHz和81~86 GHz典型应用频段,功率放大器的小信号增益均大于15 dB。载体测试结果表明,栅极电压为-0.3 V、漏极电压为+3 V、频率为60~90 GHz时,该功率放大器MMIC饱和输出功率大于17.5 dBm,在71~76 GHz和81~86 GHz典型应用频段,其饱和输出功率可达到20 dBm。该功率放大器MMIC尺寸为5.25 mm×2.10 mm。     

165-GHz Transceiver in SiGe Technology

Two D-band transceivers, with and without amplifiers and static frequency divider, transmitting simultaneously in the 80-GHz and 160-GHz bands, are fabricated in SiGe HBT technology. The transceivers feature an 80-GHz quadrature Colpitts oscillator with differential outputs at 160 GHz, a double-balanced Gilbert-cell mixer, 170-GHz amplifiers and broadband 70-GHz to 180-GHz vertically stacked transformers for single-ended to differential conversion. For the transceiver with amplifiers and static frequency divider, which marks the highest level of integration above 100 GHz in silicon, the peak differential down-conversion gain is -3 dB for RF inputs at 165 GHz. The single-ended, 165-GHz transmitter output generates -3.5 dBm, while the 82.5-GHz differential output power is +2.5 dBm. This transceiver occupies 840 mum times 1365 mum, is biased from 3.3 V, and consumes 0.9 W. Two stand-alone 5-stage amplifiers, centered at 140 GHz and 170 GHz, were also fabricated showing 17 dB and 15 dB gain at 140 GHz and 170 GHz, respectively. The saturated output power of the amplifiers is +1 dBm at 130 GHz and 0 dBm at 165 GHz. All circuits were characterized over temperature up to 125degC. These results demonstrate for the first time the feasibility of SiGe BiCMOS technology for circuits in the 100-180-GHz range.