A W-band image-rejection downconverter

The design, fabrication, and evaluation of a W-band image-rejection downconverter based on pseudomorphic InGaAs-GaAs HEMT technology are presented. The image-rejection downconverter consists of a monolithic three-stage low-noise amplifier, a monolithic image-rejection mixer, and a hybrid IF 90° coupler with an IF amplifier. The three-stage amplifier has a measured noise figure of 3.5 dB, with an associated small signal gain of 21 dB at 94 GHz while the image-rejection mixer has a measured conversion loss of 11 dB with +10 dBm LO drive at 94.15 GHz. Measured results of the complete image-rejection downconverter including the hybrid IF 90° coupler and a 10 dB gain amplifier show a conversion gain of more than 18 dB and a noise figure of 4.6 dB at 94.45 GHz     

Ultralow-noise W-band pseudomorphic InGaAs HEMT's

Low-noise planar doped pseudomorphic (PM) InGaAs high-electron-mobility transistors (HEMTs) with a gate length of 0.1 μm for W-band operation are discussed. These devices feature a multiple-finger layout with air bridges interconnecting the sources to reduce gate resistance. The device exhibits a minimum noise figure of 2.5 dB with an associated gain of 4.7 dB at 92.5 GHz. This result demonstrates the feasibility of using PM InGaAs HEMTs for W-band low-noise receivers without the need for using lattice-matched InP HEMTs     

W-band low-noise InAlAs/InGaAs lattice-matched HEMTs

Very low-noise 0.15-μm gate-length W-band In_0.52 Al_0.48As/In_0.53Ga_0.47As/In _0.52Al_0.48As/InP lattice-matched HEMTs are discussed. A maximum extrinsic transconductance of 1300 mS/mm has been measured for the device. At 18 GHz, a noise figure of 0.3 dB with an associated gain of 17.2 dB was measured. The device also exhibited a minimum noise figure of 1.4 dB with 6.6-dB associated gain at 93 GHz. A maximum available gain of 12.6 dB at 95 GHz, corresponding to a maximum frequency of oscillation, f_max, of 405 GHz (-6-dB/octave extrapolation) in the device was measured. These are the best device results yet reported. These results clearly demonstrate the potential of the InP-based HEMTs for low-noise applications, at least up to 100 GHz     

High-performance in W-band monolithic pseudomorphic InGaAsHEMT LNA's and design/analysis methodology

High-performance W-band monolithic one- and two-stage low noise amplifiers (LNAs) based on pseudomorphic InGaAs-GaAs HEMT devices have been developed. The one-stage amplifier has a measured noise figure of 5.1 dB with an associated gain of 7 dB from 92 to 95 GHz, and the two-stage amplifier has a measured small signal gain of 13.3 dB at 94 GHz and 17 dB at 89 GHz with a noise figure of 5.5 dB from 91 to 95 GHz. An eight-stage LNA built by cascading four of these monolithic two-stage LNA chips demonstrates 49 dB gain and 6.5 dB noise figure at 94 GHz. A rigorous analysis procedure was incorporated in the design, including accurate active device modeling and full-wave EM analysis of passive structures. The first pass success of these LNA chip designs indicates the importance of a rigorous design/analysis methodology in millimeter-wave monolithic IC development     

A W-band monolithic downconverter

The design, fabrication, and evaluation of a fully integrated W-band monolithic downconverter based on InGaAs pseudomorphic HEMT technology are presented. The monolithic downconverter consists of a two-stage low-noise amplifier and a single-balanced mixer. The single-balanced mixer has been designed using the HEMT gate Schottky diodes inherent to the process. Measured results of the complete downconverter show conversion gain of 5.5 dB and a double-sideband noise figure of 6.7 dB at 94 GHz. Also presented is the downconverter performance characterized over the -35°C to +65°C temperature range. The downconverter design was a first pass success and has a high circuit yield     

High-power V-band AlInAs/GaInAs on InP HEMTs

The DC and RF performance of δ-doped channel AlInAs/GaInAs on InP power high-electron-mobility transistors (HEMTs) are reported. A 450-μm-wide device with a gate-length of 0.22 μm has achieved an output power of 150 mW (at the 1-dB gain compression point) with power-added efficiency of 20% at 57 GHz. The device has a saturated output power of 200 mW with power-added efficiency of 17%. This is the highest output power measured from a single InP-based HEMT at this frequency, and demonstrates the feasibility of these HEMTs for high-power applications in addition to low-noise applications at V -band     

High-gain, V-band, low-noise MMIC amplifiers usingpseudomorphic MODFETs

State-of-the-art, 60-GHz, low-noise MMICs based on pseudomorphic modulation-doped FETs, with 0.25-μm×60-μm gates offset 0.3 μm from the source ohmic, are discussed. Single-state low-noise amplifiers (LNAs) exhibited minimum noise figures of 2.90 dB with 4.1 dB of associated gain at 59.25 GHz. Dual-state MMICs had minimum noise figures of 3.5 dB and 10.8 dB of associated gain at 58.50 GHz. Cascaded four-stage LNAs (two dual-stage MMICs) had minimum noise figures of 3.7 dB and over 20.7 dB of associated gain at 58.0 GHz. Finally, when biased for maximum gain, the four-stage amplifier exhibited over 30.4 dB of gain at 60.0 GHz     

A Q-band monolithic balance resistive HEMT mixer usingCPW/slotline balun

A Q-band balanced, resistive high-electron-mobility-transistor (HEMT) mixer has been developed for integration in monolithic millimeter-wave receivers. The mixer consists of two AlGaAs/GaAs HEMTs, a coplanar-waveguide (CPW)-to-slotline local oscillator (LO) balun, and an active IF balun. CPWs are used to eliminate the backside or via-hole process step, which increases the circuit yield and shortens the processing time. The conversion loss of the mixer while downconverting a 42-46-GHz RF to a 2.3-3.2-GHz IF is between 4 and 8 dB using an LO drive of 14 dBm. A 17.5-dBm input two-tone third-order intermodulation intercept point is achieved with an LO drive of 10.5 dBm, while a 5.5-dBm input, 1-dB compression point can be achieved with an LO drive of 14 dBm. This is the first reported monolithic CPW resistive HEMT mixer operating at Q-band frequencies     

X-band MMIC amplifier with pulse-doped GaAs MESFET's

The design and test of an X-band monolithic four-stage low-noise amplifier (LNA) with 0.5 μm-gate pulse-doped GaAs MESFETs for application in a direct broadcast satellite (DBS) converter is presented. The key feature of the research is a detailed demonstration of the advantages of using series feedback with experiments and simulations. This LNA shows an excellent input VSWR match under 1.4 as well as a noise figure of 1.67 dB and a gain of 24 dB at 12 GHz. The noise figure, the gain and VSWRs exhibit very little bias current dependence due to the exceptional features of the pulse-doped structure FETs and the optimized circuit design. Insensitivity to bias current implies performance stability in the face of process fluctuations. Thus, the yield of chips with noise figures of less than 2.0 dB is as high as 62.5%, and the variations of gain and VSWR are highly uniform as well     

AlInAs-GaInAs HEMT for microwave and millimeter-wave applications

The status of lattice-matched high-electron-mobility transistors (HEMTs) and pseudomorphic AlInAs-GaInAs grown on In substrates is reviewed. The best lattice-matched devices with 0.1-μm gate length had a transconductance g_m=1080 mS/mm and a unity current gain cutoff frequency f_T=178 GHz, whereas similar pseudomorphic HEMTs had g_m=1160 mS/mm and f_T=210 GHz. Single-stage V-band amplifiers demonstrated 1.3- and 1.5-dB noise figures and 9.5- and 8.0-dB associated gains for the lattice-matched and pseudomorphic HEMTs, respectively. The best performance achieved was a minimum noise figure of F_min=0.8 dB with a small-signal gain of G_a=8.7 dB     

Experimental characteristics and performance analysis of monolithicInP-based HEMT mixers at W-band

Experimental characteristics of monolithic InAlAs/InGaAs HEMT mixers are presented together with a theoretical analysis. Experiments at W-band show a maximum conversion gain of 0.9 dB with 2 dBm of LO power level. This is the first demonstration of a monolithic HEMT mixer with conversion gain at W-band. The conversion gain dependence on LO power, RF frequency and gate bias is measured and compared with the theoretical predictions. Good agreement between the theory and experiment could be found     

60-GHz pseudomorphicAl0.25Ga0.75As/In0.28Ga0.72As low-noise HEMTs

V-band low-noise planar-doped pseudomorphic (PM) InGaAs high electron mobility transistors (HEMTs) were fabricated with an indium mole fraction of 28% in the InGaAs channel. A device with 0.15-μm T-gate achieved a minimum noise figure of 1.5 dB with an associated gain of 6.1 dB at 61.5 GHz     

High-efficiency Ku-band HBT MMIC power amplifier

A Ku-band monolithic HBT power amplifier was developed using a metal-organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD)-grown AlGaAs/GaAs heterojunction bipolar transistor (HBT) operating in common-emitter mode. At a 7.5 V collector bias, the amplifier produced 0.5 W CW output power with 5.0 dB gain and 42% power-added efficiency in the 15-16 GHz band. When operated at a single frequency (15 GHz), 0.66 W CW output power and 5.2 dB of gain were achieved with 43% PAE     

Characterization of surface-undoped In0.52Al0.48As/In0.53Ga0.47As/InP high electron mobilitytransistors

High-performance 0.3-μm-gate-length surface-undoped In_0.52 Al_0.48As/In_0.53Ga_0.47As/InP high-electron-mobility transistors (HEMTs) grown by molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) have been characterized and compared with a surface-doped structure. At 18 GHz, the surface-undoped HEMT has achieved a maximum stable gain (MSG) of 19.2 dB compared to 16.0 dB for the surface-doped structure. The higher MSG value of the surface-undoped HEMTs is obtained due to the improved g_m/g₀ ratio associated with the surface-induced electric field spreading effect. Comparison of identical 0.3-×150-μm-gate devices fabricated on surface-undoped and -doped structures has shown greatly improved gate leakage characteristics and much lower output conductance for the surface-undoped structure. It is demonstrated that the surface potential, modulated by different surface layer designs, affects the charge control in the conducting channel, especially the carrier injection into the buffer, resulting in excess output conductance. Several millimeter-wave coplanar waveguide (CPW) monolithic distributed amplifiers have been successfully fabricated by using the surface-undoped HEMT structure. A high gain per stage distributed amplifier with 170-dB±1-dB small-signal gain across a frequency band of 24-40 GHz, a W-band monolithic integrated circuit with 6.4-dB gain at 94 GHz, and a broad bandwidth distributed amplifier with 5-dB gain across a frequency band of 5 to 100 GHz have been demonstrated by using the surface-undoped structures     

L- and S-band low-noise cryogenic GaAs FETamplifiers

The authors present the results of the construction and testing of three cryogenic low-noise GaAs FET amplifiers, based on a National Radio Astronomy Observatory design, to be used in a detector for the axion, a hypothetical particle. The amplifiers are centered on 1.1 GHz, and 2.4 GHz, have a gain of approximately 30 dB in bandwidths of 300 MHz, 225 MHz, and 310 MHz, and have minimum noise temperatures of 7.8 K, 8 K, and 15 K, respectively     

An X-band spacecraft transponder for deep spaceapplications-design concepts and breadboard performance

The design concepts and measured performance characteristics of an X-band breadboard deep-space transponder (DST) for future spacecraft applications are summarized. The DST consists of a double-conversion, superheterodyne, automatic phase tracking receiver, and an X-band exciter to drive redundant downlink power amplifiers. The receiver acquires and coherently phase tracks the modulated or unmodulated X-band uplink carrier signal. The exciter phase modulates the X-band downlink signal with composite telemetry and ranging signals. The measured tracking threshold, automatic gain control (AGC), static phase error, and phase jitter characteristics of the breadboard DST are in good agreement with the expected performance. The measured results show a receiver tracking threshold of -158 dBm and a dynamic signal range of 88 dB     

A compact full MMIC module for Ku-band phase-lockedoscillators

A compact Ku-band phase-locked oscillator module has been developed in a full MMIC (monolithic microwave integrated circuit) configuration. The module includes an MMIC voltage-controlled oscillator, an analog frequency divider, and interstage amplifiers. The constituent monolithic chips are integrated in a very small single-package module and operate at the target frequencies without any external trimming or matching network. The oscillator is tuned more than 1 GHz with a constant output amplitude. The frequency-divided output is also obtained over the whole tuning range. Spurious output is not found at any frequency up to 22 GHz. In spite of the very low-Q factor of GaAs monolithic circuitry, the oscillator phase noise exhibited is less than -80 dBc/Hz, due to the high-gain, high-speed phase lock     

Design and performance of low-current GaAs MMICs forL-band front-end applications

GaAs monolithic microwave integrated circuits (MMICs) with very low current and of very small size have been developed for L-band front-end applications. The MMICs fully employ lumped LC elements with uniplanar configurations. There are two kinds of MMICs: a low-noise amplifier and a mixer. The low-noise amplifier has a noise figure of 2.5 dB and a gain of 11.5 dB. The mixer has a conversion gain of 12.5 dB small local oscillator (LO) power of -3 dBm. Total current dissipation of the two MMICs is less than 8 mA with 3-V drain bias voltages     

Multifunction W-band MMIC receiver technology

The development of a W-band (75-110 GHz) monolithic receiver, culminating in a three-chip multifunctional monolithic microwave integrated circuit (MMIC) receiver front-end, is described. The heart of the receiver is a four-channel multiplexer, with each channel possessing its own single balanced mixer and low-noise IF amplifier, all integrated onto a single GaAs chip. Two dual-channel monolithic Gunn oscillators with the drive level and spectral parity to meet system requirements have been developed. The key to the development of the monolithic front-end has been to ensure process compatibility between individual components and the careful partitioning of the chip architecture     

Millimeter-wave low-noise and high-power metamorphic HEMTamplifiers and devices on GaAs substrates

This paper reports on state of-the-art HEMT devices and circuit results utilizing 32% and 60% indium content InGaAs channel metamorphic technology on GaAs substrates. The 60% In metamorphic HEMT (MHEMT) has achieved an excellent 0.61-dB minimum noise figure with 11.8 dB of associated gain at 26 GHz. Using this MHEMT technology, two and three-stage Ka-band low-noise amplifiers (LNAs) have demonstrated <1.4-dB noise figure with 16 dB of gain and <1.7 with 26 dB of gain, respectively. The 32% In MHEMT device has overcome the <3.5-V drain bias limitation of other MHEMT power devices, showing a power density of 650 mW/mm at 35 GHz, with V_ds=6 V