SEMICONDUCTOR INTEGRATED CIRCUITS

A W-band two-stage cascode amplifier with gain of 25.7 dB

Yinghui Zhong1, Yuming Zhang1, Yimen Zhang1, Yuxiong Cao2, Hongfei Yao2, Xiantai Wang2, Hongliang Lü1, Xinyu Liu2 and Zhi Jin2,

+ Author Affiliations

 Corresponding author: Jin Zhi, jinzhi@ime.ac.cn

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Abstract: A W-band two-stage amplifier MMIC has been developed using a fully passivated 2×20 μm gate-width and 0.15 μm gate-length InP-based high electron mobility transistor (HEMT) technology. The two-stage amplifier has been realized in combination with a coplanar waveguide technique and cascode topology, thus leading to a compact chip-size of 1.85×0.932 mm2 and an excellent small-signal gain of 25.7 dB at 106 GHz. Additionally, an inter-digital coupling capacitor blocks low-frequency signal, thereby enhancing the stability of the amplifier. The successful design of the two-stage amplifier MMIC indicates that InP HEMT technology has a great potential for W-band applications.

Key words: cascodecoplanar waveguideHEMTgate-length



[1]
Mei X B, Lin C H, Lee L J, et al. A W-band InGaAs/InAlAs/InP HEMT low-noise amplifier MMIC with 2.5 dB noise figure and 19.4 dB gain at 94 GHz. 20th International Conference on Indium Phosphide and Related Materials (IPRM), 2008:1 http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/4702933/authors
[2]
Liu P H, Yoshida W, Lee J, et al. High gain G-band MMIC amplifiers based on sub-50 nm gate. International Conference on Indium Phosphide and Related Materials Conference Proceedings, 2007:22 http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/4265869/authors
[3]
Kallfass I, Tessmann A, Massler H, et al. A 300 GHz active frequency-doubler and integrated resistive mixer MMIC. Proceedings of the 4th European Microwave Integrated Circuits Conference, 2009:200 http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/5296075/
[4]
Sato M, Hirose T, Ohki T, et al. 94-GHz band high-gain and low-noise amplifier using InP-HEMTs for passive millimeter wave imager. IEEE MTT-S Int Microw Symp Dig, 2007:1775 http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/4264199/
[5]
Mei X B, Lin C H, Lee L J, et al. A W-band InGaAs/InAlAs/InP HEMT low-noise amplifier MMIC with 2.5 dB noise figure and 19.4 dB gain at 94 GHz. 20th International Conference on Indium Phosphide and Related Materials (IPRM), 2008:1 http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/4702933/authors
[6]
Tsai Z M, Kao J C, Lin K Y, et al. A 24-48 GHz cascode HEMT mixer with DC to 15 GHz IF bandwidth for astronomy radio telescope. European Microwave Integrated Circuits Conference (EuMIC), 2009:5 http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/5296425/?reload=true&arnumber=5296425&sortType%3Dasc_p_Sequence%26filter%3DAND(p_IS_Number:5295902)%26rowsPerPage%3D100
[7]
Tsai Z M, Kao J C, Lin K Y, et al. A compact low DC consumption 24-GHz cascode HEMT VGA. Asia Pacific Microwave Conference (APMC), 2009:1625 http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/5384354/
[8]
Deal W R, Leong K, Mei X B, et al. Scaling of InP HEMT cascode integrated circuits to THz frequencies. IEEE Compound Semiconductor Integrated Circuit Symposium (CSICS), 2010:1 http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/5619646/authors
Fig. 2.  SEM photograph of the CPW.

Fig. 1.  Schematic cross-section of the InP-based HEMT.

Fig. 3.  The dependence of extrinsic transconductance and drain current on the gate–source bias of the HEMT at VDS=2.0 V.

Fig. 4.  H21 and MAG/MSG versus frequency at VGS = 0.2 V and VDS = 2.0 V.

Fig. 5.  Circuit topology for the cascode amplifier.

Fig. 6.  Microphotograph of the two-stage cascode amplifier with a chip size of 1.85 × 0.932 mm2.

Fig. 7.  Block diagram of the power performance test setup.

Fig. 8.  (a) Simulated and (b) measured S-parameters of the two-stage amplifier.

Fig. 9.  The measured output power of the amplifier at 106 GHz.

[1]
Mei X B, Lin C H, Lee L J, et al. A W-band InGaAs/InAlAs/InP HEMT low-noise amplifier MMIC with 2.5 dB noise figure and 19.4 dB gain at 94 GHz. 20th International Conference on Indium Phosphide and Related Materials (IPRM), 2008:1 http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/4702933/authors
[2]
Liu P H, Yoshida W, Lee J, et al. High gain G-band MMIC amplifiers based on sub-50 nm gate. International Conference on Indium Phosphide and Related Materials Conference Proceedings, 2007:22 http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/4265869/authors
[3]
Kallfass I, Tessmann A, Massler H, et al. A 300 GHz active frequency-doubler and integrated resistive mixer MMIC. Proceedings of the 4th European Microwave Integrated Circuits Conference, 2009:200 http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/5296075/
[4]
Sato M, Hirose T, Ohki T, et al. 94-GHz band high-gain and low-noise amplifier using InP-HEMTs for passive millimeter wave imager. IEEE MTT-S Int Microw Symp Dig, 2007:1775 http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/4264199/
[5]
Mei X B, Lin C H, Lee L J, et al. A W-band InGaAs/InAlAs/InP HEMT low-noise amplifier MMIC with 2.5 dB noise figure and 19.4 dB gain at 94 GHz. 20th International Conference on Indium Phosphide and Related Materials (IPRM), 2008:1 http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/4702933/authors
[6]
Tsai Z M, Kao J C, Lin K Y, et al. A 24-48 GHz cascode HEMT mixer with DC to 15 GHz IF bandwidth for astronomy radio telescope. European Microwave Integrated Circuits Conference (EuMIC), 2009:5 http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/5296425/?reload=true&arnumber=5296425&sortType%3Dasc_p_Sequence%26filter%3DAND(p_IS_Number:5295902)%26rowsPerPage%3D100
[7]
Tsai Z M, Kao J C, Lin K Y, et al. A compact low DC consumption 24-GHz cascode HEMT VGA. Asia Pacific Microwave Conference (APMC), 2009:1625 http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/5384354/
[8]
Deal W R, Leong K, Mei X B, et al. Scaling of InP HEMT cascode integrated circuits to THz frequencies. IEEE Compound Semiconductor Integrated Circuit Symposium (CSICS), 2010:1 http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/5619646/authors
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    Received: 09 April 2013 Revised: 26 June 2013 Online: Published: 01 December 2013

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      Yinghui Zhong, Yuming Zhang, Yimen Zhang, Yuxiong Cao, Hongfei Yao, Xiantai Wang, Hongliang Lü, Xinyu Liu, Zhi Jin. A W-band two-stage cascode amplifier with gain of 25.7 dB[J]. Journal of Semiconductors, 2013, 34(12): 125003. doi: 10.1088/1674-4926/34/12/125003 Y H Zhong, Y M Zhang, Y M Zhang, Y X Cao, H F Yao, X T Wang, H Lü, X Y Liu, Z Jin. A W-band two-stage cascode amplifier with gain of 25.7 dB[J]. J. Semicond., 2013, 34(12): 125003. doi: 10.1088/1674-4926/34/12/125003.Export: BibTex EndNote
      Citation:
      Yinghui Zhong, Yuming Zhang, Yimen Zhang, Yuxiong Cao, Hongfei Yao, Xiantai Wang, Hongliang Lü, Xinyu Liu, Zhi Jin. A W-band two-stage cascode amplifier with gain of 25.7 dB[J]. Journal of Semiconductors, 2013, 34(12): 125003. doi: 10.1088/1674-4926/34/12/125003

      Y H Zhong, Y M Zhang, Y M Zhang, Y X Cao, H F Yao, X T Wang, H Lü, X Y Liu, Z Jin. A W-band two-stage cascode amplifier with gain of 25.7 dB[J]. J. Semicond., 2013, 34(12): 125003. doi: 10.1088/1674-4926/34/12/125003.
      Export: BibTex EndNote

      A W-band two-stage cascode amplifier with gain of 25.7 dB

      doi: 10.1088/1674-4926/34/12/125003
      Funds:

      the National Basic Research Program of China 2010CB327505

      the Advance Research Project 5130803XXXX

      Project supported by the National Basic Research Program of China (Nos. 2010CB327502, 2010CB327505) and the Advance Research Project (No. 5130803XXXX)

      the National Basic Research Program of China 2010CB327502

      More Information
      • Corresponding author: Jin Zhi, jinzhi@ime.ac.cn
      • Received Date: 2013-04-09
      • Revised Date: 2013-06-26
      • Published Date: 2013-12-01

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