A 1.5–88 GHz 19.5 dBm output power triple stacked HBT InP distributed amplifier

Abstract

We demonstrate a wideband and high power distributed amplifier (DA) using an indium phosphide (InP) double heterojunction bipolar transistor (HBT) process. For the first time, a triple stack HBT topology is used in an InP DA to achieve high power and high linearity. The 1.2 mm × 0.7 mm fabricated chip exhibits a measured gain of 16 dB, maximum output power of 19.5 dBm and output third order intercept point (OIP3) of 27.5 dBm. The bandwidth covers 1.5–88 GHz. This makes the gain-bandwidth product (GBP) 546 GHz. To the best of the authors' knowledge, this work reports the highest output power and OIP3 over a wide bandwidth among all published InP distributed amplifiers to date.