A 75–305-GHz Power Amplifier MMIC With 10–14.9-dBm Pout in a 35-nm InGaAs mHEMT Technology

Fabian Thome,Arnulf Leuther

doi:10.1109/lmwc.2021.3058101

Abstract

The demonstration of a 75-305-GHz power amplifier (PA) monolithic microwave integrated circuit (MMIC) is presented in this letter. The PA is based on an eight-cell traveling-wave unit amplifier (UA). Each cell contains an RF cascode with two two-finger transistors with a gate width of 20 μm each. In the output stage, a balanced configuration combines two UAs with Lange couplers. In front, a third UA is used as a driver amplifier. The PA MMIC is fabricated in a 35-nm gate-length metamorphic high-electron-mobility transistor technology. From 75 to 305 GHz, the PA yields a minimum output power of 10 dBm with an average value of 12.8 dBm. At 200 GHz, a peak output power and PAE of 14.9 dBm and 6.6% is achieved, respectively. To the best of the authors' knowledge, this is the first PA MMIC with an octave-bandwidth that provides an output power of 10 dBm at 300 GHz.

Highlights

P ROVIDING solid-state power amplifiers (PAs) with a high output power (Pout) in the upper part of the millimeter-wave frequency range is getting more and more important
The presented monolithic microwave integrated circuit (MMIC) is based on the Fraunhofer IAF 35-nm In0.52Al0.48As/In0.8Ga0.2As metamorphic highelectron-mobility transistor (HEMT) technology [6]
The comparison highlights the significant improvement of this work to wideband PA MMICs with a covered bandwidth of 75–305 GHz and an output power of more than 10 dBm

Summary

INTRODUCTION

P ROVIDING solid-state power amplifiers (PAs) with a high output power (Pout) in the upper part of the millimeter-wave frequency range is getting more and more important. Applications, such as, point-to-point wireless communication links, high-resolution radar systems, and measurement equipment expand into the frequency range of up to 300 GHz. In many cases, the named applications require a large operating bandwidth.

PA MMIC DESIGN

MEASUREMENT RESULTS

CONCLUSION