A broadband flat gain high linearity gain block MMIC amplifier with built-in temperature compensation active bias circuitry

Abstract

This paper describes design and realization of a broadband flat gain high linearity gain block MMIC amplifier with built-in temperature compensation active bias circuitry using a proprietary 0.25 ¿m enhancement mode pseudomorphic high electron mobility transistor (EpHEMT) technology. The MMIC amplifier delivers 14.5 dB gain with gain flatness achieved within ±0.25 dB from 200 MHz to 2.6 GHz while maintaining input and output return loss better than 10 dB. An internal built-in temperature compensation active bias circuitry is incorporated into the design to allow stable RF performance over temperature and process threshold voltage variation. The device has been optimized internally to offer high linearity of 37 dBm output intermodulation distortion (OIP3) across desired operating frequency band with a single supply 5 V @ 100 mA. At 900 MHz, the device typically provides 14.6 dB gain, 40 dBm OIP3, 22.5 dBm P1 dB and 3 dB NF. The amplifier is designed in a chip size of 0.90 × 0.95 mm <sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">2</sup> and is housed in a low-cost RoHS-compliant SOT-89 industry-standard SMT package.