A W-band RF-MEMS switched LNA in a 70 nm mHEMT process

Abstract

This work presents a monolithic integrated reconfigurable active circuit consisting of a W-band RF micro-electro-mechanical-systems (MEMS) Dicke switch network and a wideband low-noise amplifier (LNA) realized in a 70 nm gallium arsenide (GaAs) metamorphic high electron mobility transistor process technology. The RF-MEMS LNA has a measured gain of 10.2–15.6 dB and 1.3–8.2 dB at 79–96 GHz when the Dicke switch is switched ON and OFF, respectively. Compared with the three-stage LNA used in this design the measured in-band noise figure (NF) of MEMS switched LNA is minimum 1.6 dB higher. To the authors’ knowledge, the experimental results represent a first time demonstration of a W-band MEMS switched LNA monolithic microwave integrated circuit (MMIC) in a GaAs foundry process with a minimum NF of 5 dB. The proposed novel integration of such MEMS switched MMICs can enable more cost-effective ways to realize high-performance single-chip mm-wave reconfigurable radiometer front-ends for space and security applications, for example. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J RF and Microwave CAE 25:639–646, 2015.