Abstract
This letter presents the design and performance of two single-pole double-throw (SPDT) switches operating in $V$ -band (50–75 GHz) and $W$ -band (75–110 GHz). The millimeter-wave (mmW) integrated circuits (MMICs) are fabricated in a 50-nm gate-length metamorphic high-electron-mobility transistor technology. Special attention was paid to the reduction of the insertion loss (IL). Thus, both switch MMICs achieve an IL of 1–1.6 dB (average 1.2 dB), covering the entire $V$ -band and $W$ -band, respectively. The isolation (ISO) of the switches is better than 31.6 and 28.5 dB, respectively. The input power for 1 dB of IL compression is at least 22 and 19 dBm, respectively. A wafer mapping of both circuits exhibits a high yield and low spread of IL and ISO. Based on the given results, the presented SPDT switch MMICs demonstrates state-of-the-art performance.
Highlights
INTRODUCTIONThe transceivers where switches are the first and last semiconductor circuits in the receive and transmit paths, respectively, benefit from a low insertion loss (IL) and high isolation (ISO)
I N A multitude of applications, RF switches are key building blocks
The presented work is based on the Fraunhofer IAF 50-nm gate-length InAlAs/InGaAs mHEMT technology [5]
Summary
The transceivers where switches are the first and last semiconductor circuits in the receive and transmit paths, respectively, benefit from a low insertion loss (IL) and high isolation (ISO). Best results exhibit an IL as low as 1.1 dB utilizing gallium arsenide (GaAs) Schottky diodes or highelectron-mobility transistors (HEMTs) [3], [4], respectively. For the former, a monolithic integration with amplifiers seems hardly possible, and for the latter, the ISO is only about 20 dB.
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
