Cascaded Single-stage Distributed Amplifier Research Articles

A 3.7–43.7-GHz Low-Power Consumption Variable Gain Distributed Amplifier in 90-nm CMOS

A variable gain distributed amplifier (VGDA) for the Rx path of ultrawideband phased-array system is implemented in 90-nm CMOS process and presented in this letter. In order to achieve high gain and wideband with relative low dc power dissipation (P <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">dc</sub> ), the combination of the conventional distributed amplifier (CDA) and the cascaded single-stage distributed amplifier (CSSDA) is utilized to the circuit. Moreover, the active variable termination resistor (AVTR) is adopted to adjust the flatness of gain. According to the experimental results, the proposed VGDA achieves a 21-dB peak gain with a 40-GHz 3-dB bandwidth (3.7-43.7 GHz), 18-dB gain control range (GCR), and 16° maximum phase variation.

InP DHBT Single-Stage and Multiplicative Distributed Amplifiers for Ultra- Wideband Amplification

This paper highlights the gain-bandwidth merit of the single stage distributed amplifier (SSDA) and its derivative multiplicative amplifier topologies (i.e. the cascaded SSDA (C-SSDA) and the matrix SSDA (M-SSDA)), for ultra-wideband amplification. Two new monolithic microwave integrated circuit (MMIC) amplifiers are presented: an SSDA MMIC with 7.1dB average gain and 200GHz bandwidth; and the world's first M-SSDA, which has a 12dB average gain and 170GHz bandwidth. Both amplifiers are based on an Indium Phosphide DHBT process with 250nm emitter width. To the authors best knowledge, the SSDA has the widest bandwidth for any single stage amplifier reported to date. Furthermore, the three tier M-SSDA has the highest bandwidth and gain-bandwidth product for any matrix amplifier reported to date.

Analysis and Design of a 30- to 220-GHz Balanced Cascaded Single-Stage Distributed Amplifier in 130-nm SiGe BiCMOS

This paper describes a novel distributed amplifier (DA) architecture for ultra-wide band of operation at millimeter-wave frequency. The DA consists of two cascaded single-stage DAs (CSSDAs) embedded in a balanced architecture. The implemented design retains the benefits of CSSDAs in terms of high maximum frequency, broad band of operation, and compact area, while significantly improving the amplifier input and output matching and its linearity with the balanced architecture, which are the major issues of this class of circuits. The small-signal analysis is provided in detail and explains the nature of the poor output matching typical of this class of DAs. Furthermore, the CSSDA gain is calculated as function of frequency and circuit parameters, extending available literature results, and providing direct design guidelines with a compact formula. Experimental validation is demonstrated with the fabrication of a circuit prototype in a 130-nm SiGe BiCMOS process. The circuit is able to provide an average of 16-dB gain over the frequency band 30–220 GHz, with input- and output-return losses above 10 dB, and a maximum measured output-referred 1-dB compression point of 4.5 dBm. To the best knowledge of the authors, the measured matching and linearity are the best reported for CSSDAs.

A miniature 25-GHz 9-dB CMOS cascaded single-stage distributed amplifier

A 25-GHz complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) cascaded single-stage distributed amplifier (CSSDA) using standard 0.18-/spl mu/m CMOS technology is presented in this letter. It demonstrates the highest gain-bandwidth product (GBP) with smallest chip area reported for a fully-integrated CMOS wideband amplifier using a standard Si-based integrated circuit process. The chip size including testing pads is only 0.36mm/sup 2/, and the ratio of GBP to chip size achieves 552GHz/mm/sup 2/. This circuit is the first CSSDA realized in CMOS technology, and represents state-of-the-art performances.

Design and analysis of novel high-gain and broad-band GaAs pHEMT MMIC distributed amplifiers with traveling-wave gain stages

Using the concept of traveling-wave gain stages, novel GaAs pseudomorphic high electron-mobility transistor monolithic-microwave integrated-circuit (MMIC) distributed amplifiers (DAs) are demonstrated to achieve high gain and over several octaves of bandwidth performance simultaneously for microwave and millimeter-wave frequency applications. The cascaded single-stage distributed amplifier (CSSDA) is used as traveling-wave gain stages to improve the gain performance of the conventional distributed amplifier (CDA). By adopting the low-pass filter topology between the CDA and CSSDA and tuning the gain shape of CDA and CSSDA separately, a broad-band and high-gain DA, called CDA-CSSDA-2, was accomplished. The detailed design equations are derived for the broad-band matching design of this CDA-CSSDA-2. Two other MMICs, namely, a two-stage CSSDA called 2-CSSDA, and another two-stage design called CDA-CSSDA-1, are also included in this paper. This CDA-CSSDA-2 achieves 22/spl plusmn/1.5-dB small-signal gain from 0.1 to 40 GHz with a chip size of 1.5/spl times/2 mm/sup 2/. It also produces a gain-bandwidth product of 503 GHz, which is the highest among all reported GaAs-based DAs. The flat group delay also demonstrates the feasibility of this design for future digital optical communications and broad-band pulse applications.

Broadband amplification in CMOS technology using cascaded single-stage distributed amplifier

Feasibility of the cascaded single-stage distributed amplifier (CSDA) for ultra broadband amplification in complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) technology is investigated. A number of unique benefits gained from the CMOS CSDA over the conventional CMOS distributed amplifier structure are highlighted along with bandwidth analysis and helpful consideration. Simulated in the standard digital 0.35 µm CMOS process with realistic parasitic models, a prototype design of a four-stage CMOS CSDA provides 21 dB power gain at 5 GHz bandwidth, better than −10 dB input/output return loss and dissipates &lt;132 mW.