Small Signal Gain Research Articles

A 211-to-263-GHz Dual-LC-Tank-Based Broadband Power Amplifier With 14.7-dBm P SAT and 16.4-dB Peak Gain in 130-nm SiGe BiCMOS

This article presents a broadband sub-terahertz (THz) power amplifier (PA) with a low-loss four-way power combiner. The proposed power combiner consists of an improved zero-degree combiner (ZDC) and a three-conductor Marchand balun simultaneously achieving broadband matching and power combining. The proposed three-conductor Marchand balun adopts a dual- <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$LC$ </tex-math></inline-formula> tank technique by merging two resonators, and it can be equivalent to a transformer-based multi-resonating network. The power distribution is realized by one input power splitter generating two pairs of differential signals and two parallel 1-to-2 active power splitters. This hybrid distribution driving network further enhances efficiency and power gain. Based on these improvements, a high-output-power sub-THz PA with superior efficiency has been fabricated in the 130-nm SiGe bipolar complementary metal oxide silicon field effect transistor (BiCMOS) technology. The three-stage PA achieves a peak power gain of 16.4 dB, 3-dB small-signal gain bandwidth of 52 GHz from 211 to 263 GHz, a measured maximum saturated output power of 14.7 dBm at 224 GHz, and a peak power-added efficiency (PAE) of 3.13% at 220 GHz. The folded input splitter and extremely compact power combining methodology lead to a core area of 770 <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\mu \text{m}\,\,\times \,\,280\,\,\mu \text{m}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> .

A 27–43 GHz CMOS Body-Biased Digital Current-Steering VGA With 4 Bit and Low Phase Shift

This letter presents a broadband digital-controlled variable gain amplifier (VGA) on 65-nm CMOS process. A body-biased digital current-steering topology is proposed to enlarge the gain control range (GCR) of the VGA under low supply voltage. For phased-array applications, a phase compensation network is added to minimize the phase shift during the gain tuning. The proposed VGA achieves a small-signal gain of 16.3/16.1 dB at 28/38 GHz with a 3-dB gain bandwidth from 25.5 to 46 GHz. The measured phase variation is 2.32°/4.8° with a GCR of 8.7/8.4 dB at 28/38 GHz. The phase variation of the VGA is less than 5° and the rms phase error is less than 1.46° over a wide frequency band of 27–43 GHz covering multiple 5G bands.

An Efficient 24-30 GHz GaN-on-Si Driver Amplifier Using Synthesized Matching Networks.

This paper presents a broadband GaN microwave monolithic integrated circuit driver amplifier (MMIC DA) with compact dimensions of 1.65 mm × 0.78 mm for 5G millimeter-wave communication. The optimal impedance domain satisfying the preset goals was first acquired using the simplified load-pull procedure and small-signal simulations, followed by a weighted average method to determine the reference center matching point from which the optimal intrinsic load can be deduced. By means of de-embedding load-pull contours, modeling based on theoretical analysis, and simulation fitting for parameter identification, the nonlinear output capacitance and a series RLC model circuit approximating the input impedance response of the stabilized transistor were extracted. Under the design principle of fully absorbing the parasitic parameters of the device, explicit formulas and tabulated methods related to the Chebyshev impedance transformer were applied to construct filter-based synthesized matching networks at each stage and finally convert them into an implementable mixed-element form via the single-frequency equivalence technique. Measured on-wafer pulsed results for the proposed two-stage DA across 24-30 GHz demonstrated up to 31.1 dBm of saturated output power (Psat) with less than 1 dB total fluctuation, 19.3 ± 1 dB of small-signal gain, and 39.8% of peak power-added efficiency (PAE) at the mid-frequency.

High-gain, low-voltage unipolar logic circuits based on nanoscale flexible organic thin-film transistors with small signal delays.

One of the circuit topologies for the implementation of unipolar integrated circuits (circuits that use either p-channel or n-channel transistors, but not both) is the zero-VGS architecture. Zero-VGS circuits often provide excellent static performance (large small-signal gain and large noise margins), but they suffer from the large signal delay imposed by the load transistor. To address this limitation, we have used electron-beam lithography to fabricate zero-VGS circuits based on organic transistors with channel lengths as small as 120 nm on flexible polymeric substrates. For a supply voltage of 3 V, these circuits have characteristic signal-delay time constants of 14 ns for the low-to-high transition and 560 ns for the high-to-low transition of the circuit's output voltage. These signal delays represent the best dynamic performance reported to date for organic transistor-based zero-VGS circuits. The signal-delay time constant of 14 ns is also the smallest signal delay reported to date for flexible organic transistors.

Creeping and erupting dynamics in a pure-quartic soliton fiber laser.

Pure-quartic solitons (PQSs) are gradually becoming a hotspot in recent years due to their potential advantage to achieve high energy. Meanwhile, the fundamental research of PQSs is still in the fancy stage, and exploring soliton dynamics can promote the development of PQSs. Herein, we comprehensively and numerically investigate the impact of saturation power, small-signal gain, and output coupler on PQS dynamics in passively mode-locked fiber lasers. The result indicates that altering the above parameters makes PQSs exhibit pulsating or creeping dynamics similar to traditional solitons. Moreover, introducing an intra-cavity filter combined with intra-cavity large fourth-order dispersion makes PQSs go through stationary, pulsating to erupting. That is, the intra-cavity filter changes PQS dynamics. These findings provide new insights into PQS dynamics in fiber lasers.

Photonic-chip integrated large-mode-area high-power CW optical amplifier

Here, we report on a CMOS-compatible thulium-doped high power continuous wave (CW) optical amplifier, leveraging large mode-area gain waveguides. The amplifier structure combines a silicon nitride waveguide above which a sputtered 1250 nm-thick thulium-doped alumina gain layer is deposited. We demonstrate &gt;220 mW output signal power at center wavelength of 1850 nm inside a 9-cm-long amplifier. Small signal gain of &gt;15 dB is achieved.

Improvement of fundamental frequency performance of SGII-UP laser facility

The SGII-UP laser facility is one of the most important high power laser systems in China, and it is also one of a few inertial confinement fusion laser devices that operate all year round in the world. In order to further improve its output capacity to meet higher physical requirements, measures such as increasing the number of neodymium glasses, adopting new N41 neodymium glasses, and improving the energy configuration of xenon lamps are taken to improve the gain capacity of the main amplifier. Calculation of the new main amplifier construction model predicts that the small gain coefficient will reach 4.9%. And further modulation of the laser device shows that when the output of 10 kJ fundamental frequency energy is needed, the injection energy decreases from 5 J to 1.26 J, which supports a higher output energy and a stronger basic frequency output capability. Furthermore, it is analyzed that under different laser pulse injection conditions of 1, 5, 10 ns, the &lt;i&gt;B&lt;/i&gt; integral is obviously reduced, which means that the near-filed quality of the beams is better. According a small-size modulation suppression is induced by nonlinear phase shift, and high-fluence laser is expected to pass before and after the improvement, which is a key prerequisite for a higher output energy. Based on these analyses, fundamental frequency output energy values with different pulse injections are calculated and an improvement from 8 kJ to 12.5 kJ output is expected under 10 ns square pulse condition. Tests show that the small signal gain coefficient of the device increases from 4.15% cm to 4.94% cm, which is consistent with simulation results, and the average gain multiple of a single beam increases from 9000 to 118000, which is an order of magnitude higher. The output verifies the fundamental frequency output capacity exceeding 12.5 kJ under 10 ns square pulse as well as a small-size modulation suppression around 0.16 mm&lt;sup&gt;–1&lt;/sup&gt; as a result of joint action of non-linear phase shift and spatial filtering. After the significant improvement, the SGII-UP laser facility will strongly support more ambitious physical experiment targets.

Square- and Rectangular-Ring Vertex-Bar Slow Wave Structures for High-Efficiency Wide Bandwidth TWTs

In this article, novel square-ring vertex-bar (SRVB) and rectangular-ring vertex-bar (RRVB) slow wave structures (SWSs) are proposed to develop high-efficiency wide bandwidth traveling wave tubes (TWTs). High-frequency characteristics including dispersion, interaction impedance, and transmission of these novel slow wave circuits are analyzed. It is shown that both the SRVB and RRVB possess the advantages of flatter dispersion and higher interaction impedance of the fundamental space harmonic of the forward wave in comparison with the traditional circular ring-bar (RB) SWS. Beam–wave interaction study of SRVB TWT with a pencil beam and RRVB TWT with a sheet beam is carried out. The particle-in-cell (PIC) simulations predict that with the beam voltage of 15.7 kV and beam current of 0.23 A, the maximum output power of the SRVB TWT and the RRVB TWT can reach 616 and 695.6 W, respectively. Both the SRVB TWT and RRVB TWT can produce larger output power, higher differential small-signal gain, and wider 3-dB bandwidth than the RB counterpart. The SRVB TWT is superior to the RRVB TWT for its stability against backward-wave oscillations but with relatively small output power.

Numerical Simulations of the Influence on the Temperature Fields of Large-Sized Nd-Glass Slab with Designed Edge-Cladding Materials, Methods, and Structures

The good cladding of a large-sized Nd-doped phosphate glass slab as a laser amplifier requires not only the amplified spontaneous emission and parasitic oscillation to be fully absorbed, to hold up the small signal gain coefficient of the Nd ions, but also the absorbed heat energy to be appropriately dissipated to extend a uniform temperature field for the larger laser beam aperture of the edge-cladded Nd–glass slab. In the present work, numerical simulations were performed based on the developed feasible edge-cladding designs for a 786 × 436 × 40 mm3 Nd–glass slab, including the following alterations: optical absorptivity, quantum-dot absorption centers, ceramics with higher thermal diffusivity, glasses with lower and higher specific heat values, 3D printing edge-cladding methods, double-deck edge-cladding structure with transparent strips as a buffer layer, and thickening of the edge-cladding. All of these designed edge-cladding materials, methods, and structures satisfy both requirements of sufficiently absorbing and precisely matching with the refractive index, as emphasized by the edge-cladding for the Nd–glass. Some of the designed edge-claddings resulted in a much more uniform temperature field than the composite polymer–glass edge-cladding as the standard for comparison, which could be utilized to extend the effective laser aperture of the Nd–glass slab, thus being beneficial to the laser beam size and laser energy in the optics recycle loop strategy.

The effect of post-metal annealing on DC and RF performance of AlGaN/GaN HEMT

The effects of gate post-metal annealing (PMA) on the DC and RF characteristics of AlGaN/GaN high-electron-mobility transistors (HEMTs) were investigated. The unannealed and post gate-metal annealed AlGaN/GaN HEMTs were fully fabricated using NANOTAM’s 0.5 μm gate length technology. PMA was performed at 450 °C for 10 min in nitrogen ambient for one of the wafers. The main focus was the effect of PMA on the electrical performance of HEMTs, including gate resistivity, transconductance, small-signal gain, output power (Pout), and threshold voltage (Vth) shift. It is achieved that HEMT with PMA has a gain of 18.5 dB, while HEMT without PMA shows a small-signal gain of 21.8 dB, as the PMA process increases the gate resistance (Rg) and decreases the transconductance (gm). The large-signal performance of the sample with PMA is better than the one without PMA, having an increase of 1.4 W/mm in Po ut from 20.9 W to 24.4 W. The transistor with PMA also demonstrates a reliable gate performance and stable Vth, and the wafer exhibits better uniformity.

Modeling of mode-locked fiber lasers and amplifiers with accurate saturable gain evaluation

We present a numerical model for mode-locked lasers and ultrafast nonlinear amplifiers in which the saturated gain profiles along active fibers are judiciously computed using experimental pump powers as input. This eliminates the need for approximating the gain profile by using a small-signal gain coefficient and saturation energy to simulate pulse propagation in active fibers. Our model shows good agreement with experiments involving mode-locked cavities at 1 µm with a silica glass host doped with ytterbium ions. Accurate results are also obtained for continuous-wave and mode-locked laser cavities around 2.8 µm, which uses ZBLAN fiber doped with erbium ions. In the case of Er:ZBLAN fiber, we use the model to show regions of stable mode-locking delivering a single pulse as output and how the spectral width changes with variation in doping concentration and fiber lengths. Our model enables accurate numerical modeling of mode-locked fiber lasers and ultrafast amplifiers, and can be useful in guiding the design of new architectures, understanding complex intracavity laser dynamics, and optimizing device output.

Highly Sensitive Coupled Oscillator Based on an Exceptional Point of Degeneracy and Nonlinearity

We propose a scheme for obtaining highly-sensitive oscillators in a coupled-resonator system with an exceptional point of degeneracy (EPD) and a small instability. The oscillator with the exceptional degeneracy is realized by using two coupled resonators with an almost balanced small-signal gain and loss, that saturates due to nonlinear effects of the active component, resulting in an oscillation frequency that is very sensitive to a perturbation of the circuit. Two cases are investigated, with two parallel LC resonators with balanced small-signal gain and loss that are either coupled wirelessly by mutual inductance or coupled-wired by a capacitor. This paper demonstrates theoretically and experimentally the conditions to obtain a second-order EPD oscillator and analyzes the ultrasensitivity of the oscillation frequency to components' perturbation, including the case of asymmetric perturbation that breaks PT-symmetry. We discuss the effects of nonlinearity on the performance of the oscillator and how the proposed scheme improves the sensing's sensitivity of perturbations. In contrast to previous methods, our proposed degenerate oscillator can sense positive or negative changes of a circuit component. The degenerate oscillator circuit may find applications in various areas such as ultrasensitive sensors, tunable oscillators and modulators.

A 23–31 GHz high‐gain GaN low‐noise amplifier using T‐type matching networks and multiple feedback techniques for broadband 5G millimeter‐wave applications

AbstractA 23–31 GHz three‐stage low‐noise amplifier (LNA) based on 100 nm gallium nitride‐on‐Si technology is presented with a total circuit size of 2.0 × 1.4 mm2. To achieve an excellent noise figure (NF) and gain, a special inductive dual‐source feedback network is used; it contributes to noise matching and input conjugate matching by resonating with the parasitic gate‐source capacitance of the transistor. T‐type networks with low‐quality factor are carefully employed for broadband matching circuits to extend the bandwidth. Meanwhile, a lossy RLC feedback network of the output stage can further obtain a wider frequency band and improve the stability through Miller approximation analysis of the input quality factor and gain of the closed‐loop system. The proposed LNA achieves a NF of 1.9–2.5 dB, a small signal gain of 24–27 dB, and an output 1 dB compression point (P1dB) of 16 dBm across the band.

Performance evaluation of O-band praseodymium-doped fiber amplifier with dual-pass regime

ABSTRACT In this work, compact praseodymium-doped fiber amplifiers (PDFAs) with single- and dual-pass configurations are designed and investigated in the O-band region based on theoretical simulation. The impact of doped fiber characteristics, input signal power and input pumping power on the gain and the noise figure of the proposed amplifiers are comprehensively considered and compared. At an input pumping power of 350 mW and optimum praseodymium-doped fiber (PDF) length, the obtained results show that dual-pass model recorded higher gain than the single-pass scheme. This occurs because of the dual propagation of the forwarded and amplified spontaneous emission (ASE) signal through the gain medium. Moreover, both proposed configurations exposed better amplification performance at an input signal power of −10 dB compared to the higher input signal power of 0 dB. The dual-pass regime shows higher amplification gain than the single-pass one of about 4 dB and a maximum power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 14%. Indeed, the PDF core radius and doping concentration are considered as vital factors. Decrement of doped-core radius leads to a notable gain increment and NF decay, whereas low doping concentrations show very small signal gain compared to the optimized value.

Design of 2–16 GHz Non-Uniform Distributed GaN HEMT MMIC Power Amplifier with Harmonic Suppression Network

In this paper, an ultra-wideband (UWB) power amplifier (PA) on a 0.25 μm gallium-nitride (GaN) on silicon carbide (SiC) high-electron-mobility transistor (HEMT) process, operating in Ku-band, is presented. The broadband PA design is based on the four-stage non-uniform distributed amplifier structure. In order to improve the efficiency of the PA, a harmonic suppression network is added at the output of the drain artificial transmission line. At the same time, a capacitor is connected in series at the input of the gate, which is used to compensate for the phase offset of the gate and increase the cut-off frequency of the PA. The final gate width of the first stage is 0.56 μm, and the other three-stage gate widths are all 0.32 μm. Over the frequency range of 2–16 GHz, the simulated results of this NDPA exhibit a power-added efficiency (PAE) of 16.6–27%, a saturated continuous wave (CW) output power of 35–37 dBm, a small signal gain of 9.1–11.6 dB, and output return losses of 5–15 dB.

Investigation of Half Rectangular-Ring Helix Slow Wave Structure for W-Band Wide Bandwidth High-Efficiency TWTs

The half rectangular-ring helix (HRRH) slow wave structure (SWS), which evolves from the rectangular helix (RH), is proposed to develop a high-efficiency wide bandwidth millimeter-wave traveling-wave tube (TWT). The comprehensive advantages of the HRRH SWS are lower phase velocity and higher interaction impedance in comparison with the RH and the planar helix with straight-edge connections (PH-SECs) SWS with the same dimensions. The particle-in-cell (PIC) simulation shows that, at a beam voltage of 6450 V, a beam current of 0.03 A, the maximum output power of 42.2 W, corresponding to a differential small-signal gain of 1.43 dB/mm, and an electron efficiency of 21.8% can be obtained for the HRRH TWT at 95 GHz. The output power, differential small-signal gain, and electron efficiency of the HRRH TWT are considerably enhanced compared with the RH TWT in a wide frequency range of 60–115 GHz under the same electrical parameters.

A 7–13 GHz 10 W High-Efficiency MMIC Power Amplifier in 0.25 µm GaN HEMT Process

With the increase in applications of the millimeter wave spectrum for phased array radar systems, mobile 7–13 communication systems, and satellite systems, the demand for a wideband, high-efficiency, high-power monolithic microwave integrated circuit (MMIC) power amplifier (PA) is increasing. In this paper, a 7–13 GHz 10 W high-efficiency MMIC PA is designed. This amplifier consists of a two-stage circuit structure with two high electron mobility transistor (HEMT) cells for the driver stage and four HEMT cells for the power stage. To ensure high efficiency and a certain output power (Pout), both the driver–stage and power–stage transistors use a deep Class–AB bias. At the same time, in order to further improve the efficiency, low-loss and second–harmonic tuning techniques are used in the output and inter-stage matching networks, respectively. Finally, the electromagnetic simulation results show that within a frequency of 7–13 GHz, the amplifier achieves an average saturated continuous wave (CW) Pout of 40 dBm, a small signal gain of 14.5–15.5 dB, a power-added efficiency (PAE) of 30–46%, and the input and output return loss are better than 5 dB and 8 dB, respectively.

A 28-GHz wideband power amplifier with dual-pole tuning superposition technique in 55-nm RF CMOS

This paper presents a 28-GHz wideband power amplifier (PA) with the dual-pole tuning superposition technique for 5G applications in a 55-nm RF CMOS. The PA employs a four-stage pseudo-differential structure together with the two-way combining approach to enhance the power gain. Transmission-line transformer (TLT) matching networks are proposed in the PA for not only performing the impedance matching, but also tuning the peak gains of the four stages to two different pole frequencies. The dual-pole frequencies are eventually superposed to improve the bandwidth and gain. Meanwhile, techniques of capacitance neutralization, load-pulling, and power combination are adopted for power stages to improve the output power and efficiency significantly. Biased at the class-A mode by a supply voltage VDD of 1.5 V, the fabricated PA exhibites the measured peak small-signal gain (S21) of 21.9 dB and power gain (PG) of 20 dB at 28 GHz. The measured performances of saturated output power (Psat) of 15.4–16.8 dBm, output 1-dB compression point (OP1dB) of 12–13.5 dBm, and power added efficiency (PAEP1dB) of 11%–14.7% are achieved over the bandwidth of 24–30 GHz, featuring wideband linearity/PAE. The chip occupies a core area of 1.5 × 0.6 mm2.

Thermal Performance Improvement of AlGaN/GaN HEMTs Using Nanocrystalline Diamond Capping Layers.

Nanocrystalline diamond capping layers have been demonstrated to improve thermal management for AlGaN/GaN HEMTs. To improve the RF devices, the application of the technology, the technological approaches and device characteristics of AlGaN/GaN HEMTs with gate length less than 0.5 μm using nanocrystalline diamond capping layers have been studied systematically. The approach of diamond-before-gate has been adopted to resolve the growth of nanocrystalline diamond capping layers and compatibility with the Schottky gate of GaN HEMTs, and the processes of diamond multi-step etching technique and AlGaN barrier protection are presented to improve the technological challenge of gate metal. The GaN HEMTs with nanocrystalline diamond passivated structure have been successfully prepared; the heat dissipation capability and electrical characteristics have been evaluated. The results show the that thermal resistance of GaN HEMTs with nanocrystalline diamond passivated structure is lower than conventional SiN-GaN HEMTs by 21.4%, and the mechanism of heat transfer for NDC-GaN HEMTs is revealed by simulation method in theory. Meanwhile, the GaN HEMTs with nanocrystalline diamond passivated structure has excellent output, small signal gain and cut-off frequency characteristics, especially the current–voltage, which has a 27.9% improvement than conventional SiN-GaN HEMTs. The nanocrystalline diamond capping layers for GaN HEMTs has significant performance advantages over the conventional SiN passivated structure.

A Hybrid True-Time and Phase-Delayed Approach for Millimeter-Wave Beam Steering

In this research study, a novel hybrid approach to beam steering based on the combination of true time delay and phase shift to enable continuous beam steering with minimal beam squint in wideband mm-wave transceivers is investigated. With modern high-speed communication links in the mm-wave spectrum requiring ever higher bandwidths, and losses increasing with frequency, there is a need for steerable arrays in mobile applications. This steering capability is commonly realized by phase shifters, which enable continuous beam direction control, but produce significant beam squint at large bandwidths or steering directions. An alternative is to use a time-delayed control, which resolves the squint issue but covers only a limited number of beam directions, producing considerable loss and being large in size. This research work presents the first 2-bit time delay stage operating above 200 GHz. In addition, a novel approach is described to enable broadband continuous beam control with minimal beam squint; this is achieved by combining the time delay circuit with a 90° vector-sum phase shifter. To prove the concept, the circuit is realized in a 130-nm SiGe Bipolar Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor (CMOS) (BiCMOS) technology. At 4.33 mW of dc power consumption, the small-signal gain is −8.6 dB at a 3-dB band of 220–250 GHz, resulting in 12.8% of relative bandwidth. The time delay stage provides coarse beam direction control with a maximum steering angle of 43.9° resulting from a maximum delay of 1.47 ps with a resolution of 0.39 ps. Across all tuning states, the root-mean-square delay error is less than 23.7 fs. The following phase shifter enables fine direction control while also compensating ±1.5 dB of gain variation resulting from the time delay. This is achieved while reducing the area consumption to half of what is required for comparable true time delay circuits. In a minimal <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$2\times 1$ </tex-math></inline-formula> antenna array, this enables continuous beam direction control between ±54.6° while limiting the beam squint to less than 2.5°, equating to a more than 75% reduction in comparison to the common phase shift approach.