Broadband High-Power W-Band Amplifier MMICs Based on Stacked-HEMT Unit Cells

Thome, Fabian; Leuther, A.; Schlechtweg, M.; Ambacher, O.

doi:10.1109/tmtt.2017.2772809

Cited by 31 publications

(19 citation statements)

References 6 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…26 are then combined using a 4-way septum power combiner to achieve up to 20 dBm output power with an associated gain of 15 dB over 75-110 GHz. Recently, an ultra-wideband amplifier has been presented in a 50 nm InAlAs/InGaAs mHEMT technology developed by Fraunhofer IAF with an f T of 375 GHz and f MAX of 670 GHz [156]. The schematic and chip photo of the 1.75 × 1 mm 2 MMIC amplifier based on stacked-FET unit cells are illustrated in Fig.…”

Section: W-band (75-110 Ghz)mentioning

confidence: 99%

A Review of Technologies and Design Techniques of Millimeter-Wave Power Amplifiers

Camarchia

Quaglia

Piacibello

et al. 2020

IEEE Trans. Microwave Theory Techn.

120

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This paper reviews the state-of-the-art of millimeterwave power amplifiers, focussing on broadband design techniques. An overview of the main solid-state technologies is provided, including Si, GaAs, GaN and other III-V materials, and both field-effect and bipolar transistors. The most popular broadband design techniques are introduced, before critically comparing through the most relevant design examples found in the scientific literature. Given the wide breadth of applications that are foreseen to exploit the millimeter-wave (mm-wave) spectrum, this contribution will represent a valuable guide for designers who need a single reference before adventuring in the challenging task of mm-wave power amplifier design. Index Terms-Broadband, millimeter wave, power amplifiers. I. INTRODUCTION T HE millimeter-wave (mm-wave) spectrum is attracting a great interest for applications such as 5G and future satellite communications that go well beyond the traditional niche of military and scientific use in terms of investments and potential revenues. The most attractive feature of mm-waves compared to the RF and microwave band is the huge spectrum availability that gives a great advantage in terms of capacity for telecommunication systems. Other advantages of mm-wave systems are the compact size of circuits, especially antennas, and the intrinsic easiness of frequency reuse thanks to the high free-space attenuations. There are also some advantages that are band-specific; for example, the very high attenuation in the 60 GHz band due to oxygen absorption that enables intrinsically secure communications. On the other hand, the very high frequency of operation poses significant challenges to system and circuit design. Similarly to what happens at lower frequency, one of the most critical circuit components is the power amplifier (PA). Its

show abstract

Section: W-band (75-110 Ghz)mentioning

confidence: 99%

A Review of Technologies and Design Techniques of Millimeter-Wave Power Amplifiers

Camarchia

Quaglia

Piacibello

et al. 2020

IEEE Trans. Microwave Theory Techn.

120

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…The associate editor coordinating the review of this manuscript and approving it for publication was Sun Junwei . frequency multipliers, are successfully realized with Schottky diodes [1], [2], whereas state-of-the-art low-noise amplifiers (LNAs) [3] or power amplifiers (PAs) [4], require transistors for signal amplification. In the frequency range of 50 GHz to 110 GHz, hybrid diode-based frequency triplers achieve conversion efficiencies (CE) of =14 dB to =12 dB with an output power of more than 10 dBm for an entire waveguide band [2].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Frequency Multiplier and Mixer MMICs Based on a Metamorphic HEMT Technology Including Schottky Diodes

et al. 2020

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This paper reports on the monolithic integration of layout-optimized Schottky diodes realized in an established 50-nm gate-length metamorphic high-electron-mobility transistor technology for use in multifunctional nonlinear circuits. The suitability of the realized Schottky diodes is demonstrated by a broadband millimeter-wave I/Q-mixer (In-phase/Quadrature) and local oscillator (LO) chain comprising two power amplifiers and a frequency tripler, fabricated on monolithic microwave integrated circuits (MMICs). Both circuits are based on an anti-parallel Schottky diode topology. The subharmonically-pumped I/Q-mixer covers an RF (radio frequency) and IF (intermediate frequency) range of at least 75 GHz to 110 GHz and 0.5 GHz to 15 GHz, respectively. The single-sideband conversion loss is between 14 dB and 16 dB across most of the entire RF and IF bands. The core of the LO chain consists of a frequency tripler (multiplier by three) and features a bias-adjustable output power with almost constant conversion efficiency and a control range of more than 8 dB. The fully-integrated LO chain MMIC matches the needs of the presented I/Q-mixer and exhibits an average output power of 16.3 dBm with a covered frequency range of 38 GHz to 60 GHz. The unwanted harmonics are suppressed by at least =25.9 dBc below the third harmonic for the entire frequency range and better than =32.1 dBc for most part of the band. Thus, the mixer and tripler MMICs demonstrate state-of-the-art performance with regards to, e.g., covered bandwidth, output power, harmonic suppression, or 1 dB compression point.

show abstract

“…When stacked devices are used, the output power is multiple times higher in the condition of an unchanged output current swing. There are quite a few researches about increasing output power of the stacked structure, especially in high frequency . Because devices inherently have a low gain in high frequency, it is hard to output high power.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…There are quite a few researches about increasing output power of the stacked structure, especially in high frequency. [7][8][9][10] Because devices inherently have a low gain in high frequency, it is hard to output high power. Another important advantage of the stack structure is widening the amplifier bandwidth.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Analysis and design of a stacked power amplifier with 196% fractional bandwidth using equivalent circuit model

Wang

et al. 2020

Int J RF Microw Comput Aided Eng

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Stacked structure is a good solution to overcome the low output voltage swing provided by a single device. When several devices are stacked, the bandwidth and output power are multiple times higher. This article analyzes the small‐signal voltage gain of the stacked structure, deriving the gain expression of the high‐frequency model and simplified model. Based on the specific device parameter, the different small‐signal voltage gains between the two models are compared and the designed stacked structure is proved to obtain a flat gain at low frequencies below about 3 GHz. To our best knowledge, this is the first article to analyze the gain flatness of stacked structure with two equivalent circuit models. To verify the stacked theory, a pseudomorphic high‐electron‐mobility transistor（PHEMT） power amplifier (PA) is implemented using 0.25 μm Gallium arsenide (GaAs) technology. The PA achieves an ultra‐high bandwidth of 30 MHz to 3 GHz and a linear gain of 21 dB ± 1.5 dB. At a 16‐V drain bias voltage, a saturated output power of higher than 2 W and a peak power‐added efficiency (PAE) of 44.1% are attained.

show abstract

Broadband High-Power W-Band Amplifier MMICs Based on Stacked-HEMT Unit Cells

Cited by 31 publications

References 6 publications

A Review of Technologies and Design Techniques of Millimeter-Wave Power Amplifiers

A Review of Technologies and Design Techniques of Millimeter-Wave Power Amplifiers

Frequency Multiplier and Mixer MMICs Based on a Metamorphic HEMT Technology Including Schottky Diodes

Analysis and design of a stacked power amplifier with 196% fractional bandwidth using equivalent circuit model

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About