Comparison of a 35-nm and a 50-nm gate-length metamorphic HEMT technology for millimeter-wave low-noise amplifier MMICs

IEEE Trans. Microwave Theory Techn.

et al. 2021

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This article reports on the investigation and optimization of cryogenic noise mechanisms in InGaAs metamorphic high-electron-mobility transistors (mHEMTs). HEMT technologies with a gate length of 100, 50, and 35 nm are characterized both under room temperature and cryogenic conditions. Furthermore, two additional technology variations with 50-nm gate length are investigated to decompose different noise mechanisms in HEMTs. Therefore, cryogenic extended K u-band low-noise amplifiers of the investigated technologies are presented to benchmark their noise performance. Technology C with a 50-nm gate length exhibits an average effective noise temperature of 4.2 K between 8 and 18 GHz with a minimum of 3.3 K when the amplifier is cooled to 10 K. The amplifier provides an average gain of 39.4 dB at optimal noise bias. The improved noise performance has been achieved by optimization of the epitaxial structure of the 50-nm technology, which leads to low gate leakage currents and high gain at low drain current bias. To the best of the authors' knowledge, this is the first time that an average noise temperature of 4.2 K has been demonstrated in the K u-band.

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A 50-nm Gate-Length Metamorphic HEMT Technology Optimized for Cryogenic Ultra-Low-Noise Operation

Heinz

IEEE Trans. Microwave Theory Techn.

et al. 2021

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“…A monolithic integration can help to reduce such losses. Therefore, it is appealing to demonstrate low-loss switches in technologies with cutting-edge low-noise amplifiers (LNAs) and power amplifiers (PAs) [1], [2] in the same frequency range.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Low-Loss Millimeter-Wave SPDT Switch MMICs in a Metamorphic HEMT Technology

IEEE Microw. Wireless Compon. Lett.

Ambacher

2020

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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 millimeterwave (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.

“…For stability reasons, the stages two to four contain 10-Ω resistors in the RF drain path. The design concept is introduced in [4]. The balanced LNA MMIC is based on the single-ended version with slight adjustments.…”

Section: Low-noise Amplifier Mmicsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…State-of-the-art LNA millimeter-wave integrated circuits (MMICs) in W-band (75 to 110 GHz) yield noise temperatures (T n ) of about 130 K (N F = 1.6 dB) for some part of the band [2][3][4]. In [2,4], this was achieved with an In 0.8 Ga 0.2 As channel. Over the entire band an average noise temperature of 159 K (N F = 1.9 dB) was published [4].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

W-Band LNA MMICs Based on a Noise-Optimized 50-nm Gate-Length Metamorphic HEMT Technology

2019 IEEE MTT-S International Microwave Symposium (IMS)

Heinz

et al. 2019

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In this paper, the design, analysis, and room-temperature performance of two W-band LNA MMICs fabricated in two different technology variations are presented. The investigation demonstrates the noise improvement of the given 50-nm gate-length InGaAs mHEMT technology with reduced necessary drain currents. Therefore, a single-ended and balanced W-band LNA MMIC were designed, fabricated, and characterized. The amplifiers exhibit state-of-the-art noise temperatures with an average value for the single-ended LNA of 159 K (1.9 dB) with lowest values of 132 K (1.6 dB). Due to the technology investigation it was possible to reduce the noise temperature by about 15 K compared to the reference technology in combination with superior MMIC yield.