Gallium arsenide 0.5–18 GHz antenna front‐end with integrated limiter and differential to single ended low‐noise amplifier

Abstract

In this study, the authors present a 36:1 relative bandwidth active front‐end low‐noise amplifier (LNA) with power limiter that has been developed for airborne ultra‐wideband receiver systems. The proposed system is driven by an external antenna with a balanced mode with an input impedance of 150 Ω. The whole microwave monolithic integrated circuit (MMIC) embeds a protection from the presence of high‐level signals, an ultra‐wideband amplifier circuit, an active balun and an impedance transformer. It has a bandwidth ranging from 0.5 to 18.0 GHz with 14 dB gain, 4.5 dB noise figure (NF), 20 dB common‐mode rejection and 30 dBm input overload protection. The circuit has a single bias from the output port greatly simplifying its use within a receiving system and can be directly integrated into the antenna mechanical support. Test measurements are also provided.

An Ultra-Wideband Monolitic Active Balun

“…3). With a different jig and also an integrated antenna the chip has been already evaluated in [11]. Here, the MMIC has been measured by means of a three-port Vector Network Analyzer, for calibrated S-parameter measurements with a balanced input and single-ended output.…”

“…A low-pass network topology has been adopted to this purpose, making use of a distributed series of resistors, large inductances and grounded capacitances useful to provide an effective RF ground. The bias network has also been used for the improvement of the performances of the amplification stages at the lower frequencies [11].…”

Ultrawideband LNA 1960–2019: Review

“…In the 2010s, MOSFET scaling reached 5 nm from 32 nm [30] and many studies [161–200, 201–250, 251–300, 301–361] were carried out by focussing on improving the mentioned topologies and techniques which were presented in the 2000s for wideband LNA. As examples, we can refer to ‘the noise/distortion cancelation topologies’ [164, 167, 173, 181, 189, 192, 194, 195, 201, …”

An atomistic investigation on the wear of diamond during atomic force microscope tip-based nanomachining of gallium arsenide

“…Gallium arsenide (GaAs), a high value-added semiconductor material, has unique advantages in contrast to silicon, such as higher electron mobility, wider bandgap and higher temperature resistance [1]- [3]. It has been broadly used in the field of microelectronics and optoelectronics to make smart devices for telecommunication, fibre-optic communication, satellite communication, cable television, vehicle navigation system and semiconductor light-emitting diodes [4]- [7].…”