Two-finger InP HEMT design for stable cryogenic operation of ultra-low-noise Ka-band LNAs
Paper in proceeding, 2017
We have investigated the cryogenic stability of two-finger InP HEMTs aimed for Ka-band ultra-low noise amplifiers (LNAs). Unlike two-finger transistors with a large gate-width above 2 χ 50 μm, the transistors with a small gate-width exhibit unstable cryogenic behavior. The instability is suppressed by adding a source air-bridge. The stabilizing effect of the air-bridge is demonstrated both on device and circuit level. A three-stage 2440 GHz monolithic microwave integrated circuit (MMIC) LNA using a stabilized 100-nm HEMT technology is presented. The amplifier achieves a record noise temperature of 7 K at 25.6 GHz with an average noise of 10.6 K across the whole band at an ambient temperature of 5.5 K. The amplifier gain is 29 dB ± 0.6 dB exhibiting very stable and repeatable operation. To our knowledge, this amplifier presents the lowest noise temperature reported so far for InP cryogenic LNAs covering the Ka-band.
Wideband
Stability
MMICs
Low-noise amplifiers
Cryogenic
HEMTs
Author
Eunjung Cha
GigaHertz Centre
Chalmers, Microtechnology and Nanoscience (MC2), Microwave Electronics
Giuseppe Moschetti
Low Noise Factory AB
Niklas Wadefalk
Low Noise Factory AB
Per-Åke Nilsson
GigaHertz Centre
Chalmers, Microtechnology and Nanoscience (MC2), Microwave Electronics
Stella Bevilacqua
SP Sveriges Tekniska Forskningsinstitut AB
A. Pourkabisrian
Low Noise Factory AB
Piotr Starski
Chalmers, Microtechnology and Nanoscience (MC2), Microwave Electronics
GigaHertz Centre
Jan Grahn
GigaHertz Centre
Chalmers, Microtechnology and Nanoscience (MC2), Microwave Electronics
IEEE MTT-S International Microwave Symposium Digest
0149645X (ISSN)
168-171 8058959978-1-5090-6360-4 (ISBN)
Subject Categories
Electrical Engineering, Electronic Engineering, Information Engineering
DOI
10.1109/MWSYM.2017.8058959
ISBN
978-1-5090-6360-4