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 8058959
978-1-5090-6360-4 (ISBN)

Subject Categories

Electrical Engineering, Electronic Engineering, Information Engineering

DOI

10.1109/MWSYM.2017.8058959

ISBN

978-1-5090-6360-4

More information

Latest update

11/23/2018