80–110 GHz MMIC amplifiers using a 0.1‐μm GaAs‐based mHEMT technology

A 80–110 GHz broadband MMIC low noise amplifiers (LNAs) have been developed for W‐band passive image sensors.A monolithic microwave integrated circuit (MMIC) LNAs consists of a four‐stage single‐ended type and a four‐stage balanced type. The chip set was fabricated using a 0.1‐μm gate‐length InGaAs/InAlAs/GaAs metamorphic high electron mobility transistor process based on a four‐inch substrate. The single‐ended type LNA (ver.1) achieved a gain of 20 dB over in a band between 85 and 105 GHz and a noise figure of lower than 5.3 dB in a frequency range of 86.5–100 GHz. The single‐ended type LNA (ver.2) exhibited a gain of 27 dB with a noise figure of 4.3 dB at 94 GHz. The external DC biasing conditions of V ds and V gs were 1 and −0.2 V, respectively, and the total current consumption of the LNA was 40 mA. The chip size was 2 × 1.2 mm 2 . The balanced‐type amplifier demonstrated a measured small signal gain of over 18 dB from 80 to 100 GHz. The external DC biasing conditions of V ds and V gs were 1 and −0.2 V, respectively, and the total current consumption was 82 mA. The chip size was 2.9 × 2.5 mm 2 . © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Microwave Opt Technol Lett 54:1978–1982, 2012; View this article online at wileyonlinelibrary.com. DOI 10.1002/mop.26948