A 77-GHz MMIC power amplifier for automotive radar applications

A MMIC 77-GHz two-stage power amplifier (PA) is reported in this letter. This MMIC chip demonstrated a measured small signal gain of over 10 dB from 75 GHz to 80 GHz with 18.5-dBm output power at 1 dB compression. The maximum small signal gain is above 12 dB from 77 to 78 GHz. The saturated output power is better than 21.5 dBm and the maximum power added efficiency is 10% between 75 GHz and 78 GHz. This chip is fabricated using 0.1-μm AlGaAs/InGaAs/GaAs PHEMT MMIC process on 4-mil GaAs substrate. The output power performance is the highest among the reported 4-mil MMIC GaAs HEMT PAs at this frequency and therefore it is suitable for the 77-GHz automotive radar systems and related transmitter applications in W-band.