A family of InGaAs/AlGaAs V-band monolithic HEMT LNAs

Five different types of high-electron-mobility transistor (HEMT) low-noise amplifiers (LNAs) utilizing AlGaAs/GaAs and pseudomorphic InGaAs/GaAs materials have been designed for 60-GHz military electronic warfare and communication applications and have demonstrated excellent performance. The best noise figure achieved, was 4.5 dB NF with an associated 4.5-dB gain at 60 GHz for a one-stage 60-GHz MMIC (monolithic microwave integrated circuit) LNA. Also, two- and three stage MMIC LNAs with higher gains were fabricated with noise figures of 5.0 and 5.3 dB, with gains of 11 and 15 dB, respectively, at 60 GHz. The highest gain achieved in V-band was over 20 dB for a three-stage version exhibiting noise figures close to 5 dB for an AlGaAs version. Both bandpass and quasi-low-pass topologies were realized for these V-band MMIC amplifiers.<
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