A 206–294GHz 3-stage amplifier in 35nm InP mHEMT, using a thin-film microstrip environment

We present a compact, 3-stage millimeter-wave monolithic integrated circuit (MMIC) amplifier with an operating frequency of 206-294 GHz, formed by common-source configured 35 nm L
_g
InP mHEMTs and a multi-layer thin-film microstrip (TFM) wiring environment. The amplifier S
₂₁
mid-band gain is 11-16 dB, 3 dB bandwidth at 294 GHz, and 82.5 mW P
_DC
. This is the first reported InP HEMT MMIC operating in G-, H-band employing thin-film microstrip. Because the TFM ground-plane shields the signal interconnects from the substrate, well behaved device (0.1-67, 140-200, 210-310 GHz) and amplifier (206-320 GHz) measurements are presented from an unthinned, 25 mil substrate. The total size of this 3-stage amplifier is only 0.77 × 0.40 mm
²
.