A DC-45 GHz metamorphic HEMT traveling wave amplifier

Metamorphic HEMT (MHEMT) technology is capable of providing InP based HEMT performance at GaAs based HEMT levels of manufacturability and cost. This makes the MHEMT an attractive alternative for low noise, high frequency, and wide bandwidth applications. The authors describe the performance of a DC-45 GHz MHEMT traveling wave amplifier (TWA) that is well suited for broadband applications such as 40 Gb/s fiber-optic receivers. The amplifier provides a typical noise figure of 2 dB and output powers in excess of 3 dBm.