High performance HEMT MMICs for low cost EHF SATCOM terminals

A set of high-performance pseudomorphic InGaAs high-electron-mobility-transistor (HEMT) monolithic microwave integrated circuits (MMICs) for insertion into a low-cost transceiver for EHF satellite communication terminal applications is presented. A 20-GHz MMIC low-noise amplifier (LNA) with a 2.8-dB noise figure and 38-dB gain and a 44-GHz driver amplifier with an output power of +17.8 dBm, 22.8-dB gain, and 17% efficiency are described. Also reported are HEMT MMIC doublers with output frequencies of 17, 22, and 44 GHz which demonstrated +13-, +12- and +5-dBm power output with 1-dB conversion loss, 1-dB conversion gain, and 4-dB conversion loss, respectively.<>