Monolithic indium phosphide-based HEMT multioctave distributed amplifier

The superior performance qualities of indium-phosphide-based high-electron-mobility transistor (HEMT) structures has been established with discrete devices. A report is presented on the first monolithic ICs made with this material system. MBE grown AlInAs/GaInAs HEMT layer on an InP substrate. Results are presented on a monolithic distributed amplifier with greater than 10-dB gain from 2 to 30 GHz. At 14 GHz, the noise figure was 5.2 dB with 14 dB of associated gain. These circuits have all the necessary components for a high-performance amplifier, including quarter-micron EBL (electron beam lithography) defined gates, MIM (metal-insulator-metal) capacitors, air-bridge metal crossovers, and plated-through-substrate vias to the ground plane.<>