A Ka-band Low-noise High-gain Frontend Receiver in Monolithic E-mode PINHEMT Technology for Millimeter-wave Radiometers

This paper presents a Ka-band low-noise high-gain frontend receiver in monolithic enhancement-mode PINHEMT technology. The presented receiver comprises a single-pole double-throw (SPDT) switch, a low-noise amplifier (LNA), and a power detector. The SPDT is designed using quarter-wavelength transmission lines with PIN diodes and features low insertion loss and high isolation. The LNA consists of three gain stages based on HEMT, and it has a low noise figure and high gain. The power detector is based on a square-law detection and features high responsivity (RV) and low noise-equivalent power (NEP). The receiver achieves a minimum NEP of 1.2 fW/√Hz at 33 GHz with a peak RV of 4 MV/W, and a 3-dB bandwidth of 2.6 GHz. This work is suitable for a few millimeter-wave radiometers due to its superior performance and high integration.