A GaAs MMIC chip-set for mobile communications using on-chip ferroelectric capacitors

A description is given of a GaAs MMIC (monolithic microwave integrated circuit) chip-set for mobile communications which consists of a low-noise amplifier (LNA) with diversity switching capability and an integrated mixer with a local amplifier. These ICs are characterized by the dramatic reduction of pin count due to an on-chip ferroelectric bypass capacitor of barium strontium titanate ( in =300). The frequency characteristics of the LNA IC are shown; 18 dB of the gain, 3.2 dB of the noise figure, and more than 25 dB of diversity-switching capability are attained in the frequency range from 760-880 MHz. Mixing characteristics of the integrated mixer are also shown, where 12 dB of conversion gain and more than 15 dBm of two-tone third-order intermodulation are achieved.<
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