Noise characteristics of dual-gate AlGaAs/InGaAs pHEMTs

In this study, we compare the noise characteristics of dual-gate AlGaAs/InGaAs pHEMTs in the frequency range of 1 to 18 GHz. The studied devices including dual-gate enhancement-/enhancement-mode (E/E-mode) and enhancement-/depletion-mode (E/D-mode) pHEMTs were fabricated on the same wafer by the different gate metallization. The minimum noise figure (NF
min
) and associated gain (G
A
) are discussed with power and linearity performance at the same bias conditions. The dual-gate E/E- and E/D-mode devices have demonstrated low noise and high gain performance, and are equivalent to the cascode configuration for compact size as compared to a cascode low noise amplifier.