Title :
Low power HFET down converter MMIC´s for wireless communication applications
Author :
Nair, Vjay ; Tehrani, Saied ; Vaitkus, Rimantas L. ; Scheitlin
Author_Institution :
Phoenix Corp. Res. Lab., Motorola Inc., Tempe, AZ, USA
fDate :
12/1/1995 12:00:00 AM
Abstract :
An ultra low power GaAs HFET (heterojunction FET) amplifier/mixer MMIC was designed and characterized for portable communication applications in the 900 MHz band. A completely monolithic LNA (80 mil×42 mil) achieved 10 dB gain, 2.5 dB NF and -4 dBm input IP3 at an operating current of 0.5 mA @ 1.0 V. Receiver sensitivity of a front-end circuit consisting of the LNA and a dual gate FET mixer was characterized using the 12 dB SINAD method. The IC achieved -117 dBm receiver sensitivity in the 900 MHz cellular band. The total power consumption of this miniature down converter was about 2 mW. The HFET down converter IC achieved the same receiver sensitivity as a MESFET down converter at 1/5th of the power. The extremely low power dissipation, high third order intercept point, high level of integration, and very good RF performance of this monolithic IC make it an ideal candidate for wireless applications
Keywords :
III-V semiconductors; JFET integrated circuits; MMIC frequency convertors; field effect MMIC; field effect analogue integrated circuits; gallium arsenide; land mobile radio; radio equipment; 0.5 mA; 1.0 V; 10 dB; 2 mW; 2.5 dB; 900 MHz; GaAs; SINAD method; cellular band; dual gate FET mixer; front-end circuit; heterojunction FET; monolithic LNA; portable communication; receiver sensitivity; ultra low power HFET down converter MMIC; wireless communication; Circuits; FETs; Gain; Gallium arsenide; HEMTs; Heterojunctions; MMICs; MODFETs; Noise measurement; Wireless communication;
Journal_Title :
Microwave Theory and Techniques, IEEE Transactions on
