Design and Analysis of Broadband Dual-Gate Balanced Low-Noise Amplifiers

Author

Deal, William R. ; Biedenbender, Michael ; Liu, Po-Hsin ; Uyeda, Jansen ; Siddiqui, Mansoor ; Lai, Richard

Author_Institution

Northrop Grumman Corp., Redondo Beach

Volume

42

Issue

10

fYear

2007

Firstpage

2107

Lastpage

2115

Abstract

In this paper, we present three MMIC low-noise amplifiers using dual-gate GaAs HEMT devices in a balanced amplifier configuration. The designs target three different frequency bands including 4-9 GHz, 9-20 GHz, and 20-40 GHz. These dual-gate balanced designs demonstrate the excellent qualities of balanced amplifiers in terms of stability and matched characteristics, while demonstrating higher bandwidth than designs with a single-stage common-source device. Additionally, noise performance is excellent, with the 4-9 GHz LNA demonstrating <1.75 dB noise figure (NF), the 9-20 GHz LNA <2.75 dB NF and the 20-40 GHz LNA <2.5 dB NF. Demonstrating high gain and excellent bandwidth, the dual-gate devices seem a logical choice for the balanced amplifier topology.

Keywords

HEMT integrated circuits; III-V semiconductors; MIMIC; MMIC amplifiers; gallium arsenide; high electron mobility transistors; integrated circuit design; low noise amplifiers; wideband amplifiers; GaAs - Interface; MMIC low noise amplifiers; balanced amplifier configuration; balanced amplifier topology; broadband dual gate balanced low noise amplifiers; dual gate HEMT devices; frequency 20 GHz to 40 GHz; frequency 4 GHz to 9 GHz; frequency 9 GHz to 20 GHz; high electron mobility transistor; Bandwidth; Broadband amplifiers; Frequency; Gallium arsenide; HEMTs; Low-noise amplifiers; MMICs; Noise figure; Noise measurement; Stability; Balanced amplifier; dual gate; high electron mobility transistor (HEMT); low-noise amplifier (LNA);

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Solid-State Circuits, IEEE Journal of

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0018-9200

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/JSSC.2007.904316

Filename

4317690