Power-amplifier modules covering 70-113 GHz using MMICs

Author

Wang, Huei ; Samoska, Lorene ; Gaier, Todd ; Peralta, Alejandro ; Liao, Hsin-Hsing ; Leong, Y.C. ; Weinreb, Sander ; Chen, Yaochung C. ; Nishimoto, M. ; Lai, Richard

Author_Institution

Dept. of Electr. Eng., Nat. Taiwan Univ., Taipei, Taiwan

Volume

49

Issue

1

fYear

2001

fDate

1/1/2001 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

9

Lastpage

16

Abstract

A set of W-band power amplifier (PA) modules using monolithic microwave integrated circuits (MMICs) have been developed for the local oscillators of the far-infrared and sub-millimeter telescope (FIRST). The MMIC PA chips include three driver and three PAs, designed using microstrip lines, and another two smaller driver amplifiers using coplanar waveguides, covering the entire W-band. The highest frequency PA, which covers 100-113 GHz, has a peak power of greater than 250 mW (25 dBm) at 105 GHz, which is the best output power performance for a monolithic amplifier above 100 GHz to date. These monolithic PA chips are fabricated using 0.1-μm AlGaAs/InGaAs/GaAs pseudomorphic T-gate power high electron-mobility transistors on a 2-mil GaAs substrate. The module assembly and testing, together with the system applications, is also addressed in this paper

Keywords

HEMT integrated circuits; MMIC power amplifiers; astronomical telescopes; coplanar waveguides; driver circuits; field effect MIMIC; infrared astronomy; microstrip lines; millimetre wave power amplifiers; radiotelescopes; submillimetre astronomy; 0.1 micron; 2 mil; 250 mW; 70 to 113 GHz; AlGaAs-InGaAs-GaAs; MMICs; W-band; coplanar waveguides; driver amplifiers; far-infrared telescope; local oscillators; microstrip lines; module assembly; monolithic microwave integrated circuits; output power performance; power-amplifier modules; pseudomorphic T-gate power high electron-mobility transistor; sub-millimeter telescope; system applications; Driver circuits; Gallium arsenide; Local oscillators; MMICs; Microwave amplifiers; Microwave integrated circuits; Monolithic integrated circuits; Power amplifiers; Submillimeter wave integrated circuits; Telescopes;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Microwave Theory and Techniques, IEEE Transactions on

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0018-9480

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/22.899956

Filename

899956