The evolution of low noise devices and amplifiers

Author

Niehenke, Edward C.

Author_Institution

Niehenke Consulting, Baltimore, MD, 21075, USA

fYear

2012

fDate

17-22 June 2012

Firstpage

1

Lastpage

3

Abstract

This paper traces the development of low noise devices and amplifiers. The device technology changed significantly over time starting with the vacuum tube, then varactor diode parametric amplifiers, and evolving to the three terminal solid state transistor. Technological transistor innovations lowered the low noise amplifier (LNA) noise figure and raised the frequency of operation. Devices include the bipolar junction transistor (BJT), heterojunction bipolar transistor (HBT), complimentary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) transistor, field effect transistor (FET), high electron mobility transistor (HEMT), pseudomorphic high electron transistor (PHEMT), and metamorphic high electron mobility transistor (MHEMT). LNA semiconductors include Silicon (Si), Gallium Arsenide (GaAs), Indium Phosphide (InP), and Gallium Nitride (GaN) and the various heterojunctions of these semiconductors improve the performance

Keywords

CMOS integrated circuits; Gallium arsenide; HEMTs; Noise; Noise figure; GaAs; GaN; Ge; Low noise amplifiers (LNA); Si; bipolar junction transistor (BJT); complimentary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) transistors; field effect transistor (FET); metamorphic high electron mobility transistor (MHEMT); monolithic microwave integrated circuit (MMIC); parametric amplifier; pseudomorphic high electron transistor (PHEMT); vacuum tubes;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Microwave Symposium Digest (MTT), 2012 IEEE MTT-S International

Conference_Location

Montreal, QC, Canada

ISSN

0149-645X

Print_ISBN

978-1-4673-1085-7

Electronic_ISBN

0149-645X

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/MWSYM.2012.6258248

Filename

6258248