A new low-noise bipolar C-band transistor

Computer designing techniques and novel processing were used to develop an experimental, high performance microwave transistor which is useful as a low-noise amplifier in both the S-band and the C-band. The transistor, L-216C, is a double diffused, NPN silicon transistor made by a special planar process without the aid of electron beam lithography or ion implantation. The transistor has a measured fmaxof 30 GHz, and it has achieved a noise figure of 3.0 dB at 4 GHz and 4.2 dB at 6 GHz. The maximum available gain at 4 GHz and 6 GHz are 11.5 dB and 8.0 dB respectively.