Noise Measurements of Discrete HEMT Transistors and Application to Wideband Very Low-Noise Amplifiers

Author

Akgiray, Ahmed H. ; Weinreb, S. ; Leblanc, Remy ; Renvoise, M. ; Frijlink, P. ; Lai, Richard ; Sarkozy, Stephen

Author_Institution

Dept. of Electr. Eng., California Inst. of Technol., Pasadena, CA, USA

Volume

61

Issue

9

fYear

2013

fDate

Sept. 2013

Firstpage

3285

Lastpage

3297

Abstract

The noise models of InP and GaAs HEMTs are compared with measurements at both 300 and 20 K. The critical parameter, Tdrain, in the Pospieszalski noise model is determined as a function of drain current by measurements of the 1-GHz noise of discrete transistors with 50- Ω generator impedance. The dc I-V for the transistors under test are presented and effects of impact-ionization are noted. InP devices with both 100% and 75% indium mole fraction in channel are included. Examples of the design and measurement of very wideband low-noise amplifiers (LNAs) using the tested transistors are presented. At 20-K physical temperature the GaAs LNA achieves 10-K noise over the 0.7-16-GHz range with 16 mW of power and an InP LNA measures 20-K noise over the 6-50-GHz range with 30 mW of power.

Keywords

gallium arsenide; high electron mobility transistors; indium compounds; low noise amplifiers; millimetre wave amplifiers; noise measurement; wideband amplifiers; DC I-V; GaAs; InP; LNA; Pospieszalski noise model; discrete HEMT transistor; drain current; generator impedance; impact-ion- ization; indium mole fraction; noise measurements; physical temperature; power 16 mW; power 30 mW; resistance 50 ohm; temperature 20 K; temperature 300 K; wideband very low-noise amplifiers; Cryogenics; HEMTs; Indium phosphide; Noise; Noise measurement; Broadband amplifiers; cryogenics; gallium–arsenide (GaAs); indium–phosphide (InP); low-noise amplifiers (LNAs); microwave amplifiers; monolithic microwave integrated circuits (MMICs); radio astronomy;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Microwave Theory and Techniques, IEEE Transactions on

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0018-9480

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/TMTT.2013.2273757

Filename

6566114