• Journal of the Institute of Electronics Engineers of Korea TC
• /
• v.46 no.12
• /
• pp.14-21
• /
• 2009

In this paper, a Ka-band 10 W power amplifier module with seven power MMIC bare dies is designed and fabricated using MIC technology which combines multiple MMIC chips on a thin film substrate. Modified Wilkinson power dividers/combiners and CBFGCPW-Microstrip transitions for suppressing resonance and reducing connection loss are utilized for high-gain and high-power millimeter wave modules. A new TTL pulse timing control scheme is proposed to improve output power degradation due to large bypass capacitors in the gate bias circuit. Pulse-mode operation time is extended more than 200 nsec and output power increase of 0.62 W is achieved by applying the proposed scheme to the Ka-band 10 W power amplifier module operating in the pulsed condition of 10 kHz and $5\;{\mu}sec$. The implemented power amplifier module shows a power gain of 59.5 dB and an output power of 11.89 W.

• Journal of electromagnetic engineering and science
• /
• v.17 no.4
• /
• pp.178-180
• /
• 2017

This study presents a 2-20 GHz monolithic distributed power amplifier (DPA) using a $0.25{\mu}m$ AlGaN/GaN on SiC high electron mobility transistor (HEMT) technology. The gate width of the HEMT was selected after considering the input capacitance of the unit cell that guarantees decade bandwidth. To achieve high output power using small transistors, a 12-stage DPA was designed with a non-uniform drain line impedance to provide optimal output power matching. The maximum operating frequency of the proposed DPA is above 20 GHz, which is higher than those of other DPAs manufactured with the same gate-length process. The measured output power and power-added efficiency of the DPA monolithic microwave integrated circuit (MMIC) are 35.3-38.6 dBm and 11.4%-31%, respectively, for 2-20 GHz.

• ETRI Journal
• /
• v.39 no.5
• /
• pp.737-745
• /
• 2017

A 6-GHz-to-18-GHz monolithic nonuniform distributed power amplifier has been designed using the load modulation of increased series gate capacitance. This amplifier was implemented using a $0.25-{\mu}m$ AlGaN/GaN HEMT process on a SiC substrate. With the proposed load modulation, we enhanced the amplifier's simulated performance by 4.8 dB in output power, and by 13.1% in power-added efficiency (PAE) at the upper limit of the bandwidth, compared with an amplifier with uniform gate coupling capacitors. Under the pulse-mode condition of a $100-{\mu}s$ pulse period and a 10% duty cycle, the fabricated power amplifier showed a saturated output power of 39.5 dBm (9 W) to 40.4 dBm (11 W) with an associated PAE of 17% to 22%, and input/output return losses of more than 10 dB within 6 GHz to 18 GHz.

• The Journal of Korean Institute of Electromagnetic Engineering and Science
• /
• v.12 no.7
• /
• pp.1191-1198
• /
• 2001

MMIC low noise amplifiers for millimeter-wave application using 0.15 $\mu$m pHEMT have been presented in this paper. The design emphasis is on active device model and EM simulation. The deficiency of conventional device models is identified. A distributed device model has been adapted to circumvent the scaling problems and, thus, to predict small signal and noise parameters accurately. Two single-ended low noise amplifier are designed using distributed active device model for Q-band(40 ∼ 44 GHz) and V-band(58 ∼65 GHz) application. The Q-band amplifier achieved a average noise figure of 2.2 dB with 18.3 dB average gain. The V-band amplifier achieved a average noise figure of 2.9 dB with 14.7 dB average gain. The design technique and model employed provides good agreement between measured and predicted results. Compared with the published data, this work also represents state-of-the-art performance in terms of gain and noise figure.

• The Journal of Korean Institute of Communications and Information Sciences
• /
• v.29 no.6A
• /
• pp.697-704
• /
• 2004

This paper describes the design and fabrication of an MMIC variable gain LNA for 5GHz wireless LAN applications, using 0.5${\mu}{\textrm}{m}$ gate length GaAs MESFET transistors. The advantages of high gain and low noise performance of E-MESFETS and excellent linear performance of D-MESFETS are combined as a cascode topology in this design. Behavioral model equations are derived from the MESFET nonlinear current voltage characteristics by using Turlington's asymptote method in a cascode configuration. Using the behavioral model equations, a 4${\times}$50${\mu}{\textrm}{m}$ E-MESFET as a common source amplifier and a 2${\times}$50${\mu}{\textrm}{m}$ D-MESFET as a common gate amplifier are determined for the cascode amplifier. The fabricated variable gain LNA shows a noise figure of 2.4dB, variable gain range of more than 17dB, IIP3 of -4.8dBm at 4.9GHz, and power consumption of 12.8mW.

• Proceedings of the IEEK Conference
• /
• 2006.06a
• /
• pp.227-228
• /
• 2006

In this paper, we introduce the design and fabrication of 60 GHz low noise amplifier MMIC for IEEE802.15.3c WPAN system. The 60 GHz LNA was designed using ETRI's $0.12{\mu}m$ PHEMT process. The PHEMT shows a peak transconductance ($G_{m,peak}$) of 500 mS/mm, a threshold voltage of -1.2 V, and a drain saturation current of 49 mA for 2 fingers and $100{\mu}m$ total gate width (2f100) at $V_{ds}$=2 V. The RF characteristics of the PHEMT show a cutoff frequency, $f_T$, of 97 GHz, and a maximum oscillation frequency, $f_{max}$, of 166 GHz. The performances of the fabricated 60 GHz LNA MMIC are operating frequency of $60.5{\sim}62.0\;GHz$, small signal gain ($S_{21}$) of $17.4{\sim}18.1\;dB$, gain flatness of 0.7 dB, an input reflection coefficient ($S_{11}$) of $-14{\sim}-3\;dB$, output reflection coefficient ($S_{22}$) of $-11{\sim}-5\;dB$ and noise figure (NF) of 4.5 dB at 60.75 GHz. The chip size of the amplifier MMIC was $3.8{\times}1.4\;mm^2$.

• The Journal of Korean Institute of Electromagnetic Engineering and Science
• /
• v.9 no.4
• /
• pp.506-514
• /
• 1998

The design and fabrication of X-band(11.7~12 GHz) 2-stage monolithic microwave integrated circuit(MMIC) low noise amplifier (LNA) for active antenna are presented using $0.15{\mu}m\times140{\mu}m$ AlGaAs/InGaAs/GaAs pseudomorphic high electron mobility transistor (P-HEMT). In each stage of the LNA, a series feedback by using a source inductor is used for both input matching and good stability. The measurement results are achieved as an input return loss under -17 dB, an output return loss under -15dB, a noise figure of 1.3dB, and a gain of 17 dB at X-band. This results almost concur with a design results except noise figure(NF). The chip size of the MMIC LNA is $1.43\times1.27$.

• Proceedings of the KIEE Conference
• /
• 1987.07b
• /
• pp.1564-1568
• /
• 1987

A design methodology for front ends of a Direct Broadcasting satellite (DBS) Receiver for X-band was reported by utilizing Monolithic Microwave Integrated Circuits (MMIC) technology. The frequency converter including a three-stage low-noise amplifier, a image frequency rejection filter, and a mixer and buffer amplifier was designed by a Home-made CAD program. The results of computer simulation using the CAD program showed that overall gain was over 36.63dB, and noise figure below 2.55dB, respectively.

• Proceedings of the IEEK Conference
• /
• 1999.11a
• /
• pp.833-836
• /
• 1999

In this paper, a wideband MMIC LNA was designed using low Q matching network. Gains of 9.8~12.2 ㏈, and noise figures of 1.7~2.1 ㏈ were obtained from the fabricated wideband MMIC LNA in the frequency ranges of 1.5~2.5㎓. And maximum output power of 10.83 ㏈m were obtained at the center frequency of 2 ㎓. The chip size of the fabricated wideband MMIC low noise amplifier is 1.4 mm$\times$1.4 mm.

• Proceedings of the IEEK Conference
• /
• 2002.07b
• /
• pp.1054-1057
• /
• 2002

The design and fabrication of Q-band 3-stage monolithic microwave integrated circuit(MMIC) amplifier for WLAN are presented using 0.2$\square$ AIGaAs/lnGaAs/GaAs pseudomorphic high electron mobility transistor (PHEMT). In each stage of the MMIC, a negative feedback is used for both broadband and good stability. The measurement results are achieved as an input return loss under -4dB, an output return loss under -10dB, a gain of 14dB, and a PldB of 17dBm at Q-band(36～44GHz). These results closely match with design results. The chip size is 2.8${\times}$1.3mm$^2$. This MMIC amplifier will be used as the unit cell to develop millimeter-wave transmitters for use in wideband wireless LAN systems.