An ultra-low power InAs/AlSb HEMT W-band low-noise amplifier

An antimonide-based compound semiconductor (ABCS) microstrip MMIC, a W-Band low-noise amplifier using 0.2-μm gate length InAs/AlSb metamorphic HEMTs, has been fabricated and characterized on a 50 μm GaAs substrate. The compact 1.2 mm 2 five-stage W-band LNA demonstrated a 3.9 dB noise-figure at 94 GHz with an associated gain of 20.5 dB. The measured dc power dissipation of the ABCS LNA was an ultra-low 1.2mW per stage, or 6.0 mW total which is less than one-tenth the dc power dissipation of a typical equivalent InGaAs/AlGaAs/GaAs HEMT LNA. Operation with degraded gain and noise figure at 3.5 mW total de power dissipation is also verified. These results demonstrate the outstanding potential of ABCS HEMT technology for mobile and space-based millimeter-wave applications.

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