A 50-MHz-55-GHz multidecade InP-based HBT distributed amplifier

The authors report on a 50-MHz-55-GHz multidecade bandwidth InP-based heterojunction bipolar transistor (HBT) MMIC distributed amplifier (DA) which achieves the widest bandwidth and highest frequency of operation so far demonstrated for a bipolar amplifier. The HBT MMIC DA was fabricated using a high-speed 1-μm InAlAs-InGaAs-InP HBT base-undercut technology with peak fT's and fmax's of 80 and 200 GHz, respectively, in order to obtain broad-band gain. Key to this work is the successful employment of HBT active load terminations used on both the input and output DA transmission lines in order to extend the low-frequency gain performance down to baseband. With only 82 mW of DC power consumption, the amplifier obtains measured gains of 7.6 dB at 50 MHz, 5.7 dB at 30 GHz, 5.8 dB at 50 GHz, and 3.1 dB at 55 GHz. Simulations of a monolithically integrated InGaAs p-i-n photodetector predicts a baseband 47-GHz photoreceiver response with an effective transimpedance of 38-dB/spl Omega/. The baseband millimeter-wave capability of the InP-based HBT DA and its compatibility with InGaAs photodetectors makes this technology attractive for future generation (>40 Gb/s) high-data-rate light-wave applications.

[1]  W. Schlaak,et al.  27 GHz bandwidth high speed monolithic integrated optoelectronic photoreceiver consisting of a waveguide fed photodiode and an InAlAs/InGaAs-HFET-traveling wave amplifier , 1996, GaAs IC Symposium IEEE Gallium Arsenide Integrated Circuit Symposium. 18th Annual Technical Digest 1996.

[2]  Y. Imai,et al.  A DC-to-100-GHz InP HEMT 1:2 distributor IC using distributed amplification , 1996, IEEE Microwave and Guided Wave Letters.

[3]  Y. Imai,et al.  Novel distributed baseband amplifying techniques for 40-Gbit/s optical communication , 1995, GaAs IC Symposium IEEE Gallium Arsenide Integrated Circuit Symposium 17th Annual Technical Digest 1995.

[4]  Kevin W. Kobayashi,et al.  Extending the bandwidth performance of heterojunction bipolar transistor-based distributed amplifiers , 1996 .

[5]  Y. Imai,et al.  40-Gbit/s ICs for future lightwave communications systems , 1996 .

[6]  Y. Imai,et al.  A 16-dB DC-to-50-GHz InAlAs/InGaAs HEMT distributed baseband amplifier using a new loss compensation technique , 1994, Proceedings of 1994 IEEE GaAs IC Symposium.

[7]  C. S. Aitchison.  Potential of the distributed amplifier as a photo-diode detector amplifier in high bit rate optical communication systems , 1990 .

[8]  K.W. Kobayashi,et al.  A 2-50 GHz InAlAs/InGaAs-InP HBT distributed amplifier , 1996, GaAs IC Symposium IEEE Gallium Arsenide Integrated Circuit Symposium. 18th Annual Technical Digest 1996.

[9]  I. Darwazeh,et al.  A distributed optical receiver preamplifier with unequal gate/drain impedances , 1995, Proceedings of 1995 IEEE MTT-S International Microwave Symposium.