180–265 GHz, 17–24 dBm output power broadband, high-gain power amplifiers in InP HBT

We report here two 250-nm InP HBT power amplifiers operating between 180–265 GHz. A 3-stage, 8-PA cell combined design demonstrates S21 gain exceeding 25-dB between 202–257 GHz and 20-dB between 194–265 GHz. Peak output power is 140-mW at 200-GHz with 14.7-dB gain and 5.1% PAE. The PA Psat RF power is at least 100-mW from 190–235 GHz, 82-mW from 183–245 GHz, and 50-mW from 183–263 GHz. This represents 80-GHz large-signal bandwidth from this design. A 3-stage, 16-PA cell combined design demonstrates S21 gain exceeding 24-dB between 200–255 GHz and 20-dB between 194–262 GHz. Peak output power is 248-mW at 200-GHz with 9.0-dB gain and 4.1% PAE. The PA Psat RF power is at least 200-mW from 195–215 GHz, 170-mW from 190–220 GHz, and 100-mW from 185–255 GHz. This represents 70-GHz large-signal bandwidth from this design. These InP HBT amplifier chips represent improvements to state-of-the-art in the following areas: 13% increase to the maximum PA power reported above 200-GHz, first reported 200-mW PA power with 20-GHz (195–215 GHz) operation, highest PA power reported above 240-GHz, first demonstrated 100-mW power to 255-GHz, and 70-GHz (16-cell PA) and 80-GHz (8-cell PA) bandwidth covering most of the WR04 waveguide frequency band.

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