Design and realization of D-band InP MMIC amplifier with high-gain and low-noise

In this paper, two D-band (110~170 GHz) monolithic millimeter-wave integrated circuit (MMIC) amplifiers have been designed and realized using 90-nm InAlAs/InGaAs/InP high gain electron mobility transistors (HEMT) technology. The amplifiers are developed in common source and microstrip technology. The three-stage MMIC amplifier A is designed based on device A and measured on wafer with a small-signal peak gain of 11.2 dB at 140 GHz and 3-dB-bandwidth is 16 GHz with a chip size of 2.6 mm×1.2 mm. The two-stage MMIC amplifier B is designed based on device B and measured on wafer with a small-signal peak gain of 15.8 dB at 139 GHz and 3-dB-bandwidth is 12 GHz and the gain is higher than 10 dB from 130 GHz to 150 GHz with a chip size of 1.7 mm×0.8 mm. The amplifier B also shows an excellent noise character with noise figure of 4.4 dB when the associa-ted gain of 15 dB is acquired at 141 GHz and the average noise figure is about 5.2 dB over the bandwidth. The amplifier B exhibits a higher gain-per-stage, competitive gain-area ratio and lower noise figure. The successful realization of MMIC amplifiers is of great potential for receiver-front-end applications at D-band.