V-band GaAs MMIC low-noise and power amplifiers

Abstract

GaAs MESFET amplifiers with on-chip DC-blocking and bias networks which were fabricated from both VPE and MBE materials, are reported. The low-noise designs resulted in a single-stage MMIC, low-noise amplifier achieving a 6.5-dB noise figure and a 4.1-dB gain at 59 GHz, as well as a cascaded six-stage amplifier exhibiting an 8-dB minimum noise figure and a 30-dB gain from 56.2 to 60 GHz. The single-stage power amplifier provides over 4.5 dB of gain from 57 to 60.5 GHz, with a maximum output power of 95 mW and a corresponding power-added efficiency at 11% at 58 GHz. Maximum power-added efficiency of 15.3% at 73 mW was also obtained. A cascaded four-stage amplifier demonstrated stable operation, achieving 17 dB of gain and 85 mW of output power. A two-stage balanced amplifier provided 136 mW of output power and 7.5 dB of linear gain from 56.6 to 61.5 GHz.