A > 120-GHz Bandwidth, >20-dBm Pout, <6-dB Noise-Figure Distributed Amplifier MMIC in a GaN-on-SiC HEMT Technology

This article demonstrates a distributed amplifier (DA) monolithic microwave integrated circuit (MMIC) with a 3 S 21 bandwidth (BW) of range-phrase = –2129fabricated in a gallium nitride (GaN) HEMT technology. Furthermore, the article investigates the prediction of the third-order intermodulation point (IP3) on device and DA level based on dc I – V measurements and compares two analytical approaches. The equations can be used as well as a design tool before the actual circuit design. The DA consists of eight cells based on common-source transistors with an average S 21 of 6.7. Within a frequency range from 2110, the measured output-referred 1compression point and saturated output power are between range-phrase = –17.920.2and range-phrase = –20.622, respectively. This is the first demonstration of an amplifier MMIC with an output power of more than 20over a 100BW. Up to 70, the measured output-referred IP3 is between 26.8 and 29.8 dBm. In addition to state-of-the-art large-signal performance, the DA exhibits also an excellent noise figure (NF) with values between 3.1 and 5.7 dB (range-phrase = –2110).