A Broadband 10–43-GHz High-Gain LNA MMIC Using Coupled-Line Feedback in 0.15-μm GaAs pHEMT Technology

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In this letter, a 10–43-GHz low-noise amplifier (LNA) monolithic microwave integrated circuit (MMIC) is designed in a commercial 0.15-μ mGaAs E-mode pseudomorphic high electron mobility transistor (pHEMT) technology. In the proposed LNA circuit, a novel coupled-line (CL)-based positive feedback structure is employed with the bandpass characteristic. By carefully tuning its coupling factor and arm length, the center frequencyfcand the intensity of the feedback can be controlled, respectively. Subsequently, targetingfcat the higher cutting edge of the working band leads to compensated gain roll-off and extended bandwidth. Incorporating three-stage common-source (CS) architectures, an LNA prototype is fabricated with a size of 1.05 mm2 including pads. Under 2-V voltage drain drain (VDD), good performance is obtained, including 24.6-dB peak gain with 3-dB bandwidth of 33 GHz, 2.4–3.0-dB noise figure (NF), 54.5 ± 13.8-ps group delay, and 12.3/21.5-dBm best output power at 1 dB gain compression (OP1dB)/output third order intercept point (OIP3). The total dc power is 110 mW.