Robust Q-Band Inp- And Gan-Hemt Low Noise Amplifiers

We report on robust and low-power-consumption InP- and GaN-HEMT Low-Noise-Amplifiers (LNAs) operating in Q-band frequency range. A multi-stage common-gate (CG) amplifier with current reuse topology was used. To improve the survivability of the CG amplifier, we introduced a feedback resistor at the gate bias feed. The design technique was adapted to InP- and GaN-HEMT LNAs. The 75 nm gate length InP HEMT LNA exhibited a gain of 18 dB and a noise figure (NF) of 3 dB from 33 to 50 GHz. The DC power consumption was 16mW. The Robustness of the InP HEMT LNA was tested by injecting a millimeter-wave input power of 13 dBm for 10 minutes. No degradation in a small signal gain was observed. The fabricated 0.12 mu m gate length GaN HEMT LNA exhibited a gain of 15 dB and an NF of 3.2 dB from 35 to 42 GHz. The DC power consumption was 280mW. The LNA survived until an input power of 28 dBm.