Stability Improvement of 60 GHz Narrowband Amplifier Using Microstrip Coupled Lines

Abstract

We present an analysis of microstrip coupled lines (MCLs) used to improve the stability of a 60 GHz narrowband amplifier. The circuit has a 4-stage structure implementing MCLs instead of metal-insulator-metal (MIM) capacitors for the unconditional stability of the amplifier and yield enhancement. The stability parameter, U, is used to compare the stability of MCLs with that of MIM capacitors. Experimental results show that MCLs are more stable than MIM capacitors with the same capacitances as MCLs because the parasitic parallel resistances of MCLs are lower than those of MIM capacitors. Moreover, the bandwidth of an amplifier using MCLs is narrower than one using MIM capacitors because the parasitic series inductances of MCLs are higher than those of MIM capacitors.