GaN MMIC amplifiers for W-band transceivers

Abstract

This paper presents W-band monolithic microwave integrated circuit (MMIC) amplifiers with grounded coplanar waveguide (GCPW) in 0.12μm GaN HEMT technology. A fabricated four-stage low-noise amplifier (LNA) exhibited a record gain of 23 dB at 76.5 GHz and a first reported noise figure (NF) of 3.8 dB at 80 GHz for any W-band GaN MMIC. Another MMIC power amplifier (PA) delivered an output power of 25.4 dBm at 76.5 GHz with continuous wave (CW) operation. To our knowledge, this is the first demonstration of GaN LNA as well as GaN MMICs with GCPW in the W-band. In addition, a practical design technique to prevent instability of the W-band MMIC is described.