A monolithically integrated HEMT-HBT low noise high linearity variable gain amplifier

Author

Kobayashi, K.W. ; Umemoto, D.K. ; Block, T.R. ; Oki, A.K. ; Streit, D.C.

Author_Institution

Electron. & Technol. Div., TRW Inc., Redondo Beach, CA, USA

Volume

31

Issue

5

fYear

1996

fDate

5/1/1996 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

714

Lastpage

718

Abstract

We report on a 1-6 GHz HEMT-HBT three-stage variable gain amplifier (VGA), which is realized using selective molecular beam epitaxy (MBE). The VGA integrates an HEMT low noise amplifier with an HBT analog current-steer variable gain cell and output driver stage to achieve a combination of low noise figure, wide gain control, and high linearity. The HEMT-HBT VGA MMIC obtains a maximum gain of 21 dB with a gain control range >30 dB, a minimum noise figure of 4.3 dB, and an input IP3 (IIP3) greater than -4 dBm over 25 dB of gain central range. By integrating an HEMT instead of on HBT preamplifier stage, the VGA noise figure is improved by as much as 2 dB compared to an all-HBT single-technology design. The HEMT-HBT MMIC demonstrates the functional utility and RF performance advantage of monolithically integrating both HEMT and HBT devices on a single substrate

Keywords

HEMT integrated circuits; MMIC amplifiers; bipolar MMIC; feedback amplifiers; field effect MMIC; gain control; heterojunction bipolar transistors; integrated circuit noise; molecular beam epitaxial growth; 1 to 6 GHz; 21 dB; 4.3 dB; BiFET IC; HBT analog current-steer variable gain cell; high linearity variable gain LNA; low noise amplifier; molecular beam epitaxy; monolithically integrated HEMT-HBT amplifier; output driver stage; selective MBE; three-stage MMIC amplifier; variable gain amplifier; wide gain control; Driver circuits; Gain control; HEMTs; Heterojunction bipolar transistors; Linearity; Low-noise amplifiers; MMICs; Molecular beam epitaxial growth; Noise figure; Preamplifiers;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Solid-State Circuits, IEEE Journal of

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0018-9200

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/4.509854

Filename

509854