GaAs HBT 0.75-5 GHz multifunctional microwave-analog variable gain amplifier

Author

Kobayashi, Kevin W. ; Ip, Kwan T. ; Oki, Aaron K. ; Umemoto, Donald K. ; Claxton, Shimen ; Pope, Matt ; Wiltz, Jerry

Author_Institution

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

Volume

29

Issue

10

fYear

1994

fDate

10/1/1994 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

1257

Lastpage

1261

Abstract

We report on a GaAs HBT 3-stage variable gain amplifier operating over a 0.75-5 GHz frequency band. The amplifier is broken up into a single-ended HBT LNA pre-amplifier, an analog current steering differential cascode cell for variable gain control, and a differential amplifier output stage. The broadband pre-amplifier is required to reduce the inherently noisy differential cascode stage, and an output differential amplifier is used to provide output drive capability and differential to single-ended conversion. The VGA has a maximum gain of 23.8 dB gain, an IP3>18 dBm, and a noise figure of 6.5 dB. The variable gain control range is >35 dB. This chip demonstrates the versatility of HBT IC technology which can integrate digital, analog, and microwave circuit functions to achieve high performance in a single monolithic chip

Keywords

III-V semiconductors; MMIC; bipolar integrated circuits; differential amplifiers; gallium arsenide; heterojunction bipolar transistors; linear integrated circuits; microwave amplifiers; 0.75 to 5 GHz; 23.8 dB; 6.5 dB; GaAs; HBT; HBT IC technology; broadband pre-amplifier; current steering differential cascode cell; differential amplifier output stage; multifunctional microwave-analog variable gain amplifier; output drive capability; single-ended HBT LNA pre-amplifier; variable gain control; Analog integrated circuits; Broadband amplifiers; Differential amplifiers; Frequency; Gain control; Gallium arsenide; Heterojunction bipolar transistors; Microwave integrated circuits; Noise figure; Noise reduction;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Solid-State Circuits, IEEE Journal of

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0018-9200

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/4.315212

Filename

315212