Wideband Dual-Gate GaN HEMT Low Noise Amplifier for Front-End Receiver Electronics

Author

Aust, Michael V. ; Sharma, Arvind K. ; Chen, Yao-Chung ; Wojtowicz, Michael

Author_Institution

Northrop Grumman, Redondo Beach, CA

fYear

2006

Firstpage

89

Lastpage

92

Abstract

A highly survivable wideband low noise amplifier (LNA) for front-end receiver electronics is presented utilizing 0.2 mum AlGaN/GaN HEMT process on SiC substrate. This novel amplifier utilizes dual-gate devices with current feedback and drain bias network to attain wideband performance in terms of lower noise and higher gain. Nominal operation at 125 mA/mm at a drain voltage of 10 volts provided 12.5 to 18 dB gain and 1.3 to 2.5 dB noise figure. Due to high breakdown voltage, the amplifier is capable of better than 25 dBm of output power and can withstand an input power level approaching 38 dBm. This paper will also document performance comparison with a similar circuit using 0.15 mum pseudomorphic InGaAs/AlGaAs/GaAs HEMT low noise amplifier to demonstrate the outstanding survivability of AlGaN/GaN low noise amplifiers

Keywords

III-V semiconductors; aluminium compounds; gallium compounds; high electron mobility transistors; low noise amplifiers; semiconductor device reliability; wide band gap semiconductors; AlGaN-GaN; GaAs HEMT; GaN HEMT; SiC; front end receivers; low noise amplifier; reliability; survivability; Aluminum gallium nitride; Broadband amplifiers; Circuit noise; Feedback; Gallium nitride; HEMTs; Low-noise amplifiers; Performance gain; Silicon carbide; Voltage; GaAs HEMT; GaN HEMT; Low Noise Amplifier; Receivers; Reliability; Survivability;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Compound Semiconductor Integrated Circuit Symposium, 2006. CSIC 2006. IEEE

Conference_Location

San Antonio, TX

Print_ISBN

1-4244-0126-7

Electronic_ISBN

1-4244-0127-5

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/CSICS.2006.319921

Filename

4109987