A high-gain high-linearity distributed amplifier for ultra-wideband-applications using a low cost SiGe BiCMOS technology

Author

Sewiolo, Benjamin ; Kissinger, Dietmar ; Fischer, Georg ; Weigel, Robert

Author_Institution

Inst. for Electron. Eng., Univ. of Erlangen-Nuremberg, Erlangen, Germany

fYear

2009

fDate

20-21 April 2009

Firstpage

1

Lastpage

4

Abstract

In this paper the analysis, design and characterization of a 1-15 GHz power distributed amplifier for ultra-wideband radar and sensing applications are presented. The amplifier is fabricated in a low cost 0.25 mum SiGe BiCMOS technology with a transit frequency f_t of 25 GHz. The circuit integrates four cascode gain cells, which are capacitively coupled to the base line for power optimization and bandwidth enhancement. Up to 16.9 dBm output power have been measured at the 1 dB compression point (P1 dB) in the desired frequency range with an associated gain of 11.5 dB and a gain flatness of plusmn1 dB with total power consumption of 450 mW. The maximum third order intermodulation intercept point (OIP3) is 21.5 dBm. The chip size of the amplifier is 1.19mm².

Keywords

BiCMOS integrated circuits; Ge-Si alloys; UHF power amplifiers; microwave power amplifiers; ultra wideband radar; BiCMOS technology; SiGe; bandwidth enhancement; cascode gain cells; frequency 1 GHz to 15 GHz; frequency 25 GHz; gain 11.5 dB; high-gain high-linearity distributed power amplifier; power 450 mW; power optimization; size 0.25 mum; third order intermodulation intercept point; ultra-wideband radar; BiCMOS integrated circuits; Costs; Coupling circuits; Distributed amplifiers; Frequency; Gain; Germanium silicon alloys; Radar applications; Silicon germanium; Ultra wideband technology;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Wireless and Microwave Technology Conference, 2009. WAMICON '09. IEEE 10th Annual

Conference_Location

Clearwater, FL

Print_ISBN

978-1-4244-4564-6

Electronic_ISBN

978-1-4244-4565-3

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/WAMICON.2009.5207301

Filename

5207301