High gain millimetric negative resistance low noise amplifiers

The limited gain available from GaAs FETs and HEMTs at millimetric frequencies can be overcome by using the devices in a negative resistance amplifier configuration. The advantage of the solid-state negative resistance amplifier over the transmission amplifier is that the gain available is not limited by the active device used. It has been shown that, over a narrow bandwidth, significantly higher gain can be obtained from a negative resistance amplifier, when compared to a transmission amplifier using the same device, while maintaining the same overall noise performance. This has been demonstrated experimentally using a 0.25 mu m HEMT device.