F-Band Bidirectional Amplifier Using 75-nm InP HEMTs

We have developed an F-band (90 to 140 GHz) bidirectional amplifier MMIC using a 75-nm InP HEMT technology for short-range millimeter-wave multi-gigabit communication systems. Inherent symmetric common-gate transistors and parallel circuits consisting of an inductor and a switch realizes a bidirectional operation with a wide bandwidth of over 50 GHz. Small signal gains of 12-15 dB and 9-12 dB were achieved in forward and reverse directions, respectively. Fractional bandwidths of the developed bidirectional amplifier were 39% for the forward direction and 32% for the reverse direction, which were almost double as large as those of conventional bidirectional amplifiers. The power consumption of the bidirectional amplifier was 15 mW under a 2.4-V supply. The chip measures 0.70 × 0.65 mm. The simulated NF is lower than 5 dB, and P_sat is larger than 5 dBm. The use of this bidirectional amplifier provides miniaturization of the multi-gigabit communication systems and eliminates signal switching loss.