GaAs Balanced Amplifier for Ka-Band Space Communications System

The paper deals with the development of a state-of-the-art medium level amplifier able to combine good noise performance with a high PldB compression point. The MMIC is realized with a balanced structure and making use of the PH25 GaAs pHEMT process provided by UMS. The balanced structure allows to achieve a gain of 19 dB with a PldB compression point greater than 15 dBm and a noise figure of about 3 dB in a large bandwidth spanning from 26.5 GHz to 31.5 GHz. The chip has a single bias pad; the input and output bond wires are directly matched on chip, so easing enhancing the mechanical integration in the front-end.