An Ultra-Broadband K/Ka-Band (17–40 GHz) LNA MMIC in $0.15\mu \mathrm{m}$ GaAs pHEMT

The design of an ultra-broadband K/Ka-band LNA MMIC; on 0.15μm GaAs process from WIN Semiconductor Corporation; has been presented. The proposed 4-stage cascaded LNA covers the frequency range of 17-40 GHz; which corresponds to 81% fractional bandwidth. The EM simulation results of the production stage layout design exhibit 24.5±1 dB gain with less than 2 dB noise figure in the whole band. The minimum noise figure is 1.5 dB at 23 GHz. The input and output return losses are better than 10 dB and 12 dB respectively. The design makes use of the self-biased scheme for all the stages to avoid the need of negative DC voltage lines for gate terminals. The LNA MMIC can be powered-up using a single +3V DC power supply and it consumes total DC current of 46 mA. The output P
_1dB
is +1 dBm at 40 GHz. The overall chip size is 2.4 mm x 0.85 mm. According to the best of author's knowledge, the achieved performance specifications are among the best reported up-till now in this wide frequency range; using the similar 0.15μm GaAs process.