A W-band driver amplifier in 0.1 µm pHEMT Gallium Arsenide process

This paper presents a four-stage driver amplifier with a high gain, broad band and reasonably high power across a frequency range of 85 to 104 GHz implemented in WIN Semiconductor’s 0.1 µm Gallium Arsenide (GaAs) technology. The amplifier design is based on a synthesized transistor model extrapolated from a single measured device characterized at much lower frequencies. It achieves a measured average gain of 18 dB over 19 GHz bandwidth from 85 to 104 GHz. The measured maximum saturated output power is 20 dBm from 92.5 GHz to 100 GHz and the peak PAE of 12.5% at 97 GHz. The amplifier operates at 4 V and has a power consumption of 640 mW. This driver amplifier can be used as a unit cell for a power amplifier. The core area of the amplifier is 0.85 mm
²
.