An 18–56-GHz gallium nitride (GaN) low-noise amplifier (LNA) monolithic microwave integrated circuit (MMIC) is presented in this letter. This LNA is fabricated with commercial 0.1- $\mu \text{m}$ gate-length GaN-on-silicon (GaN/Si) process. The gain is 16–21.5 dB and the $\vert {S} 11\vert $ and $\vert {S} 22\vert $ are below −5 dB across the band. The noise figure (NF) is 2.2–4.4 dB and the output power at 1-dB compression point ( ${P} _{\text {1 dB}}$ ) is 10–20 dBm. This LNA has four-stage-cascade and common-source structure with $4.8\times 1$ mm² chip area. The dc power dissipation is 1.4 W. To the best of the author’s knowledge, there has been no GaN LNA covering such a wide bandwidth at this frequency range. This LNA shows ultrawide bandwidth, low NF, high linearity, and high robustness. Moreover, it can be directly integrated with GaN power amplifiers (PAs) and switches to realize the monolithic RF front-ends, which can largely reduce the packaging loss and the module volume. This LNA has a great potential in wideband, high-speed, high-reliability, and high-integration applications.

中文翻译：

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具有 2.2-4.4dB 噪声系数的 18-56GHz 宽带 GaN 低噪声放大器

这封信中介绍了 18–56 GHz 氮化镓 (GaN) 低噪声放大器 (LNA) 单片微波集成电路 (MMIC)。该 LNA 采用商用 0.1- $\mu \text{m}$ 栅长 GaN-on-silicon (GaN/Si) 工艺。增益为 16–21.5 dB，并且 $\vert {S} 11\vert $ 和 $\vert {S} 22\vert $ 在整个频段低于 -5 dB。噪声系数 (NF) 为 2.2–4.4 dB，1-dB 压缩点处的输出功率 ( ${P} _{\text {1 dB}}$ ) 为 10–20 dBm。该 LNA 具有四级级联和共源结构，具有 $4.8\乘以 1$ mm ²芯片面积。直流功耗为 1.4 W。据作者所知，在此频率范围内还没有覆盖如此宽带宽的 GaN LNA。该 LNA 显示出超宽带宽、低 NF、高线性度和高稳健性。此外，它可以直接与GaN功率放大器（PA）和开关集成，实现单片射频前端，可以大大降低封装损耗和模块体积。该LNA在宽带、高速、高可靠性、高集成度应用中具有巨大潜力。