A 183 GHz metamorphic HEMT low-noise amplifier with 3.5 dB noise figure

Abstract

This paper presents a 183 GHz low-noise amplifier (LNA), designed primarly for water vapor detection in atmosphere. The LNA requirements were defined by MetOp Second Generation (MetOp-SG) Microwave Sounder, Microwave Imager and Ice Cloud Imager instruments. MetOp-SG is the European contribution to operational meteorological observations from polar orbit. This LNA advances the current state-of-the-art for the InGaAs metamorphic high electron mobility transistor (mHEMT) technology. The five-stage common-source MMIC amplifier utilizes transistors with a gate length of 50 nm. On-wafer measurements show a noise figure of 3.5 dB at the operative frequency, about 1 dB lower than previously reported mHEMT LNAs, and a gain of 24±2 dB over the bandwidth 160-200 GHz. The input and output matching are -11 dB and -10 dB, respectively. Moreover, the DC power dissipation at the optimal bias for noise is as low as 24 mW.