High performance X-band LNAs using a 0.25 μm GaN technology

Vittori, Marco; Colangeli, Sergio; Ciccognani, Walter; Salvucci, Alessandro; Polli, Giorgio; Limiti, Ernesto

doi:10.1109/prime.2017.7974131

Cited by 17 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 14 publications

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“…The adopted technology is Leonardo S.p.A.'s proprietary 0.25-mm GaN-on-SiC HEMT process (SLX025), already exploited by the Authors for previous X-band LNA designs. [15][16][17] The architecture of the present LNA basically comprises three single-ended stages with inductive source degeneration: the stacked topology is applied only to the first two stages, which are optimized for low noise, whereas the third is a stand-alone, medium-power stage, which requires a significantly higher current and voltage. A microphotograph of this LNA is presented in Figure 2.…”

Section: S Tac Ked L Na De S Ig Nmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In this contribution, the design of a new LNA for actual use in X‐band radar applications is presented, with specifications reported in Table . The adopted technology is Leonardo S.p.A.'s proprietary 0.25‐µm GaN‐on‐SiC HEMT process (SLX025), already exploited by the Authors for previous X‐band LNA designs …”

Section: Stacked Lna Designmentioning

confidence: 99%

“… to a real‐world design. With regard to the latter point, the presented design fits into the steadily expanding landscape of monolithic LNAs, front‐end blocks or SCFEs based on Gallium Nitride technology.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Three‐stage GaN‐on‐SiC medium‐power LNA exploiting a current‐reuse architecture

Colangeli

Vittori

Ciccognani

et al. 2018

Int J RF Microw Comput Aided Eng

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A recently presented implementation of the current‐reuse concept, specifically devised for microwave cascaded single‐ended amplifiers, is applied to the design of a three‐stage medium‐power low‐noise amplifier (LNA) operating in X‐band. The LNA is realized on a GaN‐on‐SiC 0.25 µm technology supplied by Leonardo S.p.A.'s internal foundry and achieves a transducer gain (GT) of 24 dB, a noise figure (NF) better than 2.5 dB and an output power at 1 dB gain compression (Pout,1dB) higher than 20 dBm over the whole X‐band. The first two stages of the LNA are stacked and share the same current while requiring, as a pair, a doubled external supply voltage, which corresponds to that of the third, medium‐power stage. The versatility of the adopted current‐reuse concept is exemplified by the fact that the two low‐noise stages are initially designed in a conventional single‐ended topology: only in a second step are they converted into a current‐sharing stage pair with no significant effect on RF performance. Nonconventional approaches to low‐noise design and small‐signal stability analysis developed by the Authors and adopted in this design are referred to the Reader.

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Section: S Tac Ked L Na De S Ig Nmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Stacked Lna Designmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Three‐stage GaN‐on‐SiC medium‐power LNA exploiting a current‐reuse architecture

Colangeli

Vittori

Ciccognani

et al. 2018

Int J RF Microw Comput Aided Eng

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“…Marco et al [39] have demonstrated an LNA working in Xband with noise figures of 1.3 dB and peak gain of 27 dB at 0.25 μm technology node. Another Xband GaNbased LNA has been demonstrated by Bumjin et al [40] using a currentshared topology for minimizing DC current consumption whilst providing a noise figure of 2.5 dB and gain of 25 dB.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Optimization of π – Gate AlGaN/AlN/GaN HEMTs for Low Noise and High Gain Applications

Sehra

Kumari

Gupta

et al. 2020

Silicon

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This paper presents a comprehensive TCAD based assessment to evaluate the intrinsic gain and minimum noise figure metrics of the T -Gate, and the π -Gate AlGaN/AlN/GaN HEMTs along with their recessed architectures. The work presented in this paper, to the best of author's knowledge, is first in its attempt to systematically bring out both the effect of minimum noise figure metrics and intrinsic gain at the device level for the π -Gate architecture and their recessed counterparts whilst evaluating its stability for high frequency operations. Comparison demonstrates an enhancement in intrinsic gain by 64.5% in case of asymmetric π -Gate and 77% for asymmetric recessed π -Gate in comparison to their T -Gate counterparts. Further, the said architectures possess a wider range of flat gain operation with suppressed values of minimum noise figure metrics. These modifications result in a modest trade off in the minimum noise figures when best case is considered and compared with their T -Gate counterparts. Additionally, it is also demonstrated that such device architectures demonstrate much stable high frequency operation in comparison to their primer. The results so presented establish the superiority of the π -Gate AlGaN/ AlN/GaN HEMTs for low noise and high gain applications.

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“…Rudolph et al 27 presented the idea of using a gate bias path resistor (R GB ) to enhance survivability. They claim that R GB is required for the first stage only, while some designs [28][29][30][31] have used it for all the stages in a multi-stage LNA. In this study, the authors have performed stage-wise power measurements using two single-stage LNAs to analyze the requirement of R GB for subsequent stages in context of forward gate turn-on.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Design and robustness improvement of high‐performance LNA using 0.15 μm GaN technology for X‐band applications

Zafar

Akoglu

Aras

et al. 2022

Circuit Theory & Apps

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In this paper, we present a highly robust GaN-based X-band low-noise amplifier (LNA) showing promising small-signal and noise performance as well as good linearity. The LNA is fabricated using in-house 0.15 μm AlGaN/GaN on a SiC HEMT process. Owing to the optimum choice of HEMT topologies and simultaneous matching technique, LNA achieves a noise figure better than 2 dB, output power at 1 dB gain compression higher than 19 dB, input and output reflection coefficients better than À9 and À11 dB, respectively. The small-signal gain of LNA is more than 19 dB for the whole band, and NF has a minimum of 1.74 dB at 10.2 GHz. LNA obtains an OIP3 up to 34.2 dBm and survives input power as high as 42 dBm. Survivability is investigated in terms of gain compression and forward gate current. Reverse recovery time (RRT), a crucial parameter for radar front-ends, is explored with respect to the RC time constant and trap phenomenon. The analysis shows that the significant contribution in RRT is due to traps while the RC time constant is in the nanoseconds range. Moreover, this study also addresses the requirement and choice of a DC gate feed resistor for the subsequent stages in a multi-stage design. The size of the designed LNA chip is 3 mm Â 1.2 mm only.

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High performance X-band LNAs using a 0.25 μm GaN technology

Cited by 17 publications

References 14 publications

Three‐stage GaN‐on‐SiC medium‐power LNA exploiting a current‐reuse architecture

Three‐stage GaN‐on‐SiC medium‐power LNA exploiting a current‐reuse architecture

Optimization of π – Gate AlGaN/AlN/GaN HEMTs for Low Noise and High Gain Applications

Design and robustness improvement of high‐performance LNA using 0.15 μm GaN technology for X‐band applications

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