4 - 20 GHz low noise amplifier MMIC with on-chip switchable gate biasing circuit

Abstract

A broadband low-noise amplifier (LNA) MMIC with a novel on-chip switchable gate biasing circuit is proposed. The biasing circuit is able to switch on/off the low noise amplifier and compensate the variation of threshold voltage (V_th) and temperature, hence improving the robustness of the amplifier over a wide operating frequency range. The switching frequency is up to 1MHz, and the fluctuations of on-state quiescent current and power gain of the amplifier are within ±7.9% and ±0.8% when the threshold voltage varies from -0.15 V to 0.15 V. The power gain variation is stabilized within ±1.25 dB by the biasing network, while the temperature changes from -55°C to 125°C. Realized in 0.15 μm E-mode pHEMT technology with size of 2.0 mm×1.3 mm, the LNA provides a typical gain of 24 dB while maintaining input and output return loss better than 10 dB and the noise figure (NF) of the LNA smaller than 1.6 dB from 4 GHz to 20 GHz.