W-Band LNA MMICs Based on a Noise-Optimized 50-nm Gate-Length Metamorphic HEMT Technology

In this paper, the design, analysis, and room-temperature performance of two W-band LNA MMICs fabricated in two different technology variations are presented. The investigation demonstrates the noise improvement of the given 50-nm gate-length InGaAs mHEMT technology with reduced necessary drain currents. Therefore, a single-ended and balanced W-band LNA MMIC were designed, fabricated, and characterized. The amplifiers exhibit state-of-the-art noise temperatures with an average value for the single-ended LNA of 159K (1.9 dB) with lowest values of 132K (1.6 dB). Due to the technology investigation it was possible to reduce the noise temperature by about 15K compared to the reference technology in combination with superior MMIC yield.