A 4-420-GHz Distributed Amplifier MMIC in a 20-nm InGaAs-on-Si HEMT Technology With 11±2-dB Gain

This paper presents a distributed amplifier (DA) monolithic microwave integrated circuit (MMIC) achieving a bandwidth of 4-420 GHz with a small-signal gain of 11±2 dB. This sets a new bandwidth record for ultra-wideband amplifier MMICs. The DA MMIC utilizes a 20-nm gate-length InGaAs-on-Si high-electron-mobility transistor technology and features ten gain cells. Each cell contains an RF cascode using two-finger transistors with a total gate width of 16 µm. The measured noise figure (NF) is in the range of 3.2-7.7 GHz (<202 GHz) and 2.8-6.7 GHz when biased for low-noise conditions. Especially the high-frequency NF shows a remarkable performance, e.g., achieving an average NF of 4.7 and 5 dB (163-202 GHz) for low-noise and standard bias, respectively.