InP/GaInAs pHEMT Ultralow-Power Consumption MMICs

Appropriately designed InP/GaInAs -based pHEMTs with relatively conservative indium channel mole fractions are prime contenders for high-performance low-power dissipation mm-wave MMICs. A clear and distinct advantage of InP -based HEMT technology is that it is long since space-qualified, leveraging decades of InP fabrication and reliability know-how. As a first demonstrator of low-power operation, we demonstrate an X-band low-noise amplifier (LNA) featuring a 9 dB gain and a 1.5 dB noise figure, while operating with a record ultralow 0.6 mW total power dissipation. A second demonstrator MMIC consists of a wideband amplifier delivering 10 dB of gain between 35-82 GHz, with a total power dissipation of 2.59 mW, corresponding to consumption of 8.6 µW per micron of total amplifier gate periphery (or 57% of the lowest power density ever achieved with ABCS HEMTs). Clearly, given consideration to the still conservative x = 68% channel indium mole fraction, much room remains for the ultimate optimization of InP/GaInAs -based conventional HEMTs for low-power dissipation MMICs covering the application spectrum from X- to W- bands.