Two‐terminal InGaAs microwave amplifier

• Published in: Microwave and optical technology letters Vol. 60; no. 8; pp. 1884 - 1888
• Main Authors: Wang, Hanbin, Zhang, Yifei, Shi, Yanpeng, Ling, Haotian, Wang, Qingpu, Liu, Fengqi, Yang, Fuhua, Xu, Kunyuan, Xin, Qian, Song, Aimin
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York Wiley Subscription Services, Inc 01.08.2018
• Subjects: Amplification; gunn amplifiers; High gain; Linearity; Microwave amplifiers; microwave devices; negative differential resistance; stability; Substrates
• ISSN: 0895-2477; 1098-2760
• DOI: 10.1002/mop.31261

The feasibility of using a 2‐terminal InGaAs planar Gunn structure as a microwave amplifier is proposed and verified. By achieving a pronounced negative differential resistance with a peak‐to‐valley current ratio of 1.20, our devices are able to amplify microwaves at a high gain of 17 dB. When compared with commonly used 3‐terminal transistor‐based microwave amplifiers, the proposed devices not only have a simple structure but also are capable of achieving high operating frequencies even with relatively large feature sizes. The device with a channel length of 4 μm has a positive gain up to about 77 GHz, and the 2‐μm device is able to amplify microwaves well beyond 110 GHz. Furthermore, the planar Gunn amplifier shows a good linearity over a wide input power range from −45 to about 0 dBm. A good operation stability has also been demonstrated despite having no substrate thinning and heat sink.