A 20-32 Ghz Ka-Band MMIC LNA in GaN-on-SiC Designed for a Heterogeneous Integration Process

This paper presents a gallium nitride (GaN)-on-SiC Monolithic Microwave Integrated Circuit (MMIC) Low Noise Amplifier (LNA) with high dynamic range and low noise figure in a 150 - nm commercial process for use in a heterogeneous integration package. The two-stage MMIC LNA has a peak linear gain of 15.8 dB and a minimum noise figure of 2.6 dB from 20 to 32 GHz while consuming 300 mW of dc power. The measured 1-dB compression point (P1dB) at 22 GHz is 20 dBm. The effects on simulated performance due to the device selection, matching techniques, and packaging stackup will also be discussed. Finally, we will comment on future plans to test the LNA inside a heterogeneously packaged environment.