A 0.15 μm GaN HEMT device to circuit approach towards dual-band ultra-low noise amplifier using defected ground bias technique

Abstract

This work presents a GaN HEMT device to circuit approach towards low noise amplifier (LNA) using defective ground bias (DGB) technique. This is the first MMIC GaN HEMT LNA design to offer dual-band of operation in both L and S-bands to the author's best knowledge. The proposed 0.15-μm GaN HEMT device fabrication achieves a high output power of 20 W using slot radiation phenomenon. The proposed DGB technique consists of gate and drain biasing topologies which achieves a dual-band of operation using microwave approach. The DGB technique is incorporated into GaN HEMT LNA which achieves high input and output power with good stability. To achieve an optimal noise, high I/O power, and almost flat gain at both L and S-bands, the defective ground structure of bias topologies is modeled and optimized. An artificial ground defect is created to offer resonant properties for the DGS of a microstrip line, which utilizes frequency-selective properties to improve the performance of the LNA circuit by suppressing the harmonics and scaling the size. The dedicated LNA shows the benefits of compact size, extremely low noise figure of 0.74/1.6 dB, high output power of 44 dBm and nearly flat gain of 14/11 dB at 1.17/2.49 GHz with the unique methodologies suggested. The compact GaN HEMT LNA could overcome the weak signal strength received by RF receiver for smart rail transport system. © 2023 Elsevier GmbH