High-performance 94 GHz Single Balanced Mixer Based on 70 nm MHEMTs and DAML Technology

70 nm MHEMT와 DAML 기반의 하이브리드 링 커플러를 이용한 우수한 성능의 94 GHz 단일 평형 혼합기

We reported 94 GHz, low conversion loss, and high isolation single balanced active-gate mixer based on 70 nm gate length InGaAs/InAlAs metamorphic high electron mobility transistors (MHEMTs). This mixer showed that the conversion loss and isolation characteristics were 2.5 ${\sim}$ 2.8 dB and under -30 dB, respectively, in the range of 93.65 ${\sim}$ 94.25 GHz. The low conversion loss of the mixer is mainly attributed to the high-performance of the MHEMTs exhibiting a maximum drain current density of 607 mA/mm, a extrinsic transconductance of 1015 mS/mm, a current gain cutoff frequency ($f_t$) of 330 GHz, and a maximum oscillation frequency ($f_{max}$) of 425 GHz. High isolation characteristics are due to hybrid ring coupler which adopted dielectric-supported air-gapped microstrip line (DAML) structure using surface micromachined technology. To our knowledge, these results are the best performance demonstrated from 94 GHz single balanced mixer utilizing GaAs-based HEMTs in terms of conversion loss as well as isolation characteristics.