• Journal of the Institute of Electronics Engineers of Korea SD
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• v.44 no.9
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• pp.25-33
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• 2007

In this paper, the high isolation and wideband 94 GHz MIMIC(Millimeter-wave Monolithic Integrated Circuit) single balanced cascode mixer was designed and fabricated. Also, we designed and fabricated a 3 dB tandem coupler which has a high isolation and wideband characteristic. The single balanced resistive mixer which does not require an external IF balun was designed using the 0.1 ${\mu}m$ InGaAs/InAlAs/GaAs metamorphic HEMT(High Electron Mobility Transistor). The DC characteristics of MHEMT's are 665 mA/mm of drain current density, 691 mS/mm of maximum transconductance. The current gain cut-off frequency($f_T$) is 189 GHz and the maximum oscillation frequency($f_{max}$) is 334 GHz. A 94 GHz single balanced cascode mixer was fabricated using our 0.1 ${\mu}m$ MHEMT MIMIC process. From the measurements, the fabricated couplers showed wideband characteristics. The conversion loss of single balanced cascode mixer was 9.8 dB at an LO power of 10.9 dBm. The LO to RF isolation of single balanced cascode mixer was 29.5 dB at 94 GHz. We obtained in this study a higher LO-RF isolation compared to some other single balanced mixers.

• Journal of the Institute of Electronics Engineers of Korea SD
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• v.43 no.4 s.346
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• pp.8-15
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• 2006

In this paper, the 94 GHz, low conversion loss, and high isolation single balanced mixer is designed and fabricated using GaAs-based metamorphic high electron mobility transistors (MHEMTs) with 70 nm gate length and the hybrid ring coupler with the micromachined transmission lines, dielectric-supported air-gapped microstrip lines (DAMLs). The 70 nm MHEMT devices exhibit DC characteristics with a drain current density of 607 mA/mm an extrinsic transconductance of 1015 mS/mm. The current gain cutoff frequency ($f_T$) and maximum oscillation frequency ($f_{max}$) are 320 GHz and 430 GHz, respectively. The fabricated hybrid ring coupler shows wideband characteristics of the coupling loss of $3.57{\pm}0.22dB$ and the transmission loss of $3.80{\pm}0.08dB$ in the measured frequency range of 85 GHz to 105 GHz. This mixer shows that the conversion loss and isolation characteristics are $2.5dB{\sim}>2.8dB$ and under -30 dB, respectively, in the range of $93.65GHz{\sim}94.25GHz$. At the center frequency of 94 GHz, this mixer shows the minimum conversion loss of 2.5 dB at a LO power of 6 dBm To our knowledge, these results are the best performances demonstrated from 94 GHz single balanced mixer utilizing GaAs-based HEMTs in terms of conversion loss as well as isolation characteristics.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.33 no.2
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• pp.99-104
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• 2020

In this study, we fabricated a metamorphic high-electron-mobility transistor (mHEMT) device with a T-type gate structure for the implementation of W-band monolithic microwave integrated circuits (MMICs) and investigated its characteristics. To fabricate the mHEMT device, a recess process for etching of its Schottky layer was applied before gate metal deposition, and an e-beam lithography using a triple photoresist film for the T-gate structure was employed. We measured DC and RF characteristics of the fabricated device to verify the characteristics that can be used in W-band MMIC design. The mHEMT device exhibited DC characteristics such as a drain current density of 747 mA/mm, maximum transconductance of 1.354 S/mm, and pinch-off voltage of -0.42 V. Concerning the frequency characteristics, the device showed a cutoff frequency of 215 GHz and maximum oscillation frequency of 260 GHz, which provide sufficient performance for W-band MMIC design and fabrication. In addition, active and passive modeling was performed and its accuracy was evaluated by comparing the measured results. The developed mHEMT and device models could be used for the fabrication of W-band MMICs.

• Journal of the Institute of Electronics Engineers of Korea TC
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• v.42 no.6 s.336
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• pp.67-74
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• 2005

In this paper, high LO-RF isolation W-band MIMIC single-balanced mixer was designed and fabricated using a branch line coupler and a $\lambda$/4 transmission line. The simulation results of the designed 94 GHz balun show return loss of -27.9 dB, coupling of -4.26 dB, and thru of -3.77 dB at 94 GHz, respectively. The isolation and phase difference were 23.5 dB and $180.2^{\circ}$ at 94 GHz. The W-band MIMIC single-balanced mixer was designed using the 0.1 $\mu$m InGaAs/InAlAs/GaAs Metamorphic HEMT diode. The fabricated MHEMT was obtained the cut-off frequency(fT) of 189 GHz and the maximum oscillation frequency(fmax) of 334 GHz. The designed MIMIC single-balanced mixer was fabricated using 0.1 $\mu$m MHEMT MIMIC Process. From the measurement, the conversion loss of the single-balanced mixer was 23.1 dB at an LO power of 10 dBm. Pl dB(1 dB compression point) of input and output were 10 dBm and -13.9 dBm respectively. The LO-RF isolations of single-balanced mixer was obtained 45.5 dB at 94.19 GHz. We obtained in this study a higher LO-RF isolation compared to some other balanced mixers in millimeter-wave frequencies.