Design, performance, and layout of GaAs monolithic broad-band direct-coupled amplifiers

In this paper we present a design procedure of high frequency amplifiers that uses the gain peaking technique to extend their bandwidth. Namely, the performance of single inverters (that are building blocks of Monolithic Microwave Integrated Circuits, MMICs), with and without gain peaking elements, was compared theoretically. Then, we derived simple analytical formulae that we have used together with powerful Computer Aided Design (CAD) tools to estimate the peaking inductances added to GaAs wideband monolithic direct coupled amplifiers to extend their frequency bands. It is shown that the gain peaking technique is effective for extending the bandwidth, for two circuit blocks in cascade a gain between 12 and 16 dB from de up to 12-GHz was predicted by the simulation results.