D-band LNA for 5G/6G Xhaul in Nanowire Transistor Technology

Purpose and goal:

Design and evaluation of a Low Noise Amplifier (LNA) with In(Ga)As nanowire transistors for the D-band (130-174.8 GHz) plus further development of a model for circuit simulators. The technology has been developed at Lund University. The demonstrator LNA will be developed in a cooperation between an SME, NordAmps AB, the Nano electronics group at Lund University, Ericsson AB, Cadence Design Systems and Lomma RF Consulting.

The TRL of the compact device models, part of a Process Design kit (PDK), for circuit simulators will be increased after correlation with measured data. Expected results and effects:

A successful project makes it easier to attract venture capital for future investment rounds. The compact model is important in contact with customers because they can then compare performance with their own designs. It is important that the company can show good agreement between simulated and measured performance, which is also one of the goals of the project.

The results will be published at conferences and in scientific articles, which will attract customers and create further collaborative projects with academic and industrial partners. Approach and implementation:

In the project, four structures / circuits will be manufactured and evaluated. The first two structures are not complete transistors but aim to be able to optimize and validate critical parts of the transistor and update the model parameters. The third design consists of a complete transistor based on the results from the first two test structures.

The fourth design consists of the complete transistor structure and a multi-stage single-ended LNA for the D-band. A 3D model of the transistor will be built in FEM simulation software.