High-power digital controlled artificial dielectric GaN reconfigurable transmission lines for digitally assisted RFICs

Abstract

The first known GaN implementation of high-power digital controlled artificial dielectric (DiCAD) reconfigurable transmission lines is presented. DiCAD was formed by integrating GaN HEMT switches and metal-insulator-metal capacitors (MIMCAPs) into coplanar strip transmission lines. Standard GaN HEMT processing techniques were used, making DiCAD easily compatible with future circuit designs. The DiCAD transmission line's effective dielectric constant exhibits linear digital control from 15 to 32 with 3-bit resolution up to 50GHz. P1dB is measured to be greater than 27dBm and OIP3 is calculated to be greater than 48dBm for all states.