Coplanar switches in PHEMT technology from X- to W-Band

AlGaAs/InGaAs/GaAs PHEMT switching elements, combined with coplanar waveguide technology have been investigated to realize switches from X-band through W-band. Experimentally determined models, which apply over a range of 1-120 GHz, were used for the coplanar lines and elements. Several switch topologies, compatible with the active MMIC technology, have been designed and analyzed. With two different concepts for the X-band switches, we achieved insertion losses of 1.3/1.7 dB and isolations of 30/45 dB at 10 GHz. At W-band we obtained 2.9/3.2 dB insertion losses and isolations of 22/16 dB at 76 and 94 GHz, respectively.