Millimeter-wave single-pole double-throw switches based on a 100-nm gate-length AlGaN/GaN-HEMT technology

In this paper, the design, analysis, and performance of four millimeter-wave SPDT switch MMICs are presented. The circuits utilize a 100-nm gate-length GaN-on-SiC technology and cover four different frequency ranges almost without gap from 28 to 310 GHz. The four switches exhibit a return loss of better than 10 dB and a minimum insertion loss of 1.4, 1.5, 1.8, and 2.2 dB, respectively. Continuous-wave power data of switch 3, tested at 94 GHz, showed no insertion loss compression for a maximum available input power of 2 W. To the best of the authors' knowledge, switch 3 and 4 are the first GaN-based switches with an operating frequency of more than 110 GHz and switch 3 is the first semiconductor switch with a measured power handling at 94 GHz of at least 2 W.