Development of a V-Band MMIC chip-set for in-orbit Inter-Satellite Links

In this paper, the feasibility of a V-band MMIC chipset is tested by the design of a Low-Noise Amplifier (LNA) operating in the 59-66 GHz frequency band and two Mixers exploiting two different topologies that convert signals from the 60-60.4 GHz band to 8-8.4 GHz band and vice versa. The MMICs have been designed exploiting OMMIC’s 70 nm and 130 nm GaAs technologies. LNA shows a 23 dB gain and a sub-2 dB Noise Figure in the whole operating band, while the two Mixers show a 11-12 dB conversion loss, along with LO isolation towards RF and IF port higher than 22 dB and a simulated Input 1 dB Compression Point of 10 dBm.