Transformer balun design in Gallium Arsenide and Silicon Germanium processes

摘要

The design of two transformer baluns is presented using different process technologies. Gallium Arsenside (GaAs) has been widely used for microwave circuits over the past few decades for its high performance. Silicon Germanium (SiGe) is an emerging technology that offers performance similar to GaAs and digital circuit integration. The differences between the metal and insulator layers are presented in the context of the balun design and its requirement for tight coupling between primary and secondary coils. A comparable performance was achieved between the two processes using electromagnetic simulation. The magnitude and phase imbalances were (0.05 dB, 0.5°) for GaAs and (0.05 dB, 0.2°) for SiGe between 10 and 20 GHz.