Fraunhofer IAF has developed a broadband distributed amplifier (DA), a monolithic microwave integrated circuit (MMIC) that delivers gain of 11 ± 2 dB across a frequency range of 4–420 GHz. The institute will show exhibition samples of the chip at European Microwave Week 2026 in London, running October 4–9 at Booth B35.
The DA is built on Fraunhofer IAF's InGaAs-on-Si HEMT process, with a 20-nanometer gate length. Earlier generations of the amplifier used a 35-nanometer gallium arsenide process instead. Dr. Fabian Thome, deputy head of the High-Frequency Electronics Business Unit at Fraunhofer IAF and the chip's developer, said the design is "characterized by a unique combination of the relevant parameters: bandwidth, noise and output power." Up to 202 GHz, the chip posts noise figures between 3.2–7.7 dB, or 2.8–6.7 dB in a configuration tuned for low noise. Saturated output power runs 6–8 dBm across the band.
Broadband, low-noise amplifiers like this one sit inside the optical-to-electrical interfaces of modern data centers, where AI-driven traffic growth has pushed operators toward optical data transmission for higher speeds and denser hardware. Fraunhofer IAF also points to measurement systems and radar sensors as beneficiaries, since wider bandwidth paired with low noise and higher output power increases resolution and sensitivity in these systems. For metrology engineers specifying next-generation test equipment, that combination translates into sharper readings from instruments built around this class of chip.
FormFactor, Inc. will run a live measurement of the chip at its own booth, D10, during the same show. The design first appeared in IEEE Microwave and Wireless Technology Letters in June 2025, authored by Thome and Fraunhofer IAF's Axel Leuther.
