High-Power <i>Ka/Ku</i> Dual-Wideband GaN Power Amplifier With High Input Isolation and Transformer-Combined Load Design
Hongqi Tao, Jiawen Wang, Yi Wang, Dongdong Ma, Hanzhang Cao, Wen Wu, Tongde Huang
Abstract
A high-power dual-wideband GaN power amplifier (PA), which features a filter-based input diplexer and a transformer-combined load, has been proposed in this study. The diplexer realized by low-/high-pass filters presents a high dual-band isolation (>15 dB) and can arbitrarily select the location of the two widely spaced bands. Instead of using a diplexer in the output matching network (OMN), a transformer-combined load design has been proposed to simplify the OMN design. The transformer can effectively minimize the loading effect from each other branch, but does not obviously influence the optimal output impedance. The designed PA can operate in either Kuor Ka-band mode. In the Ku-band mode, an output power more than 40 dBm and a power-added efficiency (PAE) more than 35% are obtained at 13.5-18 GHz. In the Ka-band mode, the output power more than 30 dBm and the PAE more than 17.5% are obtained at 33-38 GHz. The gain in the Kuand Ka-band modes is more than 30 and 13 dB, respectively.