A <i>Ku</i>-Band 100-W High-Power Amplifier MMIC Using 0.2-µm GaN Technology
Hui Jin, Fei Yang, Hongqi Tao, Wei Xiao, Yanfang Zhou, Likang Cai
Abstract
A <italic xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">Ku</i> -band high-power monolithic microwave integrated circuit (MMIC) is presented using 0.2- <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\mu $</tex-math> </inline-formula> m GaN high electron mobility transistor (HEMT) technology. The high output power is achieved by a novel back-to-back topology to synthesize two sub-power amplifiers (sub-PAs). The MMIC demonstrates an output power of 50.2–50.8 dBm with a power gain of more than 18 dB and a power added efficiency (PAE) of 35%–41% at a drain voltage of 28 V (100- <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\mu $</tex-math> </inline-formula> S pulsewidth and 10% duty cycle) in the frequency range of 14–18 GHz. The chip size is 5.8 <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\times$</tex-math> </inline-formula> 6.6 mm <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$^{2}$</tex-math> </inline-formula> . To the best of our knowledge, this output power is the highest reported to date for a 14–18-GHz GaN power amplifier MMIC at 28-V drain voltage.