Wide-band high-efficiency Ku-band power amplifier

A 37 dBm power amplifier (PA) is designed on a 0.25 µm optical T-gate pseudomorphic high electron mobility transistor (pHEMT) technology. The design of this two-stage PA along with a step-by-step design procedure is presented in this paper. This methodology can be used for design of PA in different technologies and frequencies. The PA delivers 5 W output power over the frequency band of 13–19 GHz. It shows average power-added efficiency of 37% and large signal gain of 15 dB in measurements which is consistent with simulation results. The output power and efficiency of the realised amplifier reach maximums of 37.6 dBm and 45%, respectively. Considering output power, bandwidth, chip area and efficiency, this PA exhibits competitive performance compared to the reported PAs.

[1]  Yeong-Her Wang,et al.  A Compact 6.5-W PHEMT MMIC Power Amplifier for Ku-Band Applications , 2007, IEEE Microwave and Wireless Components Letters.

[2]  Ulrich L. Rohde,et al.  Microwave Circuit Design Using Linear and Nonlinear Techniques: Vendelin/Microwave Circuit Design Using Linear and Nonlinear Techniques , 1990 .

[3]  A. Mallet,et al.  Detecting and avoiding odd-mode parametric oscillations in microwave power amplifiers: Research Articles , 2005 .

[4]  Ali Hajimiri,et al.  Fully integrated CMOS power amplifier design using the distributed active-transformer architecture , 2002, IEEE J. Solid State Circuits.

[5]  Inder Bahl,et al.  Fundamentals of RF and Microwave Transistor Amplifiers , 2009 .

[6]  Youn Sub Noh,et al.  Ku-Band Power Amplifier MMIC Chipset with On-Chip Active Gate Bias Circuit , 2009 .

[7]  Fabio Filicori,et al.  Design of 40-W AlGaN/GaN MMIC High Power Amplifiers for $C$-Band SAR Applications , 2013, IEEE Transactions on Microwave Theory and Techniques.

[8]  G. van der Bent,et al.  Low-cost high-efficient 10-Watt X-band high-power amplifier , 2009, 2009 IEEE International Conference on Microwaves, Communications, Antennas and Electronics Systems.

[9]  A. Saleh,et al.  Computation of the frequency response of a class of symmetric N-way power dividers , 1980, The Bell System Technical Journal.

[10]  S. C. Cripps,et al.  RF Power Amplifiers for Wireless Communications , 1999 .

[11]  J. E. Degenford,et al.  Wideband 3w Amplifier Employing Cluster Matching , 1983 .

[12]  G. Vannini,et al.  A Ku band monolithic power amplifier for TT&C applications , 2005, 2005 European Microwave Conference.

[13]  Y. Noh,et al.  Ku-band high-power amplifier MMIC with on-chip gate biasing circuit , 2009 .

[14]  C. Campbell,et al.  GaN Takes the Lead , 2012, IEEE Microwave Magazine.

[15]  Ali M. Niknejad,et al.  A single-chip highly linear 2.4GHz 30dBm power amplifier in 90nm CMOS , 2009, 2009 IEEE International Solid-State Circuits Conference - Digest of Technical Papers.

[16]  N. Nagai,et al.  New N-Way Hybrid Power Dividers , 1977 .

[17]  S. Shinjo,et al.  An L-band high efficiency and low distortion power amplifier module using an HPF/LPF combined interstage matching circuit , 2000, 2000 IEEE MTT-S International Microwave Symposium Digest (Cat. No.00CH37017).

[18]  C. Florian,et al.  12-W $X$ -Band MMIC HPA and Driver Amplifiers in InGaP-GaAs HBT Technology for Space SAR T/R Modules , 2012, IEEE Transactions on Microwave Theory and Techniques.

[19]  D. Elad,et al.  A Novel Method for Even Odd Parametric Oscillation Stability Analysis of a Microwave Power Amplifier , 2006, 2006 IEEE MTT-S International Microwave Symposium Digest.

[20]  R. S. Pengelly,et al.  A Review of GaN on SiC High Electron-Mobility Power Transistors and MMICs , 2012, IEEE Transactions on Microwave Theory and Techniques.

[21]  M. L. Edwards,et al.  A new criterion for linear 2-port stability using a single geometrically derived parameter , 1992 .

[22]  Songcheol Hong,et al.  A 2-watt balanced power amplifier MMIC for Ku-band satellite communications , 2004 .

[23]  H. Morkner,et al.  Single supply 1W Ku-band Power Amplifier Based on 0.25μm E-mode PHEMT , 2006, 2006 IEEE MTT-S International Microwave Symposium Digest.

[24]  J. Imbornone,et al.  New insight into subharmonic oscillation mode of GaAs power amplifiers under severe output mismatch condition , 1996, GaAs IC Symposium IEEE Gallium Arsenide Integrated Circuit Symposium. 18th Annual Technical Digest 1996.

[25]  Frederick H. Raab,et al.  Solid State Radio Engineering , 1980 .

[27]  S.A. Brown,et al.  Fully monolithic 8 watt Ku-band high power amplifier , 2004, 2004 IEEE MTT-S International Microwave Symposium Digest (IEEE Cat. No.04CH37535).

[28]  Shintaro Shinjo,et al.  An L-band high efficiency and low distortion power amplifier module using an HPF/LPF combined interstage matching circuit , 2000, IMS 2000.

[29]  C.L. Wu,et al.  A Fully Matched Ku-band 9W PHEMT MMIC High Power Amplifier , 2006, 2006 IEEE Compound Semiconductor Integrated Circuit Symposium.

[30]  W. Yau,et al.  A New N-Way Broadband Planar Power Combiner/Divider , 1986, 1986 IEEE MTT-S International Microwave Symposium Digest.

[31]  F. Svelto,et al.  A 30.5 dBm 48% PAE CMOS Class-E PA With Integrated Balun for RF Applications , 2008, IEEE Journal of Solid-State Circuits.

[32]  L. E. Larson,et al.  Monolithic Power-Combining Techniques for Watt-Level 2.4-GHz CMOS Power Amplifiers for WLAN Applications , 2013, IEEE Transactions on Microwave Theory and Techniques.