High efficiency Ka-band power amplifier MMICs fabricated with a 0.15µm GaN on SiC HEMT process

Abstract

The design and performance of two high efficiency Ka-band power amplifier MMICs utilizing a 0.15µm GaN HEMT process technology is presented. Measured in-fixture continuous wave (CW) results for the 3-stage amplifiers demonstrates 8–9W of output power for the balanced MMIC and 4.5–6W for the single-ended configuration. The associated power added (PAE) efficiency of both amplifiers exceeds 25% at Ka-band. The die sizes for the balanced and single-ended MMICs are 2.55×3.80mm <sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">2</sup> and 1.39×3.42mm <sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">2</sup> respectively.