50 Watt S-band power amplifier in 0.25 μm GaN technology

Abstract

A 50 W S-band High Power Amplifier in the UMS GH25-10 technology is presented. In order to increase the output power per area the size of the transistors is increased beyond the maximum size modelled by the foundry. For this reason the design procedure included the measurements of a transistor and the creation of a scalable Angelov-GaN model with the use of EM simulations. An output matching design approach is adopted which intrinsically optimizes the transistor harmonic load impedance. The results show that the amplifier delivers an output power of over 50 W within the frequency range from 3.05 to 3.5 GHz at a PAE of more than 62 %. The maximum measured output power is 63 W with a PAE of 65 %.

Stability, Mounting, and Measurement Considerations for High-Power GaN MMIC Amplifiers

“…Therefore, it is necessary to evaluate how much gain and power-added efficiency (PAE) should be reduced to ensure stability. There are excellent examples of applications and commercial chips where yields or powers have been prioritized [6], for example, Qorvo's QPA3069 [7]. But in the vast majority of monolithic microwave-integrated circuits (MMICs), many of the concepts associated with the stability of on-wafer measurement or PCB (printed circuit board) mount measurement are ignored.…”