A Reactively Matched High-Power Amplifier for Ku-Band in 0.25-µm GaN Technology

A Ku-Band high-efficiency monolithic microwave integrated circuit high-power amplifier based on a commercially available 0.25-µm GaN technology is presented. A three-stage topology is employed in this design to enhance both gain and efficiency. The simulated results demonstrate that the proposed HPA chip, occupying an area of <tex xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">$4.1\times 3\text{mm}^{2}$</tex>, features an average output power of 45.2 dBm and a peak output power of 45.6 dBm at 16.1 GHz, with a small-signal gain of <tex xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">$\mathrm{S}_{21} &gt; 28\text{dB}$</tex> at 14–18 GHz. The average PAE of this power amplifier is 40.9%, with a peak PAE of 41.8% at 17.5 GHz. A flat power gain exceeding 22.7 dB is achieved with gain variation less than <tex xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">$\pm 0.5\text{dB}$</tex> across the entire bandwidth. The achieved power density is 2.69 <tex xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">$\mathrm{W}/\text{mm}^{2}$</tex>.