0.15 μm GaN HPA MMIC for 6G Upper-Mid Band

This paper presents the characteristics of ETRI's <tex xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">$\mathbf{0.15}\ \boldsymbol{\mu} \mathbf{m}$</tex> GaN high-electron-mobility transistor (HEMT) and high-power amplifier (HPA) monolithic microwave integrated circuits (MMICs) for the 6G upper-mid band. To realize the high output power and efficiency characteristics for 6G communications, a <tex xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">$\mathbf{0.15}\ \boldsymbol{\mu} \mathbf{m}$</tex> GaN HEMT and MMIC process was developed. This process developed by ETRI used a modified epitaxial structure and a field plate structure to achieve high voltage stability and enhanced large-signal performance. As measurements of 6F75 GaN HEMT device revealed a cutoff frequency of 40.3 GHz and a maximum oscillation frequency of 159 GHz. Load-pull measurements results at 28 GHz achieved an output power of 31.5 dBm, a PAE of 46%, and a power density of 3.1 W/mm. The fabricated Ku-band HPA MMIC achieved a small signal gain of 28 dB, an output power of 34.6 dBm, and a PAE of 31% over the 15.7~17.3 GHz band.