K-Band 27dB Gain Inverted Doherty Power Amplifier using Real Frequency Technique in GaN Technology

This paper presents the design of a K-band inverted Doherty power amplifier (IDPA) in a 0.15-µm Gallium-Nitride on Silicon-Carbide (GaN/SiC) technology. To achieve a wideband characteristic of the matching networks, the Real-Frequency Technique (RFT) is deployed for synthesis of network topologies. The peaking load transformation network (LTN) is synthesised for simultaneous matching and high output impedance to avoid power leakage to the peaking device in the lower-power region, using the Black-Box Technique. The presented IDPA achieves a saturated output power of 32 dBm with a peak power-added efficiency (PAE) of 41%, 20% PAE at 6 dB output back-off (OBO), and peak gain of 27 dB at 28 GHz in full-electromagnetic (EM) simulation.