A Ku-Band Input Harmonically Tuned Class-F GaAs MMIC Power Amplifier Achieving 28.4-dBm P _sat and 56% Peak PAE

This paper presents a Ku-band input harmonically tuned class-F GaAs MMIC power amplifier (PA). The PA incorporates a simplified class-F output matching network (CFOMN) using short-length transmission lines to minimize a size and output loss. In addition, a new coupled-resonator-based harmonic tuning circuit (CHTC) is proposed to adjust both second and third harmonic impedances at the <tex xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">$P A$</tex> input for enhancing efficiency and linearity. The PA has a core area of <tex xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">$2.69 \times 1.67 ~\text{mm}^{2}$</tex> and delivers a <tex xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">$P_{\text {sat }}$</tex> of <tex xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">$28.1-28.4 \text{dBm}, P_{1 ~\text{dB}}$</tex> of <tex xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">$27.7-28 \text{dBm}$</tex>, a peak power added efficiency (PAE) of <tex xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">$54.1-56 \%$</tex>, and <tex xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">$6-\text{dB}$</tex> back-off PAE of 28.129.3 % in frequency band from 12.5 to 13.5 GHz. For the 64-QAM OFDM signals at an adjacent channel leakage ratio (ACLR) of −30 dBc, an average output power (<tex xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">$P_{\text {avg }}$</tex>) ranges from 21.3 to 21.8 dBm, and an average PAE (PAE <tex xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">${ }_{\text {avg }}$</tex>) varies from 28.6 to 29.6 % over the carrier frequencies.