A 2-18 GHz Wide-band GaN Integrated Distributed Power Amplifier with Switch

In this paper, a wide-band GaN power amplifier (PA) is proposed for transceiver design. A non-uniform distributed amplifier structure with a driver stage is ultilized to achieve high power gain and high output power over a very large frequency band from 2 GHz to 18 GHz. A monolithic microwave integrated circuit using a $0.25-\mu \mathrm{m}$ gallium nitride (GaN) high electron mobility transistor (HEMT) process is used to design the power amplifier, which is further integrated with a single-pole, double-throw switch. Simulation results show that in the receiving mode (switch alone), full-band insertion loss is less than 1.5dB, Besides, an input VSWR of less than 1.6 and an output VSWR value less than 1.4 are obtained. In the transmitting mode, a small-signal gain of more than 21dB over the full band, an output power of more than 39dBm and a power-added efficiency of more than 12% are obtained.