A High Gain and High Efficiency 15 W X-Band GaN Power Amplifier MMIC

An X-band microstrip power amplifier MMIC based on our 0.25 µm AlGaN/GaN on SiC process technology is presented in this work. Fabrication steps, HEMT structure and typical device performance are demonstrated. Design procedure of the three-stage power amplifier MMIC with a compact size of 4.7 mm × 2.7 mm is described. Small-signal measurements of the fabricated MMICs typically show 36 dB gain with 5 dB ripple and input/output return losses better than 16 dB and 7 dB from 8.5 GHz to 12 GHz band, respectively. Typical output power of 15 W at 6 dB compression with 37%–44% power added efficiency is achieved under pulsed operation. MMIC power measurements performed at different base plate temperatures and bias conditions are also provided. This design exhibits significantly higher gain and much better input return loss compared to MMICs in the literature with similar size, efficiency and output power parameters.