Ultra-Wideband High-Power GaN Rectifier with Extended Input Power Range Based on a Terminal Matching Network

This paper proposes a terminal matching network (TMN) technology, which can realize wideband matching of microwave rectifiers in a wide input power range. At the same time, it is proposed to realize ultra-wideband microwave rectifiers by connecting two TMN branches of different frequencies in parallel. In order to verify this theory, two rectifiers using single TMN and dual TMN branches are designed and realized based on high-power GaN Schottky barrier diodes (SBDs). The single TMN GaN rectifier achieves a peak efficiency of 72.3% and a conversion efficiency of more than 70% in the frequency range of 1.8–2.7 GHz at 1 W of input power, while being more than 50% efficient in the input power range of 16–35 dBm. Benefitting from the power combination of different frequency TMNs, the dual TMNs GaN rectifier achieves 75.8% peak efficiency and over 70% conversion efficiency at 1.1–3.1 GHz frequency and 1 W input power with a relative bandwidth over 95.2% and maintains high efficiency of over 50% in the input power range of 15–35 dBm. The advantages of the ultra-wideband, wide input power range, high power, and high efficiency make the GaN rectifier with TMNs expected to play an important role in microwave power transmission (MPT).