mm-Wave GaN MMIC PA Design for High Efficiency and High Power

This talk overviews power amplifier designs in 150nm and 90nm GaN on SiC processes optimized for efficiency or power over a large bandwidth. Specifically, a 17–26GHz MMIC PA with analog linearization with an output power of 5W, saturated gain >25dB and PAE>40% will be discussed in the context of high PAPR (>10dB) high bandwidth (>200MHz) signals. Additionally, a 28GHz Doherty PA MMIC designed for supply modulation will be discussed. Two architectures for W-band PAs with over 0.5W over 75–110GHz with various levels of power combining will be presented highlighting gain and thermal limitations of the technology.