A 1.8-3 GHz-band high efficiency GaAs pHEMT power amplifier MMIC

Qin Ge; Hongqi Tao; Xuming Yu

doi:10.1088/1674-4926/36/12/125003

Abstract: This paper describes an S-band wideband high efficiency power amplifier based on the Nanjing Electron Device Institute's GaAs pHEMT monolithic microwave integrated circuit(MMIC) technology. To realize high efficiency, the two stage power amplifier is designed with a driver ratio of 1:8. The low-pass filter/high-pass filter combined matching circuit is applied to the amplifier to reduce the chip size, as well as to realize the optimum impedances over a wide bandwidth for high efficiency at each stage. Biased at class AB under a drain supply voltage of 5 V, the amplifier delivers 33-34 dBm saturated output power across the frequency range of 1.8 to 3 GHz with associated power-added efficiency of 35%-45% and very flat power gain of 25-26 dB in CW mode. The size of this MMIC is very compact with 2.7×2.75 mm².

Key words: wideband, MMIC, GaAs pHEMT, power amplifier, high efficiency

References:

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[1]	Morikawa J, Asano K, Ishikura K. 60 W L-band power AlGaAs/GaAs heterostructure FETs[J]. IEEE MTT-S International Microwave Symposium Digest, 1997: 1413.
[2]	Nawaz M I, Malik Z Y, Mehdi G. S-band MESFET linear high power amplifier for OFDM applications[J]. IEEE International Bhurban Conference on Applied Sciences & Technology, 2007: 15.
[3]	Ishii K, Okamoto T, Ishida H. S-band 48% efficiency GaAs FET amplifier with 135 W output power for mobile communications satellite[J]. IEEE MTT-S International Microwave Symposium Digest, 1994: 269.
[4]	Megherbi A C, Benramache S, Guettaf A. Backgating effect in GaAs FETs with a channel-semi-insulating substrate boundary[J]. Journal of Semiconductors, 2014, 35(3): 034004.
[5]	Iwai T, Kebayashi K, Nakasha Y. 42% high-efficiency two-stage HBT power-amplifier MMIC for W-CDMA cellular phone systems[J]. IEEE Trans Microw Theory Tech, 2000, 48(12): 2567.
[6]	Tasaki S, Takayama Y, Ishikawa R. A 1.2-2.0 GHz-band GaAs pHEMT cascode power amplifier MMIC consisting of independently biased transistors[J]. IEEE Asia-Pacific Microwave Conference Proceedings(APMC), 2013, 722.
[7]	Kim J H, Kim J H, Noh Y S. An InGaP-GaAs HBT MMIC smart power amplifier for W-CDMA mobile handsets[J]. IEEE J Solid-State Circuits, 2003, 38(6): 905.
[8]	Hirata M, Oka T, Hasegawa M. Fully-integrated GaAs HBT power amplifier MMIC with high linear output power for 3 GHz-band broadband wireless applications[J]. Electron Lett, 2006, 42(22): 1286.
[9]	Staudinger J, Sherman R, Quach T. A 15 watt PFP GaAs PHEMT MMIC power amplifier for 3G wireless transmitter applications[J]. IEEE MTT-S International Microwave Symposium Digest, 2002: 617.
[10]	Akkul M, Sarfraz M, Mayock J. 50 watt MMIC power amplifier design for 2 GHz applications[J]. IEEE MTT-S International Microwave Symposium Digest, 2004: 1355.
[11]	Meliani C, Rudolph M, Kurpas P. A 2.4 GHz GaAs-HBT class-E MMIC amplifier with 65% PAE[J]. IEEE MTT-S International Microwave Symposium, 2007, 1087.
[12]	Mori K, Shinjo S, Kitabayashi F. An L-band high-efficiency and low-distortion power amplifier using HPF/LPF combined interstage matching circuit[J]. IEEE Trans Microw Theory Tech, 2000, 48(12): 2560.
[13]	Ohtomo M. Stability analysis and numerical simulation of multidevice amplifiers[J]. IEEE Trans Microw Theory Technol, 1993, 41(6): 983.

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A 1.8-3 GHz-band high efficiency GaAs pHEMT power amplifier MMIC

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