Design of 6–18-GHz High-Power Amplifier in GaAs pHEMT Technology

This paper presents a design procedure for a wideband 6-18-GHz monolithic microwave integrated circuit highpower amplifier (HPA) in 0.25-μm AlGaAs-InGaAs pHEMT technology. The design is mainly focused on the realization of the passive circuits to provide the required low-loss and wideband impedance transformation networks. The two-stage GaAs HPA achieves an average output power of 39.6 dBm and a peak output power of 40.5 dBm at 11 GHz, in pulsed mode operation, with a small-signal gain of S
₂₁
> 10 dB over the entire bandwidth. The average power added efficiency (PAE) is 22%, with a peak PAE of 29% at 11 GHz. The HPA chip occupies an area of 5 × 3.6 mm
²
. The achieved output power and the corresponding power density of 0.51 W/mm
²
are amongst the highest reported values in wideband GaAs HPAs.