A Ka band 15W power amplifier MMIC based on GaN HEMT technology

In this paper, the merits of GaN MMIC technology for millimeter-wave power applications are demonstrated. A 15 W Ka-band MMIC power amplifier using 0.15 um gate GaN HEMT technology is presented. The three-stage amplifier MMIC was designed in micro-strip technology, and the substrate is SiC for better performance. Saturated output power of 42.5dBm and peak power-added-efficiency of 30.5% were measured at 35.4GHz with the pulsed DC supply voltage of 24 V. Across the 34-36 GHz range, the amplifier delivers output power above 41.9 dBm with power-added-efficiency over 27%. The chip size is 9.52mm2(2.8 mm×3.4 mm).