Operation of Ku-Band Power Modules

Three Ku-band MBE monolithic power modules have been developed. The modules consist of one, two and five MMICs. A newly developed MMIC which is used in the modules is a two stage power amplifier which contains full interstage matching network and partial input matching network. The single MMIC module delivers more than 3 watts of power, 11 dB of gain and more than 20 % power added efficiency (PAE) from 15 to 18 GHz. A pair of the MMICs are balanced to form a module which is called a `dual'. Two duals are balanced between Lange couplers and driven by a single MMIC module to form a 5 MMIC module. The full power module has 8 to 10 watts of Pout, 20 dB of gain and 14 % PAE at 18 GHz. The modules could be tuned for 1 GHz instantaneous bandwidth anywhere in the 15-18 GHz band.