A 12-W GaN-HEMT power amplifier for Ku-band satellite communication

This paper describes a hybrid microwave integrated circuit (MIC) power amplifier (PA) covering the extended Ku-band uplink (13.75 - 14.5 GHz) for satellite communication. A high relative permittivity alumina substrate and a 250nm GaN bare-die technology have been chosen realizing the amplifier. The designed PA was characterized in its small- and large-signal behavior. The measured device performance is about 12W output power for a continuous wave (CW) signal with a minimum drain efficiency of 31 %. Additional modulated measurements state an average output power of more than 9W and a peak power of about 18W achieving an efficiency of 25% using a 10 MSym/s QPSK signal.