A hybrid 50-W GaN-HEMT Ku-band power amplifier

In this paper the design, implementation, and experimental results of a Ku-band 50 W GaN-HEMT power amplifier (PA) for satellite communication are presented. A 250 nm bare-die device has been chosen to achieve high saturated efficiency over the whole extended Ku-band uplink (13.75-14.5 GHz). The circuit was realized in a hybrid microwave integrated circuit (MIC) technology on an alumina substrate. The PA shows a measured performance of more than 40 W output power for a continuous wave (CW) signal with a PAE higher than 21 %. Modulated measurements (QPSK) demonstrate an output power of more than 30 W (50 W peak) and 21 % PAE, while holding the linearity requirements specified by Eutelsat.