A 1-W high-efficiency Q-band MMIC power amplifier

Recent development on MMIC power amplifier has pushed the power-added efficiency (PAE) of 1-W amplifier to 29.4%. The power amplifier, using 0.15-μm InGaAs T-gate PHEMT devices, can deliver 1.2 W with 25% efficiency at 40 GHz when the drain is biased at 5 V. When the drain voltage drops to 4 V the output power is 1 W with 9-db associated gain and 29.4% PAE. The measured linear gain is averaged to be 12.5 db from 38-44 GHz.