A Low-Cost 30-W Class X-Band GaN-on-Si MMIC Power Amplifier with a GaAs MMIC Output Matching Circuit

In this paper, a high output power and high gain X-band GaN-on-Si MMIC power amplifier with a GaAs MMIC output matching circuit is developed to achieve a low-cost and miniaturized module. A GaAs MMIC output matching circuit is employed to reduce circuit loss. Measured performance of the developed amplifier shows output power of 44.8 dBm (30.4 W), associated gain of 29.8 dB and PAE of 30 % in X-band. The developed amplifier achieves the highest output power, gain and PAE among X-band GaN-on-Si amplifiers ever reported. The developed amplifier is estimated to be less than half the cost of GaN-on-SiC amplifiers of the same size.