A X-band Dual-Power Mode Power Amplifier with Duality Impedance Matching Network

A monolithic power amplifier in 0.25 µm GaN process is proposed for joint radar and communication. The presented PA is comprised of dual branches to facilitate the specified output power level. In order to meet the load impedance of dual branches, an on-chip duality impedance matching network (DIMN) consisting of switches is realized as a part of input and output matching network. As a proof, under the excitation of a pulse signal with a 100 µs pulse width and a repetition frequency of 1 KHz, it demonstrates a saturated output power of 48.2 dBm-49.5 dBm with a power-added efficiency (PAE) of 40.5%42.8%, and a power gain of 22.2 dB-23.5 dB for high power mode. When the PA operates in low power mode, the measured results obtained using continuous wave signals reveal a saturated output power of 35.7 dBm-37.3 dBm, a PAE of 18.0%-21.8%, and a linear gain of 14.1-17.8 dB. When the proposed PA output a power level of 34.5 dBm, the PAE in LP mode is increased to 17.3% from 2.5% in HP mode. Moreover, the third-order intermodulation is below 30 dBc with a two-tone output power of 30.5 dBm.