Gallium-Nitride-Based E-Band Power Detector

This paper presents a Gallium-Nitride-based power detector design, enabling the on-chip monitoring of monolithic integrated high-power Gallium-Nitride power amplifiers in the E-band (71 to 76GHz). A state-of-the-art sensitivity of 1200V/W for E-band detectors is achieved by implementing a low-loss matching network, an optimum transistor size, and an ideal loading of the detector. For the first time, modulated power detection is reported and compared to sinusoidal detection in the E-band. The results show the suitability of the presented Gallium-Nitride-based power detector for monitoring the transmit power of wireless communication links in the E-band, targeting high data-rate backhaul applications.