A high-power Ka-band power amplifier design based on GaAs P-HEMT technology for VSAT ODU applications

In this paper, a Ka-band GaAs pseudomorphic high electron mobility transistor (P-HEMT) monolithic microwave integrated circuit (MMIC) power amplifier for very small aperture terminal (VSAT) outdoor unit (ODU) transmitter applications in demonstrated. This three-stage power amplifier is designed to fully match the 50 Ω input and output impedances. With 6 V and −0.75 V DC bias, a small signal gain of 11 dB, a 1 dB compression power (P1dB) of 29.5 dBm, a power added efficiency (PAE) of 31%, and a better than −15 dB input return loss are achieved from 28.5 to 31.5 GHz. The proposed Ka-band power amplifier is designed within a die size of about 3.344 × 1.964 mm² on GaAS substrate.