A Ku-band eight-way solid-state spatial power-combining amplifier

A novel Ku-band eight-way spatial power dividing/combining network, based on two reduced-height waveguide to mirostrip E-plane four-probe structures connected with a broadband waveguide E-T branch symmetrically, has been proposed and designed in this paper firstly. And the measured 10-dB return loss and 0.8-dB insertion loss of the power combiner are obtained in whole Ku-band (12 GHz-18 GHz). And then with Ku-band high power MMIC PAs integrated, an eight-way solidstate spatial power-combining amplifier is developed. The measured saturated CW output power is more than 45.1 dBm (32.4 W) in 12GHz-16.5 GHz, and the maximal saturated output power, 45.6 dBm (36.3 W) is observed at 15.5 GHz. The corresponding combining efficiency is from 72% to 83% and the power added efficiency (PAE) is more than 15% in the working bandwidth of the devices adopted. This Ku-band eight-way solidstate spatial power-combining amplifier has properties of high output power, compact structure, easy fabrication process and good heat sinking.