A 150–175 GHz 30-dB S21 G-band Power Amplifier with 0.25-W Pout and 15.7% PAE in a 250-nm InP HBT Technology

We report a five-gain-stage 150–175 GHz solid-state power amplifier (PA, SSPA) integrated circuit (MMIC) having 23–24 dBm output power Pout, high gain, and high power-added-efficiency (PAE). The transistor technology is 250-nm InP HBT. The S21 gain is 31.7±1.7-dB from 97–171 GHz. The 3-dB S21 bandwidth is between 95–177 GHz. Return loss values for |S11| are 4.6-16.2 dB and for |S22| exceed 9.6-dB. DC power is 1.50-W. Across 150–175 GHz, the saturated output power Psat is 204–250 mW with 17-dB gain and 13.1-15.7% PAE - peak values for Pout and PAE are at 160-GHz operation. The 1-dB gain compression Pout (OP
1dB
) is 93–123 mW. Across D-band (110–170 GHz), Psat is 140–250 mW with 7.7-15.7% PAE. Compared to the previous state-of-the-art, this work matches the highest output power demonstrated at 150–175 GHz G-band operation but has established a new benchmark with a 1.9-2.2× increase to PAE.