Development and environmental evaluation of 10- W class-F power amplifier for microwave-discharge ion thruster on satellites

Microwave-discharge ion thrusters utilizing water vapor offer several advantages, including safety, low cost, and miniaturization, making them suitable for satellite applications. The thruster system comprises an oscillator stage, driver-amplifier (DA) stage, final-amplifier stage, and a microwave-discharged ion thruster. For the driver-amplifier stage, a DA with an output power of 10 W and a drain efficiency of 60% was developed. The amplifier is a class-F power amplifier using a 10-W-class GaN power transistor. In this report, we explain the development of the DA and detail the environmental evaluations conducted in accordance with the space standards outlined in the SMC-S-016.