A 2 W, 65% PAE single-supply enhancement-mode power PHEMT for 3 V PCS applications

An enhancement-mode power PHEMT process has been developed for low-voltage wireless subscriber power amplifier applications. Employing a highly selective reactive ion etching process to define the vertical position of the Schottky gate, this device only requires a positive voltage. A 12-mm gate periphery device demonstrated 33 dBm output power (167 mW/mm), 14.7 dB power gain (16.7 dB linear gain), and 65.4% PAE at 3 V and 1.8 GHz.