60% PAE, 30W X-band and 33% PAE, 100W Ku-band PAs utilizing 0.15 μm GaN HEMT technology

Two kinds of high efficiency power amplifiers (PAs) at X and Ku bands utilizing 0.15 μm GaN HEMT technology are presented. The 0.15 μm GaN HEMT technology with cutoff frequency of over 40 GHz enables them to realize high RF performances at higher frequency. To provide better efficiency of the PAs, the second harmonic reflection circuits are employed at both input and output of GaN HEMT chips. The measured results show the X-band GaN HEMT PA achieved power added efficiency (PAE) of 58.6% and output power (P
out
) of 30W, and the Ku-band GaN HEMT PA obtained PAE of 33% and P
out
of 100W under CW operation. To the best of our knowledge, the both PAE of the X-band PA and P
out
under CW operation of the Ku-band PA are state-of-the-art.