A packaged hybrid doherty PA for microwave links

The performance of a 6.5 GHz hybrid GaN Doherty power amplifier is reported. The amplifier is packaged in a plastic overmold QFN 9×9 package and includes discrete GaN transistors and integrated passive GaAs splitting, matching and combiner networks. Measured results, under continuous wave operation, at 6.5 GHz shows 18 dB gain, a P1dB of 42 dBm, and 21% PAE in 9 dB output power back off. These results are the first reported for a Doherty power amplifier that comes close to specifications for a typical point-to-point microwave link application. Furthermore, the presented hybrid approach is a step towards cost effective microwave Doherty power amplifiers.