Enhanced GaN HEMT technology for E-band power amplifier MMICs with 1W output power

This paper reports the enhancement of the 100 nm GaN high-electron-mobility transistor and circuit technology by two evolutionary process development steps. Both, the application of a new gate-metallization and an optimized nitride deposition increases the high-frequency performance of the GaN-based technology significantly, up to measured ft = 100 GHz and fmax = 300 GHz values, respectively. The enhancement of the considered process development is also verified on circuit level by the realization of a power amplifier. The circuit, targeting the E-band satellite communication frequencies (71-76 GHz & 81-86 GHz), demonstrates a high gain at a maximum of 27 dB, along with a high saturated output power of more than 1 W within the entire frequency range of interest.