Ka-band GaN power amplifier MMIC chipset for satellite and 5G cellular communications

Ka-band gallium nitride (GaN) power amplifier monolithic microwave integrated circuits (MMICs) with 2 W driver Amplifier (DRA) MMIC and 8 W high power amplifier (HPA) MMIC have been developed. These MMICs are demonstrated using a 0.15 um GaN high electron mobility transistor (HEMT) technology on silicon carbide (SiC) substrate. At 28 GHz, the three-stage DRA MMIC in-fixture exhibits 25.8 dB of small signal gain and 33.1 dBm of continuous wave (CW) output power, which is sufficient to drive a HPA MMIC. The three-stage HPA MMIC achieves 23.5 dB of small signal gain, a CW output power of 39 dBm, and power added efficiency (PAE) of 26.6% at 28 GHz. The chip areas of the DRA MMIC and HPA MMIC are 4.08 mm
²
and 11.22 mm
²
, respectively.