A High Power Ku- to Ka-Band Single-Pole-Double-Throw Switch with Capacitive Loading for Isolation Improvement

In this paper, we report a design of single-pole-double-throw (SPDT) passive high-electron-mobility transistor (HEMT) switch using stacked-FET configuration with capacitive loading for isolation improvement. Based on the analysis subject to the insertion loss and isolation, devices with proper gate peripheries were selected for the realization of the SPDT switch. Implemented in commercial 0.15-μm GaAs pHEMT technology, the proposed design showed an insertion loss of less than 3 dB with an isolation greater than 30 dB from Ku-band up to Ka-band frequencies. Moreover, the SPDT switch achieved a nice power handling capability of better than 31.5 dBm across 26–40 GHz.