A D -Band GaN Power Amplifier With 28-dBm P sat , a Power Density of 0.2 W/mm 2 , and Loss-Optimized Matching Networks

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Abstract
In this letter, we present a D-band power amplifier (PA) monolithic microwave integrated circuit (MMIC), manufactured in a gallium nitride (GaN)-on-silicon carbide (SiC) high electron-mobility transistor (HEMT) technology. The PA comprises six stages of 70-nm gate-length HEMTs and features 4-way corporate power combining, which results in an output stage gate-width of 352 $\mu $ m. We develop and analyze a loss-optimized interstage matching network (ISMN) topology, which is crucial for driving the output stage. As a result, the PA delivers a saturated output power (P sat) of more than $\mathrm {25.2~dBm }$ between 125 and 151 GHz, and a peak P sat of $\mathrm {28~dBm }$ at the center of the frequency band. The high P sat and a small chip size (3.125 mm2) translate into a power density (Pdens ) of more than 0.2 W/mm2. To the best of our knowledge, this PA MMIC demonstrates the highest P sat and Pdens beyond 120 GHz across all technologies.
Funding Information
  • Federal Ministry of Research, Technology and Space of Germany through Project 6G-TERAKOM (16KISK158)

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