A flat gain GaN MMIC power amplifier for X band application

A flat gain two-stage MMIC power amplifier with a 2.8 GHz bandwidth is successfully developed for X band frequency application based on a fully integrated micro-strip AlGaN/GaN HEMT technology on a semi-insulating SiC substrate. Designed with a binary-cluster matching structure integrated with RC networks and LRC networks, the developed power MMIC gets a very flat small signal gain of 15 dB with a gain ripple of 0.35 dB over 9.1–11.9 GHz at the drain bias of 20 V. These RC networks are very easy to improve the stability of used GaN HEMTs with tolerance to the MMIC technology. Inside the frequency range of 9–11.2 GHz where the measurement system calibrated, the amplifier delivers a pulsed output power of 39 dBm and an associated power added efficiency of about 20% at 28 V without saturation, as the available RF power is limited. (semiconductor integrated circuits)