10W power amplifier and 3W transmit/receive module with 3 dB NF in Ka band using a 100nm GaN/Si process

Abstract

This paper presents two Monolithic Microwave Integrated Circuits (MMIC) designed and fabricated with the same 100 nm Gallium Nitride on Silicon (GaN/Si) millimeter wave process, demonstrating the excellent multipurpose capability of this technology. The first circuit is a 29–33 GHz power amplifier, presenting 10 W of output power in pulsed operation and 8 W is CW operation. The second MMIC is a 26–34 GHz Transmit/Receive chip (T/R chip), including on the same chip a Low Noise Amplifier (LNA), a Power Amplifier (PA) and a SPDT switch. In the 28–34 GHz frequency bandwidth, this T/R chip, including the switch losses, presents an output power of 35–36 dBm and a Noise Figure of 2.7 dB with an associated gain of 18 dB for the receive and transmit paths.