First demonstration of W-band Tri-gate GaN-HEMT power amplifier MMIC with 30 dBm output power

Abstract

First-ever realization of a W-band power amplifier (PA) millimeter-wave monolithic integrated circuit (MMIC) utilizing GaN-based Tri-gate high-electron-mobility transistors (HEMTs) is presented in this paper. Superior device- and circuit-level performances over conventional GaN HEMTs are proven to be empowered through implementation of the novel Tri-gate topology which exhibits a 3-dimensional gate profile. The measurements of the fabricated MMIC yield up to 30.6 dBm (1.15 W) of output power in the frequency range of 86–94 GHz with 8% of power-added-efficiency (PAE) and more than 12 dB of transducer power gain. The achieved results demonstrate the promising potential of Tri-gate GaN technology towards high-performance millimeter-wave PA designs.