Design and Development of ultra wideband Transceiver's functional blocks MMICs Using GaN Technology

Abstract

This paper discusses GaN based ultra-wideband high-power amplifier (HPA), low noise amplifier (LNA) with high input power survivability and RF single-pole double throw (SPDT) switch with low insertion loss along with high isolation and high-power handling. These functional blocks can be further used in development of transmit (TX) -receive (RX) module (TRM). Power amplifiers in ultra-wideband C-Ku band is designed to provide 10W of output power during transmission. A low noise amplifier with 30 dBm survivability and less than 3.0 dB noise figure over the complete band is designed for receiver side. Furthermore, an RF switch that is capable of withstanding 20 W RF power is developed for the selection of Tx/Rx path. Also, this paper discusses methodology to measure HPA, LNA and SPDT switch using CPW probe. The measurement of the circuits is done in pulse mode for HPA and in CW mode for LNA and SPDT switch. The measured results are in good agreement with the simulated results. Measurement results show that power amplifiers give power output of better than 10 W. Low noise amplifiers having 18 dB small signal gain with 3 dB noise figure. RF switch has 45 dB of isolation with 1 dB insertion loss.