Μm GaN HEMT Technology Research Articles

C-band 15w High PAE Second Harmonic Suppression Power Amplifier MMIC For Radar Networks

Abstract This paper introduces the design process of a high-efficiency power amplifier, which adopts the 0.25µm GaN HEMT technology and a two-stage amplifier structure. In order to control harmonics for the second time, the SHS topology was added to the final matching network. After obtaining the physical object, the chip was tested using a 10% duty cycle pulse, and the test results showed that the second harmonic suppression degree of MMIC in the 5-6GHz band exceeded -45dBc, the pout was higher than 15W, the gain was greater than 22dB, and the PAE ranged from 52% to 60%. In addition, the PA MMIC had a size of 3 × 1.3 mm2.

Gain and Power Enhancement With Coupled Technique for a Distributed Power Amplifier in 0.25- μm GaN HEMT Technology

Gain and Power Enhancement With Coupled Technique for a Distributed Power Amplifier in 0.25- μm GaN HEMT Technology

An S/C/X-Band 4-Bit Digital Step Attenuator MMIC with 0.25 μm GaN HEMT Technology

In this paper, a 4-bit digital step attenuator using 0.25 μm GaN HEMT technology for wideband radar systems is presented. A switched-path attenuator topology with resistive T-type attenuators and double-pole double-throw (DPDT) switches was used to achieve both low insertion loss and phase/amplitude error. The measured insertion loss of the reference state is 2.8–8.3 dB at DC-12 GHz. The input and output return loss are less than 12 dB at DC-12 GHz. An attenuation coverage of 30 dB with a least significant bit of 2 dB was achieved at DC-12 GHz. A root mean square (RMS) amplitude error of 1 dB and a phase error of 8.5° were achieved, respectively. The attenuator chip size is 2.45 mm × 1.75 mm including pads. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first demonstration of a GaN-based digital step attenuator.

A C-Band High-Efficiency Power Amplifier MMIC With Second-Harmonic Control in 0.25 μm GaN HEMT Technology

This letter presents a <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$C$ </tex-math></inline-formula>-band high-efficiency fully integrated high-power amplifier (HPA) monolithic microwave integrated circuit (MMIC) in 0.25 <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\mu \text{m}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> gallium nitride (GaN) high electron mobility transistor (HEMT) technology. The proposed GaN HPA MMIC consists of two amplifying stages, and its output stage includes eight transistors in parallel. In order to realize the high efficiency, a low-loss harmonic control network (HCN) using a parallel <i>LC</i> resonate block is applied to obtain the optimum load impedance to each transistor employed in the output stage of the HPA at both <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$f_{0}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> and <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$2f_{0}$ </tex-math></inline-formula>. Thus, the designed GaN HPA can operate in pulse conditions of 100 <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\mu \text{s}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> pulsewidth and 10&#x0025; of duty cycle over the frequency from 5.6 to 6.3 GHz. The proposed high-efficiency GaN HPA MMIC provides an average output power of 45.0&#x2013;45.5 dBm (31.6&#x2013;35.5 W) with a power-added efficiency (PAE) of 59&#x0025;&#x2013;61.8&#x0025;, and a gain of 26&#x2013;28.5 dB under a drain voltage of 28 V. The area of the proposed GaN HPA MMIC is 4.2 mm <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\times $ </tex-math></inline-formula> 4 mm including pads.

From model to low noise amplifier monolithic microwave integrated circuit: 0.03–2.6 GHz plastic quad‐flat no‐leads packaged Gallium‐Nitride low noise amplifier monolithic microwave integrated circuit

AbstractThis paper describes an air cavity quad‐flat no‐leads (QFN) over‐molded plastic packaged cascode broadband GaN LNA Monolithic Microwave Integrated Circuit (MMIC) with resistive feedback fabricated with 0.25 μm GaN HEMT technology. The single stage QFN packaged GaN LNA MMIC achieves a bandwidth of 0.03–2.6 GHz with a typical gain of 11.5 dB and less than 1.5 dB noise figure. The low noise amplifier (LNA) design is based on a model of a concept transistor, the cascode transistor used in the design, that has not been fabricated previously. The concept transistor is fabricated for the first time along with the GaN LNA MMIC. The fabricated GaN LNA MMIC is housed in a 12‐lead 3 × 3 mm2 air cavity QFN over‐molded plastic package and mounted on an application board. The measurements taken with the application board represent a good convergence with the design that is based on a concept transistor model. The measurement results and 50 Ω internal matching on both ports without the need for additional matching components make this LNA attractive for many applications.

An X-Band GaN HEMT Oscillator with Four-Path Inductors

An X-band GaN HEMT oscillator implemented with the WIN 0.25 μm GaN HEMT technology is proposed. The oscillator consists of a HEMT amplifier with an LC feedback network with four-path inductors. With the supply voltage of VDD = 2 V, the GaN VCO current and power consumption of the oscillator are 10.8 mA and 21.6mW, respectively. The oscillator can generate single-ended signal at 8.82 GHz and it also supplies output power 1.24 dBm. At 1MHz frequency offset from the carrier the phase noise is 124.95 dBc/Hz. The die area of the GaN HEMT oscillator is 2×1 mm2.

An 4.7 GHz low‐power cross‐coupled GaN HEMT oscillator

AbstractA GaN HEMT oscillator implemented with the WIN 0.25 μm GaN HEMT technology is designed. The oscillator consists of two HEMT amplifiers with cross‐coupled feedback topology. With the supply voltage of VDD = 0.4 V, the GaN VCO current and power consumption of the oscillator are 6.673 mA and 2.669 mW, respectively. The oscillator can generate differential signal at 4.7 GHz and it also supplies output power − 5.3 dBm. At 1 MHz frequency offset from the carrier the phase noise is −121.77 dBc/Hz. The die area of the GaN HEMT oscillator is 2 × 1 mm2.

High power 3-bit GaN high-pass/low-pass phase shifter for X-band applications

PurposeThe design and performance of X-band high power 3-bit phase shifter which has been fabricated in 0.25µm GaN HEMT technology are presented.Design/methodology/approachEach bit of this phase shifter design is based on high-pass/low-pass topology.FindingsFor all eight states, the insertion loss is 12.5 ± 2.5 dB from 8-10 GHz and the input return loss is better than 9 dB over 8-10 GHz. The 3-bit phase shifter achieves a RMS phase error of 1o at 8.5 GHz and a RMS amplitude error less than 1.1dB. The measured continuous wave power data demonstrates typical input RF power handing capability of 32 dBm at 8 GHz.Originality/valueThis is to the authors’ knowledge the first published results of 3-bit AlGaN/GaN phase shifter.

X-band 5-bit MMIC phase shifter with GaN HEMT technology

The design approach and performance of a 5-bit digital phase shifter implemented with 0.25μmGaN HEMT technology for X-band phased arrays are described. The switched filter and high-pass/low-pass networks are proposed in this article. For all 32 states of the 5-bit phase shifter, the RMS phase error less than 5.5°, RMS amplitude error less than 0.8dB, insertion loss less than 12dB and input/output return loss less than 8.5dB are obtained overall 8–12GHz. The continuous wave power capability is also measured, and a typical input RF P1dB data of 32dBm is achieved at 8GHz.