RF-MEMS based tri-band GaN power amplifier

Author

Liu, Richard ; Schreurs, Dominique ; De Raedt, W. ; Vanaverbeke, F. ; Mertens, Robert

Author_Institution

Electr. Eng. Dept., K.U. Leuven, Leuven, Belgium

Volume

47

Issue

13

fYear

2011

Firstpage

762

Lastpage

763

Abstract

An RF-MEMs based tri-band GaN power amplifier with state-of-the-art performance is presented. The active device is a low-cost GaN-on-Si transistor with a plastic package. A dedicated broadband output matching network is designed to provide the desired waveform at the device intrinsic level. The frequency reconfigurability is implemented with one RF-MEMS at the input stage. Measured results show a 45, 28 and 46% power added efficiency (PAE) for an output power of 5.6, 3.0 and 4.5 W at 1.4, 2.5 and 3.6 GHz, respectively. Furthermore, the power amplifier exhibits a high drain efficiency of more than 46% across 1.3-1.4 and 3.4-3.7 GHz whilst delivering an output power of more than 4.3 W.

Keywords

III-V semiconductors; UHF power amplifiers; elemental semiconductors; gallium compounds; micromechanical devices; microwave power amplifiers; silicon; wide band gap semiconductors; GaN; RF-MEMS; Si; efficiency 28 percent; efficiency 45 percent; efficiency 46 percent; frequency 1.3 GHz to 1.4 GHz; frequency 2.5 GHz; frequency 3.4 GHz to 3.7 GHz; low-cost GaN-on-Si transistor; plastic package; power 3.0 W; power 4.5 W; power 5.6 W; power added efficiency; triband power amplifier;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Electronics Letters

Publisher

iet

ISSN

0013-5194

Type

jour

DOI

10.1049/el.2011.1627

Filename

5931010