A very compact power amplifier using GaN HEMTs in multilayer thin-film technology

Author

Liu, Rui ; Schreurs, Dominique ; De Raedt, Walter ; Vanaverbeke, Frederik ; Das, Jo ; Germain, Marianne ; Mertens, Robert

Author_Institution

IMEC, Leuven, Belgium

fYear

2010

fDate

26-27 April 2010

Firstpage

37

Lastpage

40

Abstract

In this paper, a compact power amplifier module integrated in a thin film multi-chip module (MCM-D) interconnect technology is presented. The active device of the amplifier is a SiC based AlGaN/GaN high electron mobility transistor (HEMT). Measurement results show that the prototype module can exhibit an output power of 1.6 W and a drain efficiency of 28% at 5.5 GHz. The major advantage of using a system-in-package (SiP) approach with MCM-D technology is the dramatic cost reduction compared to an MMIC and the size reduction compared to a hybrid PCB approach.

Keywords

III-V semiconductors; aluminium compounds; gallium compounds; high electron mobility transistors; multilayers; power amplifiers; silicon compounds; system-on-package; thin film transistors; AlGaN-GaN; AlGaN/GaN high electron mobility transistor; GaN HEMT; MCM-D interconnect technology; SiC; compact power amplifier; frequency 5.5 GHz; multilayer thin-film technology; power 1.6 W; system-in-package; thin film multichip module; Aluminum gallium nitride; Gallium nitride; HEMTs; MODFETs; Nonhomogeneous media; Power amplifiers; Power measurement; Prototypes; Silicon carbide; Transistors; AlGaN/GaN HEMTs; MCM-D; RF power amplifier; WiMAX; integration; system-in-package; thin-film;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Integrated Nonlinear Microwave and Millimeter-Wave Circuits (INMMIC), 2010 Workshop on

Conference_Location

Goteborg

Print_ISBN

978-1-4244-7410-3

Electronic_ISBN

978-1-4244-7412-7

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/INMMIC.2010.5480146

Filename

5480146