A Spectrally pure 5.0 W, High PAE, (6-12 GHz) GaN Monolithic Class E Power Amplifier for Advanced T/R Modules

This paper introduces a new highly efficient broadband monolithic class-E power amplifier utilizing a single 0.25 um times 800 um AlGaN/GaN field-plated HEMT producing 8 W/mm of power at 10.0 GHz. The HPA utilizes a novel distributed broadband class-E load topology to maintain a simultaneous high PAE and output Power over (6-12 GHz). The HPA´s peak PAE and output power performance measured under three pulsed drain voltages at 7.5 GHz are: (67%, 36.8 dBm @ 20 V), (64%, 37.8 dBm @ 25 V) and (58%, 38.3 dBm @ 30 V). The new broadband load also provides a spectrally pure output power response under CW and pulsed modulated RF input conditions. The HPA spurious free performance is evident from its low AM and PM noise figures of <-125 dBc at 10 KHz from carrier and <-130 dBc at 15 KHz from 10 GHz respectively. To the best of our knowledge, this is the highest ever reported performance for a high power, 6-12 GHz GaN class-E power amplifier.