A Ka-band power amplifier based on the traveling-wave power-dividing/combining slotted-waveguide circuit

An eight-device Ka-band solid-state power amplifier has been designed and fabricated using a traveling-wave power-dividing/combining technique. The low-profile slotted-waveguide structure employed in this design provides not only a high power-combining efficiency over a wide bandwidth, but also efficient heat sinking for the active devices. The measured maximum small-signal gain of the eight-device power amplifier is 19.4 dB at 34 GHz with a 3-dB bandwidth of 3.2 GHz (f_L=31.8 GHz, f_H=35 GHz). The measured maximum output power at 1-dB compression (P_out at 1 dB) from the power amplifier is 33 dBm (∼2 W) at 32.2 GHz, with a power-combining efficiency of 80%. Furthermore, performance degradation of this power amplifier due to device failures has also been simulated and measured.