High-gain AlGaN/GaN HEMT single chip e-band power amplifier MMIC with 30 dBm output power

This paper reports on the design, fabrication and measured performance of an E-band power amplifier MMIC delivering >1 W of output power. AlGaN/GaN based high-electron-mobility transistors (HEMTs) with 100 nm of gate length have been processed in a grounded coplanar transmission line technology in order to realize the four-stage high power amplifier chip. For the designed prototype, measurement results yielded small-signal gain of 16-18 dB in the frequency range from 71 to 76 GHz (low E-band). A saturated output power of 30.8 dBm (1.2 W) has been reported under continuous wave (CW) operation with more than 11 dB of power gain, corresponding to a power density of around 1 W/mm at the output of the final stage. This demonstrates superior performance of GaN technology in the millimeter-wave design over other competing technologies