Ultra Compact X-Band GaInP/GaAs HBT MMIC amplifiers : 11W, 42% of PAE on 13mm2 and 8.7W, 38% of PAE on 9mm2

HBT power technology offers an excellent compromise for high power and high efficiency amplifiers up to the Ku band. In order to reduce cost and size of THALES T/R modules, we developed compact high power MMIC amplifiers with innovative transistor designs in X-band. In this paper, we present the performances of two GaInP/GaAs MMIC power amplifiers. The first one delivers an output power of 11.2W with 42.3% of PAE with a chip size of 13mm². It represents a power density of 0.86W/mm² of GaAs area. An advanced version on only 9 mm² of GaAs gives an output power of 8.7W with 38% of PAE. This corresponds to a power density of 0.96W/mm² of GaAs. To our knowledge, this is the state of the art performances in terms of power density per GaAs surface for MMIC power amplifiers above 8W. These power MMIC circuits constitute very attractive chips for phased array antennas, airborne radar, telecommunications or satellite links