A high-efficiency HBT MMIC power amplifier

Author

Ramachandran, R. ; Nijjar, M. ; Podell, A. ; Stoneham, E. ; Mitchell, Sophia ; Wang, N.L. ; Ho, W.J. ; Chang, M.F. ; Sullivan, G.J. ; Higgins, J.A. ; Asbeck, P.M.

Author_Institution

Pacific Monolithics, Sunnyvale, CA, USA

fYear

1990

fDate

7-10 Oct. 1990

Firstpage

357

Lastpage

360

Abstract

An AlGaAs/GaAs heterojunction bipolar transistor monolithic microwave IC (HBT MMIC) power amplifier is developed that demonstrates very high power-added efficiency, high gain, and broad bandwidth. It uses a cascode structure with four 200- mu m common-emitter HBT cells driving four common-base cells of the same size. This amplifier achieves over 14-dB gain from 6 to 10 GHz, with a peak power-added efficiency (PAE) of 47% at 7.5 GHz at an output power level of 31 dBm. This corresponds to a power density of over 3 W per millimeter of emitter length. Input and output matching networks, as well as biasing networks, are all contained within the chip, which measures 80*80 mils (2*2 mm).<>

Keywords

III-V semiconductors; MMIC; aluminium compounds; gallium arsenide; heterojunction bipolar transistors; microwave amplifiers; power amplifiers; 6 to 10 GHz; AlGaAs-GaAs; bandwidth; biasing networks; cascode structure; common-base cells; common-emitter HBT cells; gain; heterojunction bipolar transistor; matching networks; monolithic microwave; power amplifier; power density; power-added efficiency; Bandwidth; Bipolar integrated circuits; Gallium arsenide; Heterojunction bipolar transistors; High power amplifiers; MMICs; Microwave amplifiers; Microwave integrated circuits; Monolithic integrated circuits; Power amplifiers;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Gallium Arsenide Integrated Circuit (GaAs IC) Symposium, 1990. Technical Digest 1990., 12th Annual

Conference_Location

New Orleans, LA, USA

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/GAAS.1990.175528

Filename

175528