An efficient, linear and compact GaN-MMIC power module for microwave backhaul links

Author

Piazzon, L. ; Giofre, R. ; Colantonio, P. ; Giannini, F. ; Cipriani, Elisa

Author_Institution

Dept. of Electron. Eng., Univ. of Roma Tor Vergata, Rome, Italy

fYear

2014

fDate

2-4 April 2014

Firstpage

1

Lastpage

3

Abstract

A GaN-MMIC power module for microwave back-haul applications in C-band frequency range is presented in this contribution. The design is based on a commercial 0.25 μm channel length GaN power process. The module is composed of two stages. The final stage is designed in order to reach 38 dBm of saturated output power with high efficiency and AM/AM linearity. The driver stage is integrated in order to achieve 25 dB of gain and to partially compensate the phase distortion generated by the final stage. The size of the passive matching networks is minimized, allowing to implement the overall circuit in a 3×3mm² chip area. An uneven drain bias voltage for the two stages is adopted in order to maximize the total efficiency. The module shows 38 dBm of saturated output power, 25 dB of gain, 55% of power added efficiency and less than 1.5 degree of phase distortion at 7 GHz.

Keywords

III-V semiconductors; MMIC; gallium compounds; microwave links; power integrated circuits; wide band gap semiconductors; AM-AM linearity; C-band frequency range; GaN; GaN power process; GaN-MMIC power module; driver stage; efficiency 55 percent; frequency 7 GHz; gain 25 dB; microwave backhaul link; passive matching networks; phase distortion; size 0.25 mum; uneven drain bias voltage; Gain; Linearity; Microwave communication; Multichip modules; Power generation;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Integrated Nonlinear Microwave and Millimetre-wave Circuits (INMMiC), 2014 International Workshop on

Conference_Location

Leuven

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/INMMIC.2014.6815095

Filename

6815095