Design of an X-band pulsed SSPA based on a cascade technique

An X-band pulsed solid-state power amplifier (PSSPA) with high output power and high power added efficiency (PAE) is reported in this article. The high power amplifier (HPA) was implemented by a cascade approach, including an MMIC driving amplifier, an internally matched medium-power and a high-power GaAs FET. To achieve optimum electrical performance of the proposed PSSPA, some considerations of the Grounding, DC Blocking Circuit, bias network, microwave absorber, and the isolation blocks, have been taken in our design. Under the pulse condition of 8 KHz pulse repeat frequency (PRF) and 10% of duty cycle, the pulse output power ranges between 45.8 and 46.6 dBm, and the PAE varies between 35.8% and 40.5% from 9.5 to 10.5 GH.