Design of a very compact space borne x-band high power high efficiency hybrid amplifier

Power amplifiers with high power-added efficiency appears to be one possibility to overcome the important power consumption which exists in power modules in satellites of telecommunications and satellites of observation of the earth. We have developed a straightforward technique for designing very high efficiency power amplifiers. An hybrid power amplifier was designed at X-band achieving output power of 8 Watts with a power-added efficiency greater than 45% and an linear gain of 18dB. Experimental results demonstrate an output power of 8 Watts with an associated power-added efficiency of 40% accross the 250MHz bandwidth. The overall amplifier size of 100mm2 is believed to be compatible to the size of same power MMIC packaged module.