Power and spectral regrowth performance of 10-W and 16-W Ka-band power amplifiers with single-chip output stages

By spatially combining the outputs of many solid-state devices on a single chip, grid amplifiers are not only powerful, linear, and efficient, but also are compact, rugged, and robust. We present measured data from a fully-packaged Ka-band module with standard waveguide input and output flanges. With a 50°C baseplate temperature, the module can be biased to deliver from 10 to 16 Watts of rated output power in the 30-31 GHz band. The module exhibits very good spectral regrowth performance, and can be operated well into saturation in single-carrier terminals for shared-spectrum multiple-access applications.