15 GHz medium power amplifier design for Ku-band applications

This paper present the design of 2-stage 15 GHz power amplifier (PA) using 0.15 μm GaAs p-HEMT technology. At operating frequency of 15 GHz (Ku-band), each single PA stage was designed for optimum power and efficiency of the transistor, with 50 Ω input and output impedance matching. In this design, the active devices were selected from the depletion p-HEMT type with voltage supply of 4.5 V and DC bias of -0.2 V. The PA delivers maximum linear output power of 22.21 dBm while achieving maximum power-added-efficiency (PAE) of 37.02 %. The PA has an input and output return loss at 20.76 dB and 25.19 dB respectively. Having a current consumption of 132 mA, this PA achieves a small signal gain of 22.34 dB. The proposed PA is designed within a die size of about 2.08 × 1.03 mm² on GaAs substrate.