A balanced sub-millimeter wave power amplifier

Author

Deal, W.R. ; Mei, X.B. ; Radisic, V. ; Bayuk, B. ; Fung, A. ; Yoshida, W. ; Liu, P.R. ; Uyeda, J. ; Samoska, L. ; Gaier, T. ; Lai, R.

Author_Institution

Northrop Grumman Corporation, Redondo Beach CA, 90278, USA

fYear

2008

fDate

15-20 June 2008

Firstpage

399

Lastpage

402

Abstract

In this paper, a new balanced sub-millimeter wave power amplifiers is presented. The amplifier uses CPW-grounded MIM capacitors to form low-loss, lumped element matching networks and uses a branchline coupler to achieve requisite quadrature phase shifts. The balanced amplifier achieves 12-dB small signal gain and 6.1-mW output power (not saturated) at a center frequency of 270-GHz. The high gain allows the amplifier to reach a moderate Power Added Efficiency (PAE) of 5.25% at the highest drive power. The results in this paper are the highest reported output powers achieved from a solid state amplifier at these frequencies, and were achieved with a high f_MAX InP HEMT process.

Keywords

III-V semiconductors; MIM devices; capacitors; coplanar waveguides; indium compounds; lumped parameter networks; power HEMT; power amplifiers; submillimetre wave amplifiers; submillimetre wave couplers; CPW-grounded MIM capacitors; HEMT; balanced sub-millimeter wave power amplifiers; branchline coupler; frequency 270 GHz; gain 2 dB; lumped element matching networks; power 6.1 mW; power added efficiency; quadrature phase shifts; small signal gain; Coplanar waveguides; Frequency; HEMTs; High power amplifiers; Indium phosphide; MMICs; Power amplifiers; Power generation; Solid state circuits; Topology; Coplanar Waveguide; HEMT; MMIC; Millimeter Wave; Power Amplifier;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Microwave Symposium Digest, 2008 IEEE MTT-S International

Conference_Location

Atlanta, GA

ISSN

0149-645X

Print_ISBN

978-1-4244-1780-3

Electronic_ISBN

0149-645X

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/MWSYM.2008.4633187

Filename

4633187