A 130 to 160 GHz broadband power amplifier with binary power splitting topology

The range of radar and communication systems working in the atmospheric window around 140 GHz strongly is limited by the output power of the transmit amplifier. To allow for long range application, a broadband power amplifier with 145 GHz center frequency and a -3dB bandwidth from 130 GHz to 160 GHz has been developed. It makes use of a binary power dividing topology, which is compact size and allows for very broadband power amplifier designs. The developed amplifier has more than 15dB small-signal gain, a power added efficiency of about 4% and an output power of 13.1 dBm, i.e. 20 mW. The three-stage amplifier makes use of 100nm gate-length metamorphic high electron mobility transistors on GaAs substrate.