GaN/SiC V-band 33 dBm Power Amplifier with 10% PAE for Inter Satellite Communications

A V-band GaN Power Amplifier (PA), targeting 33 dBm of output power at 1 dB gain compression (P1dB), is presented. The PA has been designed on a 100-nm GaN/SiC process. It is composed of a driver stage and an amplifier. A Doherty-like topology has been adopted for the amplifier to increase the P1dB and Power Added Efficiency (PAE). Measurement results have shown average maximum values of 29.5 dB for the small-signal gain, 10.5% for the PAE@P1dB, and 33 dBm for P1dB within the 59 - 71 GHz band. The maximum total power consumption is 16.8 W and the chip sizes for the driver and amplifier are 2.75 mm x 1.5 mm and 5 mm x 2.75mm, respectively.