Abstract
A highly efficient linear, broad-band AlGaN-GaN high electron-mobility transistor (HEMT) push-pull microwave power amplifier has been achieved using discrete devices. Instrumental was a low-loss planar three-coupled-line balun with integrated biasing. Using two 1.5-mm GaN HEMTs, a push-pull amplifier yielded 42% power-added efficiency with 28.5-dBm input power at 5.2 GHz, and a 3-dB bandwidth of 4-8.5 GHz was achieved with class-B bias. The output power at 3-dB gain compression was 36 dBm under continuous-wave operation. Along with the high efficiency, good linearity was obtained compared to single-ended operation. The second harmonic content of the amplifier was more than 30 dB down over the 4-8.5-GHz band, and a two-tone excitation measurement gave an input third-order intercept point of 31.5 dBm at 8 GHz. These experimental results and an analysis of the periodic load presented by the output balun suggest the plausibility of broad-band push-pull operation for microwave systems with frequency diversity.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 2243-2249 |
| Number of pages | 7 |
| Journal | IEEE Transactions on Microwave Theory and Techniques |
| Volume | 51 |
| Issue number | 11 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - Nov 2003 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:Manuscript received December 20, 2002; revised June 27, 2003. This work was supported by the Office of Naval Research (ONR) under Contract N00014-98-1-0371 and Contract N00014-99-C-0172. The discrete GaN devices were fabricated under ONR Contract N00014-99-C-0172.
Keywords
- Balun
- Broad-band amplifier
- Gallium nitride
- High electron-mobility transistor (HEMT)
- Push-pull
- Silicon carbide
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