Ultra-Wideband Transformer Feedback Monolithic Microwave Integrated Circuit Power Amplifier Design on 0.25 μm GaN Process

Jialin Luo; Yihui Fan; Jing Wan; Xuming Sun; Xiaoxin Liang

doi:10.3390/mi15040546

Ultra-Wideband Transformer Feedback Monolithic Microwave Integrated Circuit Power Amplifier Design on 0.25 μm GaN Process

Micromachines (Basel). 2024 Apr 18;15(4):546. doi: 10.3390/mi15040546.

Authors

Jialin Luo^{1

2}, Yihui Fan^{1

2}, Jing Wan^{1

3}, Xuming Sun^{1

3}, Xiaoxin Liang^{1

3}

Affiliations

¹ Institute of Microelectronics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100029, China.
² University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 101408, China.
³ Beijing Key Laboratory of New Generation Communication RF Technology, Beijing 100020, China.

Abstract

This paper presents an ultra-wideband transformer feedback (TFB) monolithic microwave integrated circuit (MMIC) power amplifier (PA) developed using a 0.25 μm gallium nitride (GaN) process. To broaden the bandwidth, a drain-to-gate TFB technique is employed in this PA design, achieving a 117% relative -3 dB bandwidth, extending from 5.4 GHz to 20.3 GHz. At a 28 V supply, the designed PA circuit achieves an output power of 25.5 dBm and a 14 dB small-signal gain in the frequency range of 6 to 19 GHz. Within the 6 to 19 GHz frequency range, the small-signal gain exhibits a flatness of less than 0.78 dB. The PA chip occupies an area of 1.571 mm². This work is the first to design a power amplifier with on-chip transformer feedback in a compound semiconductor MMIC process, and it enables the use of the widest bandwidth power amplifier on-chip transformer matching network.

Keywords: MMIC; TFB; transmission line theory; wideband matching.

Grants and funding

This research received no external funding.