A 4-Watt X-Band compact coplanar high power amplifier MMIC with 18-dB Gain and 25-% PAE

The performance of a compact coplanar (CPW) microwave monolithic integrated circuit (MMIC) amplifier with high output power in the X-band is presented. Based on our 0.3-µm gate length GaAs power PHEMT process on 4" wafer, this two-stage amplifier, having a chip size of 16 mm2, averages 4 Watts CW and 25-% PAE in the X-band, with more than 18-dB linear gain. Peak output powers of PB-1dB=36.3 dBm (4.3 Watts) and Psat of 36.9 dBm (4.9 Watt) at 10 GHz with a power added efficiency of 35 % were also measured. Compared to previously reported X-band coplanar HPA, this represents a chip size reduction of 20 %, comparable to the size of compact state-of-the-art microstrip PAs.