A C-Band Internally-Matched High Efficiency GaN Power Amplifier

We present a design and realization of a high efficiency C-Band (5.2 GHz–5.8 GHz) internally-matched gallium nitride (GaN) power amplifier (PA). To reduce power dissipation and to achieve high efficiency, both input and output matching networks, along with 2nd-harmonic modulation circuits, are designed accurately according to the source and load optimum impedances extracted by source-pull and load-pull measurements. The PA realizes an excellent rf performance under a pulsed condition, demonstrating a maximum output power of 52.2 dBm (164 W) with at least 13.5 dB gain in the frequency range from 5.2 GHz to 5.8 GHz (10% relative bandwidth). At the same time, a power-added efficiency (PAE) of 69.4% is observed at 5.6 GHz and over 65.0% throughout the whole bandwidth. The PAE is the state-of-art performance for C-band GaN high-electron-mobility transistor PA with such high output power, to the best of our knowledge.