A Review of GaN MMIC Power Amplifier Technologies for Millimeter-Wave Applications

Abstract

Keigo NAKATANI † , member, Yutaro YAMAGUCHI † , member, Takuma TORII † , member, Masaomi TSURU † , senior member SUMMARY GaN microwave monolithic integrated circuit (MMIC) power amplifiers (PAs) technologies for millimeter-wave (mm-wave) applications are reviewed in this paper. In the mm-wave band, GaN PAs have achieved high-output power as much as traveling wave tube amplifiers used in satellite communications. Additionally, GaN PAs have been integrated enough to be used for 5G and Beyond-5G. In this paper, a high accuracy large-signal GaN-HEMT modeling technique including the trapping effects is introduced in mm-waves. The prototyped PAs designed with the novel modeling technique have achieved RF performance comparable to that of the state-of-the-art GaN PAs in mm-wave.

A 24-30GHz Power Amplifier with >20-dBm Psat and <0.1-dB AM-AM Distortion for 5G Applications in 130-nm SiGe BiCMOS

“…The performance of the PA has a significant impact on wireless communications, so various proposals have been made to meet the required specifications. For example, techniques using GaN and GaAs have been reported to show high output power for mm-wave applications [29], [30]. Nevertheless, since 5G mm-wave base stations perform beamforming using a large number of PAs, they should be inexpensive, mass-producible and easy-tointegrate with phase controller.…”