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Design of high power S-band GaN MMIC power amplifiers for WiMAX
applications

Article · August 2011

DOI: 10.1109/URSIGASS.2011.6050546

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 Design of High Power S-Band GaN MMIC Power Amplifiers for WiMAX
Applications

Ömer Cengiz1, Özgür Kelekçi1, Galip Orkun Arıcan1 , Ekmel Özbay1, Osman Palamutçuoğulları2

1 Bilkent University, Nanotechnology Research Center, 06800, Bilkent, Ankara, Turkey, [email protected]
[email protected], [email protected], [email protected]

2 Istanbul Technical University, Electrical & Electronics Faculty, 34469, Maslak, Istanbul, Turkey
[email protected]

Abstract
This paper reports two different S band GaN MMIC PA designs for WiMAX applications. First PA has a 42.6
dBm output power with a 55%PAE @ 3.5 GHz and 16 dB small signal gain in the 3.2-3.8 GHz frequency range.
When two of these MMICs were combined by using off-chip Lange Couplers, 45.3 dBm output power with a
45%PAE @3.5Ghz and 16 dB small signal gain were obtained with less than 0.2 dB gain ripple in the 3.3-3.8 GHz
frequency range.

1.Introduction
As the market for wireless communicaton systems such as cellular, personal communications services, and
worldwide interoperability for microwave access (WiMAX) coming closer to reality, radio frequency (RF) and
microwave power amplifiers have attracted great attention [1-2]. The rapid development of the RF power electronics
requires the introduction of wide bandgap material due to its potential in high output power density, high operation
voltage and high input impedance [3]. A variety of power amplifier technologies are competing for market share,
such as Si lateral-diffused metal–oxide–semiconductors (LDMOS) and bipolar transistors, GaAs metal–
semiconductor field-effect transistors (MESFETs), GaAs (or GaAs/InGaP) heterojunction bipolar transistors, SiC
MESFETs, and GaN high-electron mobility transistors (HEMTs) [4]. Compared to other compound III–V
semiconductor materials, gallium nitride (GaN) provides some superior material characteristics including wide
bandgap, high breakdown field, high thermal conductivity, and high saturated velocity [2].

In this work two different GaN based MMIC designs for WiMAX applications will be presented. Agilent
Advanced Design System (ADS) is used for design simulations and analyzes. MMICs were designed by using Cree
GaN HEMT design kit named Cree_GaN_Design_Kit_v1.101a. Typical HEMT RF performances at 3.5 GHz for this
design kit are:

• 4.5 W/mm power density

• 14 dB small signal gain
• High output impedance
• Low input capacitance
• 65% PAE
• 28 volt drain operation

Design goals are minimum 30W output power, 15 dB small signal gain with gain ripple lower than 0.5 dB and
maximum -12 dB input return loss in the 3.3 - 3.7 Ghz frequency range.

2. 3.5 GHz GaN MMIC Power Amplifier Design

First GaN MMIC is designed with ideal lumped passive elements with 8x500 µm Cree transistor and second
MMIC is its equivalent circuit with transmission lines and real passive elements.

Π type resonance circuits used to match the input and output impedance of the 8x500 µm transistor to 50
ohm. Circuit schmatic can be seen in Figure 1. This kind of matching circuit gives the opportunity of bandwith
flatness over the desired frequency range.

978-1-4244-6051-9/11/$26.00 ©2011 IEEE

 8x500 µm Cree transistor has a stability factor of K≤ 0.5 at 3.5 Ghz and below frequencies. Parallel R-C
stability circuit is used at gate port of the transistor to achieve K>1 at all frequencies to prevent any possible
oscillation. The designed GaN MMIC circuit with ideal lumped elements and R-C stability circuit is shown in Figure
1. Biasing circuit is embedded into the input and output matching circuits which can be seen in Figure 1.

Figure 1: ADS schematic of the designed GaN MMIC Power Amplifier (PA) with ideal lumped elements

S parameter simulation results of the designed GaN MMIC are shown in Figure 2-a. The designed GaN MMIC has
lower than -14 dB input return loss at 3.5 GHz and 16 dB small signal gain over the 3 GHz- 4GHz frequency band. It
has a stability factor K>1 over 0.5 GHz- 10 GHz frequency band.
20
70
15
60
10
50
5
40
dB(S(2,1))
dB(S(2,2))
dB(S(1,1))

0
Pout_dBm
Gain_dB
PAE

-5 30
-10
20
-15
10
-20

-25
0

-30 -10
2.5 3.0 3.5 4.0 4.5 -20 -15 -10 -5 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35
freq, GHz Input_Power
a) b)
Figure 2: a) S parameter simulation results b) Large signal simulation results, of the designed GaN MMIC PA with
ideal lumped elements

Large signal simulation results are shown in Figure 2-b. According to the results GaN MMIC PA has a P1dB=42.2
dBm, P3dB=43.9 dBm and 65% PAE.

After obtaining the design goals with ideal lumped elements, the equivalent circuit with transmission lines
and real passive elements is built. ADS layout of that MMIC is shown in Figure 3.
Figure 3: Circuit layout of the designed GaN MMIC PA

S parameter results can be seen in Figure 4-a. The designed GaN MMIC has 16 dB small signal gain over the 3.2 -
3.8 GHz frequency band and -13.5 dB input return loss at 3.5 GHz.

20 60
15
50
10
40
5
Pout_dBm
Gain_dB

30
dB(S(2,1))
dB(S(2,2))
dB(S(1,1))

0
PAE

-5
20
-10

-15 10
-20
0
-25
-10
-30
2.5 3.0 3.5 4.0 4.5
-20 -15 -10 -5 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35

freq, GHz Input_Power

a) b)
Figure 4: a) S parameter simulation results b) Large signal simulation results, of the designed GaN MMIC PA

The designed GaN MMIC PA is unconditionally stable in 0.5 GHz- 10 GHz frequency range. According to large
signal simulation results as seen in Figure 4-b, the designed GaN MMIC has P1dB=41.6 dBm, P3dB=42.6 dBm and
55%PAE.

a) b)
Figure 5: a) Lange Coupler designed with Teflon PCB parameters @3.5 GHz b) Block diagram of the designed GaN
MMIC PA
 We then combined two of the GaN MMICs with monolithic Lange couplers to increase its output power.
Firstly, a coupler was designed to achieve the operation from 3.3 to 3.7 GHz with Cree process parameters.
According to design results, the designed coupler has a length of 8.9 mm. Due to high cost of valuable Cree GaN
wafer, it is not reasonable to manufacture such large area couplers as on-wafer. Therefore, it is decided to design and
manufacture the couplers as off-chip. Then , Lange couplers were designed by using Teflon PCB parameters. Layout
of Lange coupler which is designed by using Teflon PCB parameters is shown in Figure 5-a. A block diagram of the
designed GaN MMIC PA is shown in Figure 5-b.

S parameter simulation results of the complete design can be seen in Figure 6-a. The designed GaN MMIC is
unconditionally stable in the 0.5-10 GHz frequency range. The designed GaN MMIC has 16 dB small signal gain
over the 3.3 -3.8 GHz frequency band and lower than -30 dB input return loss at 3.5 GHz.

20 50
15
10 40
5
0 30
dB(S(2,1))
dB(S(2,2))
dB(S(1,1))

Pout_dBm
Gain_dB
-5

PAE
20
-10

-15
10
-20
-25 0
-30

-35 -10
2.5 3.0 3.5 4.0 4.5 -20 -15 -10 -5 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35
freq, GHz Input_Power
a) b)
Figure 6: a) S parameter simulation results b) Large signal simulation results, of the complete GaN MMIC PA with
Lange couplers

The complete GaN MMIC PA has a P1dB=44.9dBm, P3dB=45.3 dBm and 45% PAE at 3.5 Ghz as seen at Figure 6-
b.

3.Conclusion
In this study, two 3.5 GHz high power S-band GaN MMIC PA designs were presented. The first designed
GaN MMIC PA shows an output power of 42.6 dBm with 55% PAE @3.5GHz and 16 dB small signal gain in the
3.2-3.8 GHz frequency range. In the second design, two of these GaN MMICs were combined with Lange Couplers
in order to increase the output power of the PA. Due to high cost of valuable Cree GaN wafer, Lange couplers were
designed and manufactured as off-chip by using Teflon PCB parameters. The second GaN MMIC PA exhibited 45.3
dBm output power with 45% PAE @3.5GHz and 16 dB small signal gain with less than 0.2 dB gain ripple in the 3.3-
3.8 GHz frequency range. Designed MMICs will be manufactured by using Shared Multi-Project Set (SMS) Mask
Service of Cree GaN foundry. Based on these results, it can be concluded that GaN MMIC technology will take a big
share from next generation WiMAX market.

4.References
1. U. K. Mishra, P. Parikh, and Y.-F. Wu, “AlGaN/GaN HEMTs−An overview of device operations and
applications”, Proceedings of the IEEE, vol. 90, no. 6, June 2002, pp. 1022–1031.
2. U.Schmid et al., “GaN devices for communication applications: evolution of amplifier architectures”, International
Journal of Microwave and Wireless Technologies, Cambridge University Press and the European Microwave
Association, 2010, pp. 85–93.
3. U. K. Mishra, L. Shen, T. E. Kazior, and Y.-F. Wu, “GaN-Based RF Power Devices and Amplifiers”,
Proceedings of the IEEE, vol. 96, no. 2, February 2008, pp. 287 - 305.
4. S. Keller et al., “Gallium Nitride Based High Power Heterojunction Field Effect Transistors: Process Development
and Present Status at UCSB”, IEEE Transactions on Circuits and Systems, vol. 48, no. 3, March 2001, pp. 552 - 559

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