Highly Linear & Efficient Power Spatium Combiner Amplifier with GaN HPA MMIC at Millimeter Wavelength Frequency

A 16-Way Spatium Combiner RF Amplifier (16W-SCRA) with GaN MMIC HEMT has been developed and tested over mm-wavelength frequency. Linear, and saturated output power of the 16W-SCRA over the frequency range between 27 and 31GHz were measured to be greater than 49dBm (79 Watt) and 50dBm (100 Watt), respectively. Power-Added Efficiency (PAE) of the 16W-SCRA was also measured to be > 17% at +71°C. This 16W-SCRA has a compact form factor that can fit into ~40 in³ space. In addition, this 16W-SCRA is relatively inexpensive compared to other high RF power amplifiers such as travelling wave tubes. Overall merit of this SCRA’s high performance and low cost makes it a unique candidate as a next generation solid state RF amplifier replacing conventional more expensive and less reliable vacuum tube based RF amplifiers for communications and multi-function mm-wave frequency high power applications.