GaN-based MMIC Amplifier Design

As the key component of the radio frequency system, the microwave power amplifiers have been widely used in the fields of space, radars and stations. However, the power devices fabricated by the silicon as the first generation of semiconductor material and the GaAs as the second generation of semiconductor material can not satisfy the needs of the market, As one of the third generation of semiconductor materials, GaN has wide bandgap, the power devices fabricated by GaN has the advantages of high breakdown voltage, high power density, high operation frequency and so on. Base on these advantages, many people convince that the power device fabricated by the GaN has a vast market. As a format of circuits, the Microwave Monolithic Integrated Circuit(MMIC) has prominent advantages of small size, light quality, high reliability. So in the form of MMIC, the GaN Amplifier has a vast potential market on military and commercial application. Depending on the technological conditions and technology accumulation of our laboratory, This article researches on the following several aspects: 1. Based on the manufacturing process of AlGAN/GaN HEMT in our laboratory, developed a production process of GaN MMIC. Mainly based on the original process, added the MIM capacitor, spiral inductor and thin film resistor manufacturing processes. 2. Aiming at the need of modeling that based on test, put forward a TRL de-embedding scheme which is suitable for the laboratory conditions and high frequency application. Designed a set of structures of TRL with the software of High Frequency Structure Simulator(HFSS). 3. Established scalable models of MIM capacitor, spiral inductor and thin film resistor, making the MMIC circuit design more accurate and fast. 4. Designed an F type high efficiency MMIC amplifier with the EEHEMT big signal model which is established by the predecessors in our laboratory. The performance of the final circuit co-simulation showed that output power is 37.2d Bm, gain is 10.2dB, power added efficiency is 63% at the working frequency 5.4 GHz.