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Ka-band gaas fet monolithic power amplifier development
| Content Provider | NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS) |
|---|---|
| Author | Saunier, Paul Tserng, Hua Quen |
| Copyright Year | 1997 |
| Description | Over the course of this program, very extensive progress was made in Ka-band GaAs technology. At the beginning of the program, odd-shaped VPE MESFET wafers were used. A breakthrough in power and efficiency was achieved with highly doped (8 x 10(exp 17) cm(exp -3) MBE grown MESFET material. We obtained power of 112 mW with 16 dB gain and 21.6% efficiency at 34 GHz with a monolithic 50-100-250 micron amplifier. The next breakthrough came with the use of heterostructures grown by MBE (AlGaAs/InGaAs where the InGaAs is highly doped). This allowed us to achieve high power density with high efficiency. A benchmark 40% efficiency was achieved with a single-stage 100 micron MMIC at 32.5 GHz. The corresponding three-stage 50-100-250 micron amplifier achieved 180 mW with 23 dB gain and 30.3% efficiency. The next breakthrough came with 3-inch MBE grown PHEMT wafers incorporating an etch-stop layer for the gate recess (using RIE). Again, state-of-the-art performances were achieved: 40% efficiency with 235 mW output power and 20.7 dB gain. The single-stage 2 x 600 micron chip demonstrated 794 mW output power with 5 dB gain and 38.2% power-added efficiency (PAE). The Ka-band technology developed under this program has promise for extensive use: JPL demonstrated 32 GHz phased arrays with a three-stage amplifier developed under this contract. A variation of the three-stage amplifier was used successfully in a 4 x 4 phased array transmitter developed under another NASA contract. |
| File Size | 3256467 |
| Page Count | 58 |
| File Format | |
| Alternate Webpage(s) | http://archive.org/details/NASA_NTRS_Archive_19970024856 |
| Archival Resource Key | ark:/13960/t9r25w623 |
| Language | English |
| Publisher Date | 1997-05-01 |
| Access Restriction | Open |
| Subject Keyword | Space Communications, Spacecraft Communications, Command And Tracking Extremely High Frequencies Field Effect Transistors Integrated Circuits Amplification Phased Arrays Aluminum Gallium Arsenides Indium Gallium Arsenides Doped Crystals Power Amplifiers Molecular Beam Epitaxy Microwave Circuits Chips Electronics Power Efficiency High Electron Mobility Transistors Ntrs Nasa Technical Reports Server (ntrs) Nasa Technical Reports Server Aerodynamics Aircraft Aerospace Engineering Aerospace Aeronautic Space Science |
| Content Type | Text |
| Resource Type | Technical Report |
