The GaN X-band process bases on the 250 nm gate technology on 4-inch GaN-on-SiC wafers. This technology is applied for processing of AlGaN/GaN wafers with multi-project layouts.
The variety of integrated circuits fabricated employing this particular GaN process includes:
- Two stage X-band power amplifiers with Pout = 12 W CW and an efficiency of 45% at 10 GHz.
- Robust low-noise amplifiers with long-term input robustness of 43 dBm demonstrated for C-band.
- Compact digital power amplifier modules (class-D/S type) for next-generation TX architectures:
- Single-ended: Pout up to 7 W, max. overall PAE of 62%, multi-band operation (0.8/1.8/2.6 GHz), 4 stages with large-signal gain of 40 dB.
- High PAE (62% ... 40%) over 10 dB power back-off range (0 ... 10 dB) and state-of-the-art linearity behavior (> 45 dB ACLR, 2% EVM).
- H-bridge: Pout up to 14 W, digital Doherty operation with max. drain efficiencies (final-stage) of 75% and 40% at 6 dB and 12 dB peak-to-average power ratio, respectively.
- Modular conception of MMIC: different PA architectures using the same X-band power modules → improved flexibility, low cost.
