Abstract In this paper the design, implementation, and At Ku-band frequencies the parasitic elements become
experimental results of a Ku-band 70 W GaN-HEMT power dominant. The optimum source and load impedances are only
amplifier (PA) for satellite communication are presented. a fraction of that in the lower GHz range and therefore
A two-stage design approach with two 250 nm bare-die devices
has been chosen to achieve a considerably high saturated gain matching gets complicated. Assembling tolerances become an
of 15 dB over the whole extended Ku-band (13.7514.5 GHz). issue as well. Nevertheless, high output power is already stated
The circuit was realized in a hybrid microwave integrated in [5][7], suffering from a low gain of the already uncondi-
circuit technology on an alumina substrate. The PA shows a tionally stable devices in that frequency range. In addition,
measured performance of more than 50 W output power for the gain decreases even more in saturation due to the constant
a continuous-wave signal with a power-added efficiency (PAE)
higher than 23%. Modulated measurements demonstrate an AMAM decrease in GaN devices [8].
average output power of more than 30 W (70 W peak) and 21% In our previous studies of the one-stage amplifier, our
PAE, while holding the Eutelsat linearity requirements. complaint was of low power gain [9] that significantly reduces
Index Terms GaN, HEMTs, microwave circuits, power ampli- the power-added efficiency (PAE). In this paper, a two-stage
fiers (PAs), predistortion linearizers, satellite communications. design with two bare-dies is stated. The matching is realized
hybrid on an Al2 O3 substrate using distributed transmission
line (TL) combiners [10] as well as a busbar [11], [12]
I. I NTRODUCTION for supplying the dc. This paper is organized as follows: in
Section II the device technology, including the device model
S ATELLITE services are widely used for time-sensitive
and critical communications. Traditional Ku-band SatCom
becomes interesting, especially for very small aperture
and the parasitic constraints are introduced. An extensive
design procedure for the matching networks is presented in
terminals (VSAT) due to an increasing number of satellite Section III. The realization and the measurement results are
launches. GaN-HEMT technology can therefore play a major shown in Sections IV and V and the conclusions are given
role in lowering the costs of block upconverters (BUC) in Section VI.
within VSAT, replacing the widely used traveling wave tube II. P RELIMINARY D ESIGN C ONSIDERATIONS
amplifier (TWTA). Modern 250 nm GaN/SiC-HEMT device
A. Transistor Technology
technology is able to achieve high power density with accept-
able high transition frequencies [1]. Research activities in For achieving high power in the Ku-band a 250 nm GaN
the Ku-band and K-band focus on monolithic microwave on SiC 40 V bare-die from the CREE V4 process has been
integrated circuits (MMIC) up to a certain power level of chosen. A bare-die mounting technique is necessary to
about Pout 25 W, where the bare-die size and therefore the circumvent the effects of the package. The available bare-die
costs are reasonable [2][4]. For tasks that go beyond that sizes are scaled from 1.2, 4.8, up to 14.4 mm total gate
level, the approach is similar to base station amplifiers in width. The process is able to deliver Pout,sat = 5 W/mm
the mobile market. A bare-die as power bar gets matched with I D,sat = 0.9 A/mm at V(BR)DSS 100 V and
externally as microwave integrated circuit (MIC). This leads Vpinch-off = 3.1 V. The max. ac-transconductance is
to a considerable area and cost reduction for the monolithic gm 580 mS/mm for VGS = 2.65 V at 14 GHz.
process technology. The parasitic capacitances are Cgs = 1.6 pF/mm,
Cds = 0.29 pF/mm and Cgd = 0.41 pF/mm [13]. To obtain
Manuscript received May 23, 2016; revised October 2, 2016; accepted a high output power of Pout 50 W the largest device
November 27, 2016. CGHV1J070D has been chosen. It is specified with a
D. Maassen and F. Rautschke are with the Department of Microwave
Engineering, Berlin Institute of Technology, 10587 Berlin, Germany (e-mail: Pout,sat = 70 W and an I D,max = 7 A for a size of 4.8 mm
daniel.maassen@tu-berlin.de). 0.8 mm. The device has 12 gate- and 12 drain-pads on
F. Ohnimus, L. Schenk, and U. Dalisda are with Rohde & Schwarz GmbH the top as well as the source connection through vias at the
& Co. KG, 12489 Berlin, Germany.
G. Boeck is with the Department of Microwave Engineering, Berlin bottom. Its 12 gate-pads are resistively connected on the
Institute of Technology, 10587 Berlin, Germany, and also with the Ferdinand bare-die to lower odd-mode instabilities. The 12 drain-pads
Braun Institute, Leibniz-Institut fuer Hoechstfrequenztechnik, 12489 Berlin, are connected to a common potential as well. Especially, the
Germany.
Color versions of one or more of the figures in this paper are available high total input and output capacitances of Cgs = 24 pF and
online at http://ieeexplore.ieee.org. Cds = 4.2 pF make the matching toward high frequencies
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/TMTT.2016.2636151 very challenging.
0018-9480 2016 IEEE. Personal use is permitted, but republication/redistribution requires IEEE permission.
See http://www.ieee.org/publications_standards/publications/rights/index.html for more information.
This article has been accepted for inclusion in a future issue of this journal. Content is final as presented, with the exception of pagination.
D. Implementation
The substrate chosen for the matching circuit compro-
mises between a low losses and a high r to realize low
TL impedances, small sizes, as well as low radiation losses.
In this design, a one-substrate approach has been intentionally
used due to manufacturing constraints. Multiple substrates
with different r values are widely used [5][7] while pro-
ducing high losses as well as high radiation due to intercon- Fig. 3. Proposed two-stage PA topology.
nections. The height of the substrate should ideally be close
to the bare-die to ease bonding. Therefore, a thin alumina approach that can increase the gain to an acceptable level
substrate (Al2 O3 ) of 127 m height with an r = 9.9 has (Fig. 3). The necessary driving level of the preamplifier (Q1)
been chosen and can take advantage of its extremely low has been calculated to be Pout,drv 15 W. Preliminary analysis
tan = 0.0002 (10 MHz). With a layer stack including a has shown that the smaller device with a 4.8 mm gate width
resistive NiCr-layer it was possible to produce highly accurate can hardly reach that level. Additional mismatch constraints
thin film resistors on the substrate. To handle high currents that are unavoidable to match the output of this smaller
the Au metallization was grown to 10 m thickness. device to the input of Q2 will further decrease its level.
Twelve gate and 12 drain pads needed to be interconnected A previous design realization has shown that a continuous
to the matching circuit. An array of 24 bondwires was power level of 12 W can be reached in a deep compres-
therefore 3-D modeled and applied at the input and output, sion [9]. Therefore, the same device was chosen for the Q2
respectively, with two parallel wires per pad. The resulting as well as Q1 while taking into account the total PAE, as
total equivalent inductance of L Bond = 12.5 pH including in [16]. The premature power/gain compression of the HEMT
the mutual coupling is of certain tolerance considering the device when operated at high input power levels of Q2 causes
factors bond height, loop, and distance. To increase the additional AMAM nonlinearity [17]. This compression is
height- and loop accuracy, automatic bonding is useful. It can mainly caused by the gm curve progression. At the analyzed
achieve impressive results even for coupling between bond- frequencies, already within the maximum stable gain (MSG)
wires [15]. However, the bond distance is mainly dependent operation, the gm curve is asymmetric with a strong increase
on the mounting accuracy (30 m) and the size tolerances from turn-ON to gm max . The slow decrease toward gm = 0 S
of the bare-die itself (50 m). Simulations have shown that is the reason for a constant compression over Pin . Simulations
the variability of the total equivalent inductance is in the range show that this difficult time-dependent AMAM compression
of L Bond = {8.3 pH, . . . , 16.6 pH}. can be compensated by lower quiescent current of Q2, whereas
The source contact of the bare-die acts as interconnection the increased AMPM nonlinearity can be compensated via a
to the GND potential of a matching circuit. Furthermore, predistortion for modulated signals. Based on this analysis, the
it is the connection to the heat sink. Therefore, the mounting optimum load impedances for Q2 (Z L OMN ) are chosen within
of the bare-die needs to be low ohmic for matching require- saturation conditions. The load impedances for Q1 (Z L ISMN )
ments and of a minimum thermal resistance. In this paper represent the maximum gain with respect to the lower out-
a eutectic die-attach compromises between a thin preform put power level. The input impedances of both transistors
and a low amount of trapped air in the die-attach. In order Q1 and Q2 (Z S IMN , Z S ISMN ) should accomplish a flat gain
to allow controlled thermal expansion, the bare-die has been over frequency. Hereby, a mismatch of the input impedance
mounted on a CuMoCu flange. Thermal simulations show of Q2 (Z S ISMN ) from the optimum conjugate complex match
that the resulting thermal resistance of the junction to case can help to lower AMPM nonlinearities as shown in [18].
is R JC = 1.6 K/W. The simulated ideal PAE of 45% results
in a significant amount of dissipated power that needs to be III. D ESIGN OF M ATCHING N ETWORKS
removed via the cooling system. In reality, the PAE will be The matching of devices with very low impedances is
even much lower due to impedance mismatch and losses of challenging. Considering their additional trajectories over fre-
the load transformation networks. The channel temperature of quency makes a broadband matching for the input matching
the device can be monitored with the model and needs to network (IMN) as well as the output matching network (OMN)
stay below 320 C, while a higher temperature will cause the almost impossible. Especially in the interstage matching net-
device to fail. The theoretical possible cooling therefore limits work (ISMN), the two consecutive stages need to be matched
the dissipated power to Pdiss,max 86.4 W. to one another. The required transformation ratio is consider-
ably low but a complex-to-complex transformation needs to
E. PA Design Approach be done with different directions of the imaginary trajectories.
Nevertheless, a reactively matched design approach has hereby
The very low optimum source and load impedances lead
been chosen to compensate the dominant parasitics.
to a high impedance transformation ratio of the network of
(50 )/(0.4 ) = 125 at the output. Contrary to that is
the need for achieving this transformation ratio over a 5% A. Ideal Matching Limits
fractional bandwidth (FBW). The previously analyzed low The impedances of the bare-die itself have been analyzed
power gain of 6.5 dB results in a multistage matching based on the Bode Fano limits [19]. Using the simple transistor
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Fig. 6. (a) Schematic of the proposed two-stage amplifier divided into three matching circuits (IMN, ISMN, and OMN). Each TL is parallelized by
n-times written underneath in green. Step-by-step visualization of the virtual open in a busbar. (b) Starting with an open stub and (c) double open stub,
and (d) resulting in interconnected symmetrical stubs.
TABLE II
S CHEMATIC VALUES OF THE P ROPOSED T WO -S TAGE A MPLIFIER
C. Simulation Approach
All the subelements were analyzed individually in a Fig. 8. Simulated EM-based impedances realized by the matching circuits
from 13.75 to 14.5 GHz for the input sides of (a) Q1 (IMN) and Q2 (ISMN)
schematic as well as a 2.5 D Momentum simulation to ful- and (b) for the output sides of Q1 (ISMN) and Q2 (OMN). The plotted
fill their specification. At the input side of the amplifier, multifrequency load and sourcepull contours (MuFLoC) represent the
additional series resistors (RGate ) within the dc feed were minimum value over the desired frequency range.
provided improving the stability of the amplifier toward low
frequencies. Furthermore, the interdigital capacitors with their are well matched to the optimum impedances (Z S,opt).
RF series resistance build a high-pass filter that reduces Especially, the direction of the imaginary part is the same.
possible low frequency oscillations. Parameterized EM models For the output side, much more attention was paid to achieve
of the components have been created within Keysight ADS a high Q transformation for the output of (Q2). Therefore, the
afterward. These models benefit from considering all parasitics realized impedances are inside the Pout = 47 dBm contour.
while maintaining the ability to change their characteristic Within the ISMN the trajectories of the load and generator
parameters. impedances travel in opposite directions over frequency.
1) Small-Signal Analysis: Based on the parameterized Therefore, the realized matching is a compromise. All the
EM models the load transformation networks were developed three matching circuits are able to provide a matching 15 dB
with the objective to realize the required optimum source toward their opposite impedance. Additional Monte Carlo
and load impedances that were identified by source, and load analysis determines the bondwire parameters that produce the
pull simulations. The resulting characteristic values of the most significant impact on the performance of the circuit.
elements are shown in Table II. Within the simulation the ports 2) Large-Signal Analysis: Within a large-signal analysis,
were loaded with the conjugate optimum impedances. The power and frequency sweeps were carried out using
EM-based simulated impedances from 13.75 to 14.5 GHz Harmonic Balance Analysis. Special attention was given to
for the input (Z S IMN,realized , Z S ISMN,realized) are shown the temperature of the junction during the simulation to not
in Fig. 8(a). exceed the theoretical cooling constraints. Furthermore, the
For the output side of the transistor the impedances sensitive gate current was monitored. Each transistor cell was
(Z L ISMN,realized, Z L OMN,realized ) are shown in Fig. 8(b). modeled separately. Therefore, it was possible to simulate
Furthermore, multi frequency load and sourcepull intrinsic loadlines of each transistor cell (Q2.1,, Q2.12)
contours (MuFLoC) are plotted considering [Pout, F ] as [see Fig. 9(a)]. The power distribution between the transistor
well as [PAE F ]. The contours represent the minimum values cells and leakage currents were analyzed. From Fig. 9(b),
of all frequency-dependent data between 13.75 and 14.5 GHz good distribution between the 12 cells can be noticed. The
and therefore represent valuable in-band performance data as outer ones (Q2.1 and Q2.12) provide the most RF power to
described in Section II-C. It can be seen that the input of the the matching circuit, due to their lower baseplate temperature
first stage (IMN Q1) as well as the second stage (ISMN Q2) and the reduced combining parasistics.
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Fig. 11. Realization of the amplifier. (a) Sideview illustration of the MIC.
(b) Top view of the MIC. X-ray pictures of the bare-die (c) Q1 and (d) Q2.
IV. R EALIZATION Fig. 12. (a) Comparison between measured (sample #1) and simulated
The bare-dies and substrates were aligned and mounted small-signal behavior of the amplifier (VDS1,2 = 40 V; IDq1,2 = 300 mA).
(b) Comparison between six measured amplifiers within small-signal condition
on a thick CuMoCu-flange [see Fig. 11(a)]. All wedge (VDS1,2 = 40 V; IDq1,2 = 300 mA).
wedge bondwire interconnections were automatically placed.
A top view of the mounted MIC can be seen in
Fig. 11(b). The die-attach was analyzed vian X-ray microscopy
[see Fig. 11(c) and (d)]. The few bright dots are tiny air inclu- reference-plane (RefGSG ) using a network analyzer (N5230A).
sions. This pallet was afterward positioned in a surrounding An additional second tier thru-reflect-line calibration
aluminum water-cooled fixture. On top of this, a 203 m- deembeds the ground-signal-ground pads (GSG). In Fig. 12(a)
thick bolted RO4003c substrate supplies all dc potentials as very good agreement between simulation and measurement
well as the RFin , RFout signals to SMA connectors (Fig. 13). can be seen. Only a slight frequency shift occurs as a result
Within this fixture the pallet can be measured on an alumina of the bondwire tolerances. Six samples (#1, . . . , #6) were
reference plane (RefGSG ) via GSG probes as well as at the manufactured and compared within small-signal conditions in
SMA reference plane (RefSMA ). Fig. 12(b). All show a slightly different behavior with respect
to the frequency, as well as the amplitude. Nevertheless,
the aim to produce working samples within the specified
V. M EASUREMENT R ESULTS
frequency range of F {13.7514.5 GHz} has been achieved.
A. Small-Signal Measurements In the future work, the reproducibility is going to be improved
Probed small-signal measurements were performed by lowering the mounting tolerances that will result in a
with 500 m pitch probes (Z-probe) on the alumina lower variability of the samples.
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Fig. 17. (a) Measured gain compression and (b) AMPM conversion with a
32APSK modulation ( = 0.25; 16 MSym/s) at an unlinearized amplifier for
14.25 GHz. (VDS1,2 = 40 V; IDq1 = 300 mA; IDq2 = {300; 50} mA).
Fig. 19. Output spectrum of the PA for Pout,avg = 30 W and a QPSK
signal with 16 MSym/s; = 0.35 (w) and (w/o) an RFPAL at 14.375 GHz
(VDS1,2 = 40 V; IDq1 = 300 mA; IDq2 = 50 mA; RBW = 200 kHz; RMS;
For Pdiss 80 W a self-heating occurs within the CW VBW = 10 MHz; 300 ms sweep; 100 MHz span).
measurement. To accomplish lower thermal resistances,
modern mounting technologies with plated diamond as well
as silver sintering can be used in the future work. a peak to average power ratio (PAPR) of 3.9 dB and a roll-
off factor = 0.35 was chosen to represent the classical
DVB-S signal (see Fig. 18(a) PAPR = 3.9). The increasing
D. Modulated Measurements demand for data leads to higher order modulation schemes
The previously in CW operation analyzed parameters like (up to 32APSK) that were defined in the DVB-S2 standard
Psat or P1 dB are not sufficient for describing the nonlinear (Fig. 18(b) PAPR = 5.6). Additionally, the roll-off factor was
behavior of an amplifier for operation in multi carrier modes. lowered to = 0.25 to enhance the spectral efficiency. The
Therefore, AMAM as well as AMPM conversion were newly defined DVB-S2X standard allows modulation schemes
chosen as a first set of valuable performance data. Compared to up to 256APSK with a sharp roll-off factor down to = 0.05.
TWTAs the premature gain compression of the GaN-amplifier Especially the decreased leads to high PAPR of up to
is a highly nonlinear behavior (compare Fig. 14). In this paper, 6.42 dB for a 64APSK with = 0.05 [see Fig. 18(c)]. The
effort was spent to compensate this compression simply by spectral mask depends on the signal bandwidth and is defined
the class of operation. Biasing the PA Q2 in deep class-AB in the ETSI standard [23]. Linearization was performed with
IDq2 = 50 mA instead of IDq2 = 300 mA while holding a digital predistortion (DPD) that was able to reduce the out-
the preamplifier Q1 in the biasing conditions of max gm of-band energy and enhances the efficiency by compensating
(IDq1 = 300 mA) results in a lowered small-signal gain nonlinearities like AMAM, AMPM as well as memory
that is more equal to the saturation level [see Fig. 17(a)]. effects. As an alternative, an IF predistortion directly in the
This AMAM and AMPM analysis was carried out with block up-converter (BUC) path was used by the method
modulated signals to lower errors of a thermal self-heating. stated in [24] called RF PA linearization (RFPAL). Both the
In Fig. 17(b), it can be noticed that this biasing also lin- techniques show equal performance levels and can be used
earizes the AMPM conversion to a lower phase variation; either in the BUC (RFPAL) or in the modulator (DPD).
the maximum can be depicted with 1.6/dB. Additionally to In Fig. 19, the resulting output spectrum of the PA for
AMAM and AMPM conversion, the spectrum regrowth a QPSK and an average output power Pout,avg = 30 W at
measured by the adjacent channel power ratio (ACPR), 14.375 GHz can be seen. It can be noted that the amplifier
is an important indicator of a linear amplifier operation. can hardly reach the spec in band as well as the required
Furthermore, the error vector magnitude (EVM) is a shoulder distance without (w/o) predistortion. The sidelobes
comprehensive measure of the quality of the transmitter. cross the mask restrictions. However, the spectrum mask is
Therefore, a modulated measurement (QPSK) modulation with easily fulfilled with (w) the RFPAL.
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TABLE IV
C OMPARISON OF S TATE - OF - THE -A RT PACKAGED PA IN THE Ku-BAND
Fig. 20. Measurement results for a QPSK signal with 16 MSym/s; = 0.35
and a RFPAL at (VDS1,2 = 40 V; IDq1 = 300 mA; IDq2 = 50 mA).
TABLE III
L INEARITY M EASUREMENTS FOR VARIOUS M ODULATION S CHEMES
C. Binder, and J. Bschorr for implementation. They would [24] D. Maassen, F. Rautschke, and G. Boeck, IF predistortion in the block
also like to thank GloMic GmbH for their continuous interest upconversion path for modern satcom applications in the Ku-band, in
Proc. Eur. Microw. Conf. (EuMC), Sep. 2015, pp. 8083.
and advice. [25] Y. Yuan, Y. Fan, Z. Chen, Z. Yang, and H. Lin, Ku-band pre-matched
broadband GaN power amplifier with over 30 W power, Electron. Lett.,
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2008. Dr. Ohnimus was the recipient of the Erwin-
[18] R. Giofr, P. Colantonio, and F. Giannini, A design approach for two Stephan Award from TU-Berlin in 2008 and the Best Paper Award of the
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arbitrary impedances, J. Franklin Inst., vol. 249, no. 1, pp. 5783,
Jan. 1950.
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versus efficiency performance using power combining in GaN HEMT Lothar Schenk received the Dipl.-Ing. degree in
power amplifiers, in Proc. 43rd Eur. Microw. Conf., Oct. 2013, information technology from the Dresden University
pp. 696699. of Technology, Dresden, Germany, in 1985.
[21] J. Rollett, Stability and power-gain invariants of linear twoports, IRE He was involved in high-power RF amplifiers
Trans. Circuit Theory, vol. 9, no. 1, pp. 2932, Mar. 1962. and related circuits mainly for broadcast trans-
[22] S. Dellier, R. Gourseyrol, G. Soubercaze-Pun, J. M. Collantes, mitters at Funkwerk Koepenick, Berlin, Germany,
A. Anakabe, and K. Narendra, Stability analysis of microwave circuits, until 1991. Since 1999, he has been with Telefunken
in Proc. IEEE 13th Annu. Wireless Microw. Technol. Conf. (WAMICON), Sendertechnik, Berlin, and Rohde & Schwarz,
Apr. 2012, pp. 15. Munich, Germany. His current research interests
[23] Eutelsat Earth Station Standards 501, Rev. 0, Eutelsat, Paris, France, include efficient PA techniques and higher frequency
Mar. 2004. applications beyond 10 GHz.
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Uwe Dalisda received the M.Sc. (Dipl.-Ing. Univ.) Georg Boeck (M93SM00F08) received the
degree in information technology from the Techni- Ph.D. (Hons.) degree from the Berlin University of
cal University of Dortmund, Dortmund, Germany, Technology, Berlin, Germany, in 1984.
in 1986. In 1984, he joined the Siemens Research Labo-
He held several positions at Rohde & Schwarz, ratories, Munich, Germany, where he was involved
Munich, Germany, and Nokia Mobile Phones. He is in fiber optics and GaAs electronics. Since 1991,
currently the Director of Research and Development he has been the Head of the Chair in microwave
with the Broadcast and Media Business Unit, engineering with the Berlin Institute of Technology,
Rohde & Schwarz. He has 25 years of experience in Berlin. He was appointed as a Guest Professor
developing high-power RF amplifiers for broadcast with Southeast University, Nanjing, China. He has
transmitters with a focus on high-efficiency and authored or coauthored more than 340 technical
high-power broadband amplifiers for electromagnetic compatibility applica- papers and one book. His current research interests include the design and
tions from 9 kHz up to 18 GHz. modeling of devices and circuits up to the terahertz range with a focus on
the development of high-efficiency power amplifiers and smart transceiver
systems for modern digital communications technologies.
Dr. Boeck was the chair of several international conferences, numerous
steering and technical program committees, and the editorial boards of
respected international journals. Together with his doctoral students, he was
a recipient of numerous Best Paper Awards and Design Competitions. From
2006 to 2008, he was recognized as the Distinguished Microwave Lecturer
from the IEEE Microwave Theory and Techniques Society (MTT-S).