Article ID: 18.20210313
This paper presents a K-band two-stage power amplifier (PA) with a compact circuit size of 1.8×0.87 mm2. To guarantee broadband high-gain output performance, the optimal impedance domain and power cell are determined through load/source-pull simulation and K-point method, respectively. Reactive/resistive matching networks are carefully employed to reduce the equivalent gate capacitance, improve stability and compensate for the device’s negative gain roll-off slope. Meanwhile, combining with feedback technique adopted in driver stage, the entire operation bandwidth can be further extended. Under 12 V pulse voltage supply, 37.4% of peak power-added efficiency (PAE) at 26 GHz and 24±0.5 dB of small-signal gain, 30.3-31.6 dBm of saturated output power (Psat) across 22-27 GHz are obtained as shown in the experimental results.
