Solid-State RF Power Amplifiers for ISM CW Applications Based on 100 V GaN Technology

A novel solid-state power amplifier technology for RF power sources used in various industrial, scientific and medical (ISM) applications is presented. The prototype devices reported for this paper achieve 200 W CW saturated output power with 80% drain efficiency at 430 MHz and 110 W at 915 MHz. Unlike ubiquitous 50 V solid-state transistor technology, the data we present explore 75 V and 100 V bias operation in UHF band with GaN devices which have the potential of achieving >70% efficiency at kilowatt power level by properly designing and sizing the active devices. Microwave sintering, particle accelerators and magnetic resonance imaging equipment at UHF or L-band are the most likely beneficiary of the technology introduced in this paper.