A High Efficiency Compact Class F GaN MMIC Power Amplifier for 5G Applications

A high performance compact MMIC class F power amplifier is demonstrated for 5G small cell applications by a 0.25-mu m Gallium Nitride (GaN) High Electron Mobility Transistor (HEMT) technology. Both the 2nd and 3rd harmonic terminations are considered in the output matching network, and optimized utilizing the backside via parasitic inductance. Also, the device drain-source parasitic capacitance is considered together into the matching circuit for improving the bandwidth and high frequency operation. The measured peak output power Pout of the amplifier is 36.6 dBm at 6 GHz. Also, the measured peak power-added-efficiency (PAE) at a 1.5 dB gain compression is 65.8 %. Also, the measured 3-dB bandwidth is 1800 MHz. The design has a chip size of only 2.56 mm(2).