{"title":"X-Band GaAs Phase Driver MMIC Optimized for GaN-Based Phased-Array Radar Transmit Chain","authors":"M. van Heijningen, J. Essing, F. V. van Vliet","doi":"10.23919/EUMIC.2018.8539936","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"In the transmit chain of high-power phased-array radars more and more use is made of Gallium-Nitride (GaN) high-power amplifiers (HPAs), while in the receive chain there is a trend to move to integrated silicon (Si) based components. The GaN amplifiers usually require a relatively high input power, making it necessary to include a medium power driver amplifier. For phased-array operation also a phase shifter in the transmit chain is required. In this paper the design and measurement results of an integrated phase-shifter-driver MMIC are presented, which has been optimized to directly drive an X-band GaN HP A. This Gallium-Arsenide (GaAs) MMIC has been designed to fit in a low-cost plastic QFN package to reduce the cost of the front-end module assembly. The realized QFN-packaged MMIC features a 6-bit digital phase shifter and a CW output power of more than 22 dBm at a source power of 5 dBm, from 8 to 11 GHz. Over this bandwidth the measured RMS phase error is less than 5°.","PeriodicalId":248339,"journal":{"name":"2018 13th European Microwave Integrated Circuits Conference (EuMIC)","volume":"40 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0000,"publicationDate":"2018-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"2018 13th European Microwave Integrated Circuits Conference (EuMIC)","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.23919/EUMIC.2018.8539936","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"","JCRName":"","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
In the transmit chain of high-power phased-array radars more and more use is made of Gallium-Nitride (GaN) high-power amplifiers (HPAs), while in the receive chain there is a trend to move to integrated silicon (Si) based components. The GaN amplifiers usually require a relatively high input power, making it necessary to include a medium power driver amplifier. For phased-array operation also a phase shifter in the transmit chain is required. In this paper the design and measurement results of an integrated phase-shifter-driver MMIC are presented, which has been optimized to directly drive an X-band GaN HP A. This Gallium-Arsenide (GaAs) MMIC has been designed to fit in a low-cost plastic QFN package to reduce the cost of the front-end module assembly. The realized QFN-packaged MMIC features a 6-bit digital phase shifter and a CW output power of more than 22 dBm at a source power of 5 dBm, from 8 to 11 GHz. Over this bandwidth the measured RMS phase error is less than 5°.