LDMOS Technology for Power Amplifiers Up to 12 GHz

We show the capability of LDMOS technology for power amplifiers at frequencies up to 12 GHz. The frequency roll-off of the RF parameters is presented for the several LDMOS nodes (12V, 30V, 50V). Spectacularly high RF performance is measured by using on-wafer load pull for 4mm structures made in LDMOS 30V node. At 12 GHz, we measure a 35% drain efficiency, 10 dB gain and 1.0W/mm power density. Furthermore at 5 GHz, this on wafer LDMOS has about 63% drain efficiency, 19 dB gain and 1.4 W/mm, showing that LDMOS is capable of serving 5–12 GHz applications. As a demonstrator, we show the first packaged C-band LDMOS amplifier with more than 20W output power and an efficiency of 50–51 % over the band in combination with 15–16 dB maximum linear gain.