An Adaptable GaN Power Amplifier for S-Band Radar.

S-Band active aperture phased array radars require multiple power amplifiers (PA) producing sufficient RF output power with high power-added efficiency (PAE). GaN technology is now the preferred choice for many of these applications. This article describes the design, realization and evaluation of a PA for S-Band radar using a GaN power transistor from Qorvo. The QPD1020 has hybrid input matching, i.e., a GaN transistor with an internal passive input matching network fabricated on a cost-effective GaAs process. It offers the cost advantages and flexibility of a discrete transistor with many of the space and development time savings of a MMIC solution. The input of the device is internally matched to 50 Q across 2.7 to 3.5 GHz. As most S-Band radars will only use a portion of this band, the PA output match may be optimized for either output power or PAE across the intended operating band. PAs have been designed to optimize performance across 2.7 to 3.1 or 3.1 to 3.5 GHz by changing only the component values of the RF matching networks. This approach shortens development time compared to a discrete power bar solution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]