High Voltage GaAs pHEMT Technology for S-band High Power Amplifiers

High voltage GaAs pHEMT technology with field plated gates has been in development at TriQuint since 2000, resulting in three processes that deliver state of the art performance up to Ku-band. We report on an S-band optimized version that will soon be transferred to production. At 3.5 GHz, it delivers power output density of 2.1 W/mm and 64 % PAE at 28 V. This technology is optimal for designing high power MMICs at S-band and provides a competitive alternative to GaN and SiC devices especially when cost, reliability and maturity are considered.