Plextek RF Integration of Great Chesterford, near Cambridge, UK, which designs and develops RFICs, MMICs and microwave/millimeter-wave modules, says that on 3 December at 18:00GMT (10:00PT/13:00ET/19:00CET) its CEO Liam Devlin is presenting a webinar 'Designing X-Band PAs Using SMT Plastic Packaged GaN Transistors' (sponsored by Keysight Technologies).
The use of over-moulded surface-mount technology (SMT) plastic packaging greatly simplifies handling and assembly and reduces unit cost. However, as operating frequencies and RF output power increase, so do the challenges of using SMT packaging. The webcast therefore describes the design of power amplifiers (PAs) at X-band using plastic-packaged SMT gallium nitride (GaN) transistors.
The design approach is illustrated with a detailed description of the design, layout, EM (electromagnetic) simulation, fabrication and evaluation of a single-stage 5W X-band GaN PA. The amplifier is optimized for the 9.3-9.5GHz band, has 11dB small-signal gain and provides more than +37dBm output power at 3dB gain compression, with a corresponding drain efficiency of greater than 55%. The design is based on a commercially available discrete 0.25μm GaN transistor (the TGF2977-SM from Qorvo) mounted on a Rogers 4003 PCB. Fast drain switching circuitry is also included on the same PCB to facilitate pulsed operation, with a turn-on time of just 20ns.
