A Reconfigurable Load-Modulated Balanced 9-GHz Power Amplifier Design for Radar Applications

In the last two decades, radar has been increasingly utilized in new vertical industries and commercial and government sectors as object detectors due to advanced process technologies and efficient designs. Power amplifiers (PAs) implemented in these radar systems play a crucial role in the system’s function, capabilities, and limitations. Linearity, gain, and efficiency are important PA performance metrics at higher output power levels. This paper proposes the load-modulated balanced amplifier (LMBA) design as an efficient PA architecture to meet stringent radiation-prone space and terrestrial use case requirements. A gate GaN-on-SiC WIN transistor was utilized to design a 9-GHz LMBA PA. It was biased at a gate voltage of −2.6 V and drain voltage of 28 V. The PA achieved an output power of >33 dBm and a gain output of >9 dB at a PAE of >55%.