A Directly Matched PA-Integrated K-band Antenna for Efficient mm-Wave High-Power Generation
Journal article, 2019
A K-band slot antenna element with integrated GaN (Gallium nitride) power amplifier (PA) is presented. It has been optimized through a circuit-EM co-design methodology to directly match the transistor drain output to its optimal load impedance ( Zopt=17+j46Ω ) while accounting for the over-the-air coupling effects in the vicinity of the transition between the PA and antenna. This obviates the need for using a potentially lossy and bandwidth-limiting output impedance matching network. The measured PA-integrated antenna gain of 15 dBi with a 40% total efficiency at 28 dBm output power agrees well with the theoretically achievable performance targets. The proposed element is compact ( 0.6×0.5×0.3 λ3 ), and thus well-suited to meet the high-performance demands of future emerging beamforming active antenna array applications.
antenna array element
power amplifiers
gallium nitride (GaN)
antenna-circuit co-design
active integrated antennas
K-band
millimeter-wave antennas
Author
Wan-Chun Liao
Chalmers, Electrical Engineering, Communication, Antennas and Optical Networks
Rob Maaskant
Eindhoven University of Technology
Chalmers, Electrical Engineering, Communication, Antennas and Optical Networks
Thomas Emanuelsson
Chalmers, Microtechnology and Nanoscience (MC2), Microwave Electronics
Vessen Vassilev
Chalmers, Microtechnology and Nanoscience (MC2), Microwave Electronics
Oleg Iupikov
Chalmers, Electrical Engineering, Communication, Antennas and Optical Networks
Marianna Ivashina
Chalmers, Electrical Engineering, Communication, Antennas and Optical Networks
IEEE Antennas and Wireless Propagation Letters
1536-1225 (ISSN) 15485757 (eISSN)
Vol. 18 11 2389-2393 8811583Areas of Advance
Information and Communication Technology
Subject Categories
Telecommunications
Communication Systems
Other Electrical Engineering, Electronic Engineering, Information Engineering
DOI
10.1109/LAWP.2019.2937235