Towards the Realization of a Single-Chip Front-End in GaN Technology

The present contribution summarizes the activities performed towards the realization of a Single-Chip Front-End (SCFE) operating in C Band, integrating the High Power, Low Noise amplification and switching functionalities to be provided in modern T/R modules’ Front-Ends for space SAR applications. The technologies adopted in this project are provided by United Monolithic Semiconductors (UMS) and Selex Electronic Systems (SLX), the GH25-10 0.25 μm gate length and the GaN technology featured by 0.5 μm gate length for UMS and SLX respectively. At the completion of the design phase two SCFEs have been designed in the two technologies, each in two slightly different versions, featured by state-of-the-art performance. In particular, in Tx-mode, both are featured by approximately 40 W power output, with 36 dB large-signal gain and 38 % / 27 % PAE for UMS and SLX versions respectively, while in Rx-mode 2.5 dB noise figure resulted, with robust operation. The two dies are featured by 6.9 x 5.4 mm2 and 7.28 x 5.40 mm2 for UMS and SLX versions respectively.