mmTron, Inc. announced a family of five GaN power amplifiers (PAs) for the mmWave 5G and satellite  communications (satcom) bands from 22 to 41 GHz. The family offers a range of frequency  coverage and output power options, and all five were designed to optimize linearity for high data  rate communications waveforms.

“Our customers tell us the market needs more power and better linearity to extend the reach  and data rates of mmWave links, whether 5G or Satcom,” said Seyed Tabatabaei, mmTron’s  CEO and founder. “We designed this family of GaN PAs with the goal of achieving higher power  and linearity without sacrificing efficiency.”

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mmTron’s GaN PAs are fabricated with an advanced GaN HEMT process that provides both  power density and high linearity. The TMC211 and TMC212 designs illustrate mmTron’s  approach to optimizing power, linearity and efficiency:

TMC211

The lead product in the family, the TMC211, was designed to be the first single-chip PA to provide 50 watts saturated output power in the 27 to 31 GHz band. The single die integrates a  single-ended, two-stage PA designed to provide 50 watts without power combining multiple  MMICs with the attendant combining losses — particularly problematic at mmWave frequencies. mmTron’s single-chip PA reduces the area some 60 percent compared to combining two MMICs.

A single, small die would typically increase the channel temperature of the MMIC. However, the TMC211’s design also reduces power consumption, which lowers the channel temperature and improves the mean time between failures. mmTron’s design rules support 15-year satellite lifetimes. Performance specifications for the TMC211 include 30 percent power-added efficiency (PAE), 12 dB large-signal gain, and an output third-order intercept (TOI) of 53 dBm — the highest linearity reported for a PA in this band.

TMC212

For the 39 GHz 5G band, the TMC212 was designed to provide 5 watts saturated power with an output TOI of 43 dBm and 20 dB small-signal gain. The three-stage PA was simultaneously optimized for linearity and PAE: 4 percent error vector magnitude at 27 dBm output power (with a 400 MHz, 64-QAM signal) and 26 percent PAE at saturated output power.

Availability

TMC212, TMC2111, TMC152 and TMC253 die are available now for production orders.TMC211 die will be available in production volumes in the third quarter of 2023. All MMICs in the family will also be available in packaged versions.