GaN RF power amplifier @ 915 MHz

Bruco Integrated Circuits has successfully designed, built, optimized and characterized a high efficiency RF power amplifier as a potential replacement of magnetron tubes for plasma applications using the ISM band.

Bruco Integrated Circuits has successfully designed, built, optimized and characterized a high efficiency RF power amplifier as a potential replacement of magnetron tubes for plasma applications using the ISM band.

Bruco Integrated Circuits participated as partner light in the Interreg Flanders Netherlands project titled ‘CO2 FOR ENERGY STORAGE (EnOp)’. The EnOp project was led by Brightlands Chemelot Campus and consisted of a consortium of leading knowledge institutes in Flanders and the Netherlands, such as DIFFER (Dutch Institute for Fundamental Energy Research), an institute conducting leading fundamental research in the fields of fusion energy and solar fuels.

The RF PA module, that uses GaN technology from Qorvo, was designed with class F in mind (class AB with harmonic tuning). GaN (Gallium Nitride) transistor technology is used to get a higher efficiency compared to LDMOS (Laterally Diffused MOSFET). The PA module, with an additional bias sequencer to make the module more robust, has been tuned to 915 MHz in class AB mode. For class F mode the module needs additional harmonics tuning.

Measurement has shown good performance. For Bruco Integrated Circuits this is the first GaN project that involved design, build, optimization and characterization of an RF power amplifier of 1 kW.

Bruco Integrated Circuits already has a long experience in designing, building, optimizing and characterizing RF power amplifiers using LDMOS transistor technology up to 500 W and 2.6 GHz using the RF measurement laboratory in Borne.

Measured performance:

  • Operating frequency : 915 MHz
  • Maximum gain : 21.2 dB
  • Maximum drain efficiency : 73.0 %
  • P1dB - 1 dB compression power : 852 W
  • P3dB - 3 dB compression power : 1135 W
  • S11 Input return loss : -29.0 dB