Thermal Management Optimization of High-Efficiency GaAs HBT Power Amplifiers for the 6G FR3 Band
Journal
IEEE Transactions on Microwave Theory and Techniques
Start Page
1
End Page
11
ISSN
0018-9480
1557-9670
Date Issued
2025-10-27
Author(s)
Abstract
This article presents a design methodology for realizing a high-efficiency, two-stage, two-way gallium arsenide (GaAs) heterojunction bipolar transistor (HBT) power amplifier (PA) targeting sixth-generation (6G) FR3-band applications under handset-compatible supply voltage. A thermal simulation model is developed to accurately predict the junction temperature of the HBT devices, enabling the verification of thermal management strategies and optimization of the power stage layout. To enhance design flexibility, the optimized GaAs HBT power stage chip is separated from the external matching components, enabling flexible impedance matching across the 8–15-GHz frequency range for application-specific tuning. A proof-of-concept PA operating at 12 GHz is designed and implemented using a 1.6- \mu m GaAs HBT technology with a supply voltage of 6.5 V. The PA comprises two gain stages, with the output stage configured as two parallelized power-stage units, each consisting of 16 transistors. Under continuous-wave (CW) operation, the PA achieves a peak output power of 34.4 dBm and a power-added efficiency (PAE) of 50%.
Subjects
Flip-chip (FC)
gallium arsenide (GaAs) heterojunction bipolar transistor (HBT)
power amplifiers (PAs)
power stage optimization
power-added efficiency (PAE)
sixth-generation (6G) FR3
thermal management
wire bonding (WB)
wireless handset
Publisher
Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE)
Type
journal article