K-Band High-Power Rectification With GaAs E-pHEMT Gated Anode Diodes

In this paper, K-band high-power rectification and its efficiency are discussed in theoretical and experimental approaches. A gated anode diodes (GAD) configured with a gallium arsenide (GaAs) enhancement-mode pseudomorphic high-electron-mobility-transistor (E-pHEMT) is focused as a rectifier diode. The GaAs E-pHEMT GAD is characterized to formulate its rectification efficiency. In K-band rectification at an input power of 100 mW or less, it is analytically clarified that the 0.18 μm GaAs E-pHEMT GAD, manufactured using a standard GaAs process, exhibited a rectification efficiency within 2% of that of the commercially available GaAs Schottky barrier diode (SBD) (MACOM MA4E1317) widely used in millimeter wave systems. For the K-band 1 W rectifier MMIC demonstrated in this paper, multi-stage series-connected GaAs E-pHEMT GADs with a wider gate width are used to achieve high-power rectification with high efficiency. For the prototyped K-band 1 W rectifier MMIC, the gate width and the stage number of the series-connected GADs are optimized and a rectification efficiency of 64% at 26.5 GHz is achieved. This is the highest value reported for 50 Ω matched watt-class rectifiers. The results confirm that the proposed design approach with the GaAs E-pHEMT GAD is effective for high-power rectification in the K-band.