Wide Scan, Active K-Band, Direct-Integrated Phased Array for Efficient High-Power Tx-Generation

Abstract

In this communication, we propose a new wide-scan active direct-integrated 1×5 phased array antenna (AIPAA) for mm-Wave applications. The AIPAA's unit-cell comprises three K-band miniaturized tapered slot elements, a GaN high electron mobility transistor (HEMT) as a power amplifier (PA), a stability circuit, an input matching network (M.N.), and biasing components. The tapered slot antenna element is reshaped so that its input impedance closely matches the optimal load impedance of the HEMT (Zopt = 6 + j38 Ω at 22 GHz), which enhances the system efficiency. The peak-integrated PAs' power-added efficiency (PAEp) is ≥ 56 % with ≤ 9% variation over scan coverage (g±50°) at 1.5 dB power backoff from P1dB. The peak AIPAA system power-added efficiency (PAEs) is 51% with a peak array radiation efficiency of 92%. The relative frequency bandwidth with PAEp above 25% is between 9% and 13% over the scan range. The proposed AIPAA demonstrates less than 0.9 and 1 dB scanloss over the scan coverage in terms of antenna array gain and PAs' power gain (Gp), respectively. The peak PA-integrated array gain and EIRP at P1dB of 24 dBi and 51 dBm are achieved, respectively. The proposed AIPAA's size is 18 × 58 × 17 mm3 with a cell of 9.2 × 6.5 × 1.8 mm3. The measurements are in good agreement with electromagnetic and circuit co-simulation results.