GaN-on-Si power transistors suit use in macro wireless basestations

The plastic TO-272-packaged MAGb-101822-240B0P and MAGb-101822-120B0P power transistors provide 320 and 160W output peak power, respectively, in the load-pull system with fundamental tuning only, and cover all cellular bands and power levels within the 1.8 – 2.2 GHz frequency range. These transistors’ ability to operate over 400 MHz of bandwidth precludes the need to use multiple LDMOS-based products, further optimising cost and design efficiencies.

Plastic-packaged MAGb power transistors deliver power efficiency up to 79% – an improvement of up to 10% compared to LDMOS offerings – with only fundamental tuning across the 400 MHz RF bandwidth, and with linear gain of up to 20dB. These transistors provide a compelling alternative to ceramic-packaged devices without compromising RF performance or reliability – thermal behaviour is improved by 10% compared to ceramic-packaged MAGb offerings.

These power transistors enable the implementation of a simple symmetric Doherty amplifier design while maintaining excellent RF performance compared to lesser performing and complex asymmetric Doherty topologies imposed by LDMOS-based transistors. With MACOM’s MAGb series transistors, Doherty amplifier implementations show the same level of DPD friendliness as LDMOS-based solutions. MACOM will host joint demonstrations with Xilinix’s DPD solution at IMS 2016.

“DPD is critical to increase the efficiency of power amplifiers for 4G and 5G basestation applications and has a significant impact on network operators’ operating expenses and capital expenditures,” said Dr. Chris Dick, Chief DSP Architect at Xilinx. “Our joint demonstration with MACOM at IMS 2016 will showcase the combined DPD capabilities of MACOM’s Gen4 GaN-based MAGb power transistors and Xilinx’s complementary DPD technologies on our 28nm Zynq SoC and 16nm UltraScale+ MPSoCs. This joint solution highlights the time-to-market advantages that can be achieved with a proven, interoperable DPD solution.”

“Our collaboration with Xilinx demonstrates the linearity and ease of correction of our MAGb, especially with signals that are known to be challenging to correct using GaN-based solutions like multi-carrier GSM and TDD-LTE signals,” said Preet Virk, Senior Vice President and General Manager, Carrier Networks, at MACOM. “We believe that with the introduction of our new plastic-packaged MAGb power transistors, we’re further extending this price/performance advantage over competing LDMOS and other GaN technologies, and accelerating the evolution to GaN-based PAs for wireless basestations.”

MACOM’s Gen4 GaN-based MAGb series of power transistors enable wireless carriers to deploy the latest LTE releases and significantly reduce system operating expenses at highly competitive price points, with a scalable supply chain combined with MACOM’s highly experienced applications and design support team.