D-Band Adaptively Biased 16-Way-Combined Half-Watt Power Amplifier in 250-nm InP HBT

We present a D-band power amplifier (PA), implemented in Teledyne (TSC)-250-nm indium phosphide (InP) technology, that produces record 27.2-dBm output power and 14.9% associated power-added efficiency (PAE) at 150 GHz. The measured saturated output power and PAE exceed 26 dBm and 12.5% over 126–150 GHz. The output stage power combines sixteen common-base (CB) cells, each having a total emitter length of 24 μm. Each power cell is independently biased by an adaptive bias network (ABN) that prevents thermal runaway and increases bias currents with increased RF power to delay the gain compression. The PA occupies 3 mm² of the die area. To the authors’ knowledge, this work achieves the highest output power among D-band PAs implemented in any technology.