• The Journal of Korean Institute of Electromagnetic Engineering and Science
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.394-402
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• 2013

This paper presents design, fabrication and ruggedness test of switching-mode power amplifier using GaN(Gallium Nitride) HEMT(High Electron Mobility Transistor) for S-band radar applications. The power amplifier is designed to Class-F for high efficiency. The input signal for the measurement of the power amplifier is pulse signal at $100{\mu}s$ pulse width and duty cycle of 10 %. The measurement results of the fabricated Class-F power amplifier are a power gain of 10.8 dB, an output power of 40.8 dBm, a power added efficiency(PAE) of 54.2 %, and a drain efficiency of 62.6 %, at the center frequency. We proposed reliability test set-up of a power amplifier for ruggedness test. And we measured output power and efficiency according to VSWR(Voltage Standing Wave Ratio) variation. The designed power amplifier achieved output power of 32.6~41.1 dBm and drain efficiency of 23.4~63 % by changing VSWR, respectively.