{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,2,25]],"date-time":"2026-02-25T17:09:40Z","timestamp":1772039380407,"version":"3.50.1"},"reference-count":38,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"23","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2023,12,4]],"date-time":"2023-12-04T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1701648000000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"University of Colorado, Boulder, USA","award":["IEA.WHP.23.13.02"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["IEA.WHP.23.13.02"]}]},{"name":"Universidad Polit\u00e9cnica de Madrid, Spain","award":["IEA.WHP.23.13.02"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["IEA.WHP.23.13.02"]}]},{"name":"Universidad de Las Americas (UDLA), Quito, Ecuador","award":["IEA.WHP.23.13.02"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["IEA.WHP.23.13.02"]}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Sensors"],"abstract":"<jats:p>In this paper, the precise design of a high-power amplifier (HPA) is shown, along with the problems associated with the stability of \u201con-wafer\u201d measurements. Here, techniques to predict possible oscillations are discussed to ensure the stability of a monolithic microwave-integrated circuit (MMIC). In addition, a deep reflection is made on the instabilities that occur when measuring both on wafer and using a mounted chip. Stability techniques are used as tools to characterize measurement results. Both a precise design and instabilities are shown through the design of a three-stage X-band HPA in gallium nitride (GaN) from the WIN Semiconductors Corp. foundry. As a result, satisfactory performance was obtained, achieving a maximum output power equal to 42 dBm and power-added efficiency of 32% at a 20 V drain bias. In addition to identifying critical points in the design or measurement of the HPA, this research shows that the stability of the amplifier can be verified through a simple analysis and that instabilities are often linked to errors in the measurement process or in the characterization of the measurement process.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/s23239602","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2023,12,4]],"date-time":"2023-12-04T05:28:21Z","timestamp":1701667701000},"page":"9602","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":2,"title":["Stability, Mounting, and Measurement Considerations for High-Power GaN MMIC Amplifiers"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"23","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-0873-1364","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Vicente","family":"Gonz\u00e1lez-Posadas","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Dpto. de Ingenieria Audiovisual y Comunicaciones, Universidad Politecnica de Madrid, Calle Nicolas Tesla, 28031 Madrid, Spain"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-1857-5369","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Jos\u00e9 Luis","family":"Jim\u00e9nez-Mart\u00edn","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Dpto. de Ingenieria Audiovisual y Comunicaciones, Universidad Politecnica de Madrid, Calle Nicolas Tesla, 28031 Madrid, Spain"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-7626-2099","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Angel","family":"Parra-Cerrada","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Dpto. de Ingenieria Audiovisual y Comunicaciones, Universidad Politecnica de Madrid, Calle Nicolas Tesla, 28031 Madrid, Spain"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"David","family":"Espinosa Adams","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Indra Sistemas, S.A., Ctra Torrej\u00f3n, 28850 Madrid, Spain"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-4643-8377","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Wilmar","family":"Hernandez","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Carrera de Ingeniera Electronica y Automatizacion, Facultad de Ingenieria y Ciencias Aplicadas, Universidad de Las Americas, Quito 170124, Ecuador"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2023,12,4]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Miranda, R.F., Barriquello, C.H., Reguera, V.A., Denardin, G.W., Thomas, D.H., Loose, F., and Amaral, L.S. (2023). Review of Cognitive Hybrid Radio Frequency\/Visible Light Communication Systems for Wireless Sensor Networks. Sensors, 23.","DOI":"10.3390\/s23187815"},{"key":"ref_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Abdulwali, Z.S.A., Alqahtani, A.H., Aladadi, Y.T., Alkanhal, M.A.S., Al-Moliki, Y.M., Aljaloud, K., and Alresheedi, M.T. (2023). A High-Performance Circularly Polarized and Harmonic Rejection Rectenna for Electromagnetic Energy Harvesting. Sensors, 23.","DOI":"10.3390\/s23187725"},{"key":"ref_3","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Eidaks, J., Kusnins, R., Babajans, R., Cirjulina, D., Semenjako, J., and Litvinenko, A. (2023). Efficient Multi-Hop Wireless Power Transfer for the Indoor Environment. Sensors, 23.","DOI":"10.3390\/s23177367"},{"key":"ref_4","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Costanzo, A., Augello, E., Battistini, G., Benassi, F., Masotti, D., and Paolini, G. (2023). Microwave Devices for Wearable Sensors and IoT. Sensors, 23.","DOI":"10.3390\/s23094356"},{"key":"ref_5","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Kouhalvandi, L., Matekovits, L., and Peter, I. (2023). Amplifiers in Biomedical Engineering: A Review from Application Perspectives. Sensors, 23.","DOI":"10.3390\/s23042277"},{"key":"ref_6","unstructured":"Van Der Bent, G., De Hek, A.P., Van Vliet, F.E., and Ouarch, Z. (2021, January 10\u201315). Single-Chip 100-Watt S-band Power Amplifier in 0.25 \u03bcm GaN HEMT MMIC Technology. Proceedings of the 15th European Microwave Integrated Circuits Conference, EuMIC2020, Utrecht, The Netherlands. Available online: https:\/\/www.researchgate.net\/publication\/350895537_Single-Chip_100-Watt_S-band_Power_Amplifier_in_025_um_GaN_HEMT_MMIC_Technology."},{"key":"ref_7","unstructured":"Qorvo (2023, September 27). QPA3069 Data Sheet. Available online: https:\/\/www.qorvo.com\/products\/p\/QPA3069."},{"key":"ref_8","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Kwiatkowski, P., Knio\u0142a, M., and Szczepaniak, Z. (2023). Microwave Frequency Doubler with Improved Stabilization of Output Power. Sensors, 23.","DOI":"10.3390\/s23073598"},{"key":"ref_9","unstructured":"Platzker, A., Struble, W., and Hetzler, K.T. (1993, January 14\u201318). Instabilities diagnosis and the role of k in microwave circuits. Proceedings of the 1993 IEEE MTT-S International Microwave Symposium Digest, Atlanta, GA, USA."},{"key":"ref_10","unstructured":"Struble, W., and Platzker, A. (1993, January 10\u201313). A rigorous yet simple method for determining stability of linear N-port networks [and MMIC application]. Proceedings of the 15th Annual GaAs IC Symposium, San Jose, CA, USA."},{"key":"ref_11","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"73","DOI":"10.1109\/TCS.1976.1084179","article-title":"Reappraisal of the unconditional stability criteria for active 2-port networks in terms of s parameters","volume":"23","author":"Woods","year":"1976","journal-title":"IEEE Trans. Circuits Syst."},{"key":"ref_12","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"2303","DOI":"10.1109\/22.179894","article-title":"A new criterion for linear 2-port stability using a single geometrically derived parameter","volume":"40","author":"Edwards","year":"1992","journal-title":"IEEE Trans. Microw. Theory Tech."},{"key":"ref_13","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"297","DOI":"10.2528\/PIER12022305","article-title":"Transpose Return Relation Method for Designing Low Noise Oscillators","volume":"127","year":"2012","journal-title":"Prog. Electromagn. Res. (PIER)"},{"key":"ref_14","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"17","DOI":"10.2528\/PIER11112308","article-title":"Provisos for Classic Linear Oscillator Design Methods. New Linear Oscillator Design Based on the NDF\/RRT","volume":"126","year":"2012","journal-title":"Prog. Electromagn. Res. (PIER)"},{"key":"ref_15","unstructured":"Freitag, R.G. (1992, January 1\u20135). A unified analysis of mmic power amplifier stability. Proceedings of the 1992 IEEE MTT-S Microwave Symposium Digest, Albuquerque, NM, USA."},{"key":"ref_16","unstructured":"Wang, K., Jones, M., and Nelson, S. (1992, January 1\u20135). The S-probe-a new, cost-effective, 4-gamma method for evaluating multi-stage amplifier stabilityy. Proceedings of the 1992 IEEE MTT-S Microwave Symposium Digest, Albuquerque, NM, USA."},{"key":"ref_17","unstructured":"Narhi, T., and Valtonen, M. (1997, January 8\u201313). Stability envelope-new tool for generalised stability analysis. Proceedings of the 1997 IEEE MTT-S International Microwave Symposium Digest, Denver, CO, USA."},{"key":"ref_18","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"2073","DOI":"10.1109\/TMTT.2011.2155667","article-title":"A Systematic Approach to the Stabilization of Multitransistor Circuits","volume":"59","author":"Ayllon","year":"2011","journal-title":"IEEE Trans. Microw. Theory Tech."},{"key":"ref_19","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Anakabe, A., Mons, S., Gasseling, T., Casas, F., Quere, R., Collantes, J.M., and Malet, A.A. (2002, January 23\u201326). Efficient nonlinear stability analysis of microwave circuits using commercially available tools. Proceedings of the European Microwave Week Conference, Milan, Italy.","DOI":"10.1109\/EUMA.2002.339461"},{"key":"ref_20","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"2403","DOI":"10.1109\/22.808987","article-title":"A unified approach for the linear and nonlinear stability analysis of microwave circuits using commercially available tools","volume":"47","author":"Mons","year":"1999","journal-title":"IEEE Trans. Microw. Theory Tech."},{"key":"ref_21","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"3","DOI":"10.1109\/TMTT.2018.2873340","article-title":"Systematic methodology for the global stability analysis of nonlinear circuits","volume":"67","author":"Hernandez","year":"2019","journal-title":"IEEE Trans. Microw. Theory Tech."},{"key":"ref_22","unstructured":"AMCAD Engineering (2023, September 15). STAN Tool: A Unique Solution for the Stability Analysis of RF & Microwave Circuits. Available online: https:\/\/www.amcad-engineering.com\/content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/Application_Note_STAN.pdf."},{"key":"ref_23","unstructured":"(2023, September 01). WIN Semiconductors Home Page. Available online: https:\/\/www.winfoundry.com\/en-US."},{"key":"ref_24","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Pino, J.d., Khemchandani, S.L., Mayor-Duarte, D., San-Miguel-Montesdeoca, M., Mateos-Angulo, S., de Arriba, F., and Garc\u00eda, M. (2023). A Ku-Band GaN-on-Si MMIC Power Amplifier with an Asymmetrical Output Combiner. Sensors, 23.","DOI":"10.3390\/s23146377"},{"key":"ref_25","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"57","DOI":"10.1016\/0016-0032(50)90006-8","article-title":"Theoretical limitations on the broadband matching of arbitrary impedances","volume":"249","author":"Fano","year":"1948","journal-title":"J. Frankl. Inst."},{"key":"ref_26","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Lee, H., Park, H.-G., Le, V.-D., Nguyen, V.-P., Song, J.-M., Lee, B.-H., and Park, J.-D. (2023). X-band MMICs for a Low-Cost Radar Transmit\/Receive Module in 250 nm GaN HEMT Technology. Sensors, 23.","DOI":"10.3390\/s23104840"},{"key":"ref_27","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Galante-Sempere, D., Khemchandani, S.L., and del Pino, J. (2023). A 2-V 1.4-dB NF GaAs MMIC LNA for K-Band Applications. Sensors, 23.","DOI":"10.3390\/s23020867"},{"key":"ref_28","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Kouhalvandi, L. (2022). Directly Matching an MMIC Amplifier Integrated with MIMO Antenna through DNNs for Future Networks. Sensors, 22.","DOI":"10.3390\/s22187068"},{"key":"ref_29","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"285","DOI":"10.1109\/TMTT.1980.1130067","article-title":"The matched feedback amplifier: Ultrawide-band microwave amplification with GaAs MESFET\u2019s","volume":"28","author":"Niclas","year":"1980","journal-title":"IEEE Trans. Microw. Theory Tech."},{"key":"ref_30","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"29","DOI":"10.1109\/TCT.1962.1086854","article-title":"Stability and power-gain invariants of linear two ports","volume":"9","author":"Rollet","year":"1962","journal-title":"IRE Trans. Circuit Theory"},{"key":"ref_31","unstructured":"Keysight (2023, September 20). PathWave Advanced Design System (ADS). Available online: https:\/\/www.keysight.com\/us\/en\/products\/software\/pathwave-design-software\/pathwave-advanced-design-system.html."},{"key":"ref_32","unstructured":"Cadence, R.F. (2023, September 22). Microwave Design with AWR Software. Available online: https:\/\/www.cadence.com\/en_US\/home\/tools\/system-analysis\/rf-microwave-design.html."},{"key":"ref_33","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Kawamura, Y., Hangai, M., Mizutani, T., Tomiyama, K., and Yamanaka, K. (2016, January 5\u20139). 30W output\/60% PAE GaN power amplifier at X-band 8% relative bandwidth. Proceedings of the 8th 2016 Asia-Pacific Microwave Conference (APMC), New Delhi, India.","DOI":"10.1109\/APMC.2016.7931272"},{"key":"ref_34","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1207","DOI":"10.1049\/el.2017.1672","article-title":"Highly efficient wideband X-band MMIC class-F power amplifier with cascode FP GaN HEMT","volume":"53","author":"Kang","year":"2017","journal-title":"Electron. Lett."},{"key":"ref_35","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Piotrowicz, S., Ouarch, Z., Chartier, E., Aubry, R., Callet, G., Floriot, D., Jacquet, J.C., Jardel, O., Morvan, E., and Reveyrand, T. (2010, January 23\u201328). 43W, 52% PAE X-Band AlGaN\/GaN HEMTs MMIC amplifiers. Proceedings of the 2010 IEEE MTT-S International Microwave Symposium Digest, Anaheim, CA, USA.","DOI":"10.1109\/MWSYM.2010.5518097"},{"key":"ref_36","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Couturier, A.M., Poitrenaud, N., Serru, V., Dionisio, R., Fontecavc, J.J., and Camiade, M. (2018, January 23\u201327). 50 % High Efficiency X-Band GaN MMIC Amplifier for Space Applications. Proceedings of the 48th European Microwave Conference (EuMC), Madrid, Spain.","DOI":"10.23919\/EuMC.2018.8541634"},{"key":"ref_37","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"73","DOI":"10.1109\/LMWC.2016.2630926","article-title":"A Compact 60W X-Band GaN HEMT Power Amplifier MMIC","volume":"27","author":"Tao","year":"2017","journal-title":"IEEE Microw. Wirel. Components Lett."},{"key":"ref_38","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Ayad, M., Poitrenaud, N., Serru, V., Camiade, M., Gruenenpuett, J., and Riepe, K.J. (2021, January 12\u201314). A High Efficiency MMIC X-band GaN Power Amplifier. Proceedings of the 50th European Microwave Conference (EuMC), Utrecht, The Netherlands.","DOI":"10.23919\/EuMC48046.2021.9338001"}],"container-title":["Sensors"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/1424-8220\/23\/23\/9602\/pdf","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,10]],"date-time":"2025-10-10T21:37:24Z","timestamp":1760132244000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/1424-8220\/23\/23\/9602"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2023,12,4]]},"references-count":38,"journal-issue":{"issue":"23","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2023,12]]}},"alternative-id":["s23239602"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/s23239602","relation":{},"ISSN":["1424-8220"],"issn-type":[{"value":"1424-8220","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2023,12,4]]}}}