During the next European Microwave Week 2018, to be held in Madrid, Spain, on September 23rd-28th, a workshop on
GaN HEMT Characterization and Modeling for micro- and mm-Wave Power Amplifier Applications
will be organised, featuring many iteresting topics related to MiGaNSOS. GaN/Si and GaN/SiC will be focused, with particular emphasis on characterisation and modelling strategies.
The telecommunication industry is preparing the fifth generation (5G) of mobile network to connect peoples and machines on a massive scale with broadband mobile communication with tens of gigabits per seconds. With the information-communication technology ecosystem estimated to use up to 10% of the world’s total energy generation, an important goal of 5G is to save energy while accommodating 10 times more traffic. Given the higher cell density expected, power amplifiers (PAs) exhibiting high average efficiencies are thus needed for 5G microcell and metrocell base-stations to curtail operating cost. In this workshop experts from Asia, Europe and America will present the recent advances for the device modeling tools which will facilitate the development of such high-performance GaN power amplifiers at mm-Waves.
The workshop will first start with a review of the state-of-the-art in the GaN technologies available from leading foundries for wireless applications at mm-Wave around the 28 and 38 GHz bands of 5G and at higher frequencies (backhaul).
The challenges in device characterization at mm-Waves will be addressed next in three separate talks. This will include both scalar and vector nonlinear characterization (loadpull, NVNA, VSA) as well as the characterization of self-heating and trapping effects.
The current trends in GaN HEMT modeling will then be explored with three different talks presenting alternative methodologies based on compact device models, neural network models and behavioral models. The modeling strategies available to account for the dependence of the device characteristic on trapping and self-heating and to reliably predict the response of GaN HEMTs under OFDM waveforms will also be addressed.
Finally to conclude the workshop, the design of PAs using nonlinear embedding device models will be reviewed to address the unique opportunities this embedding model offers for the accelerated design of high-performance PAs at mm-Waves. Supportive synthesis tools for the design of Doherty and Chireix broadband couplers will also be presented for the realization of multi-input mm-Waves PAs.