News: Microelectronics
14 September 2023
Mitsubishi Electric to ship samples of GaN power amplifier module for 5G mMIMO base stations
Tokyo-based Mitsubishi Electric Corp says that on 21 September it will begin shipping samples of a new gallium nitride (GaN) power amplifier module that can help to reduce power consumption in 5G massive multiple-input multiple-output (mMIMO) base stations.
Providing high-speed, large-capacity communications, 5G mobile networks are becoming increasingly prevalent worldwide, with 5G mMIMO base stations installed predominantly in metropolitan areas. Since these base stations utilize multi-element antennas and a correspondingly high number of power amplifiers, highly efficient power amplifier modules play an important role in reducing their power consumption and manufacturing costs. In addition, the power amplifier module needs to deliver 3GPP-compliant low-distortion characteristics over a wide frequency range in order to be compatible with multiple countries’ 5G mobile networks.
Mitsubishi Electric’s new GaN power amplifier module can deliver an average output power of 8W (39dBm) over wide frequencies ranging from 3.4GHz to 3.8GHz. In particular, due to its power-added efficiency (PAE) of more than 43%, it is suitable for 64T64R mMIMO antennas (consisting of 64 transmitters/receivers, rather than 32T32R mMIMO’s 32 transmitters/receivers). The high efficiency and low distortion result from Mitsubishi Electric’s new GaN high-electron-mobility transistors (HEMTs). The wideband characteristics, in addition to the high efficiency, are realized using the firm’s original circuit design and high-density packaging techniques.
Mitsubishi Electric develops GaN PA module for 5G base-stations
