Overview

From APPLIED MICROWAVE & WIRELESS, VOL. 4, NO. 2, SUMMER 1992

A compact, X-band, high-efficiency power module capable of delivering 10 watts of power has been designed for use in solid state transmitters, electronic warfare systems and active phased-array applications. The performance in the 9.0 10.0 GHz band measured in CW operation combines +40 dBm of output power (P _o), 19 dB of associated gain (GLS) and 32 percent power-added efficiency (Eadd). This module also can be operated in a pulsed mode.

The amplifier uses hybrid technology and state-of-the-art molecular beam epitaxial (MBE) processing to realize its microwave monolithic integrated circuits (MMICs) and discrete GaAs FETs. The driver stage is a 2.5 watt, two-stage, single-ended power MMIC consisting of a 2.2 mm drive FET and a 5.76 mm power FET. The power stage uses a pair of 6-watt, 12 mm discrete power FETs combined in a balanced configuration with Lange couplers. The off-chip matching circuits and couplers are thin-film microstrip lines printed on alumina or barium titanate substrates.

MMIC and discrete FET chips, capacitors and substrates are eutectically bonded onto a multilevel gold-plated copper-molybdenum composite metal carrier. This module contains on-board gate and brain bias circuits, including decoupling and DC blocking capacitors. Overall module dimensions are 20.8 mm 7.6 mm.

The goal for the module is to meet the requirements for X-band airborne systems in which both space and prime power are...