The power of GaN MMIC technology is strongest when applied to RF power amplifier MMICs. Here we quickly review some of our power amplifier MMIC successes with GaN.
The CMD262 is a 5 W GaN MMIC power amplifier die ready for Ka-band systems where high power and high linearity are a must. This MMIC amplifier delivers greater than 26 dB gain with a corresponding output 1 dB compression point of +37.5 dBm and a saturated output power of +38.5 dBm at 30% power added efficiency. It is a 50-ohm matched design eliminating the need for external DC blocks and RF port matching.
The CMD216 is a 5.6 W GaN MMIC power amplifier ideally suited for Ku band communications where high power and high linearity are once again crucial. This GaN power amplifier MMIC chip delivers greater than 16 dB of gain with a corresponding output 1 dB compression point of +37 dBm and a saturated output power of +38 dBm at 32% power added efficiency. The CMD216 amp is a 50-ohm matched design also offers full passivation.
The CMD184 is the best rf and microwave power amplifier MMIC chip in its category and is one of our best selling and most popular devices. It is a 4.5 W wideband GaN MMIC power amplifier die which operates from 0.5 to 20 GHz. It delivers greater than 13 dB of gain with a corresponding output 1 dB compression point of +34.5 dBm and a saturated output power of +36.5 dBm. The CMD184 power amplifier MMIC is a 50-ohm matched IC design, eliminating the need for RF port matching. – Custom MMIC
Historically, military forces all over the world used microwave absorbers to cut down high-frequency energy reflections. Over the course of time, the use of these materials has diversified so that now they are also used in many commercial applications including wireless LAN devices, electronic devices, wireless antenna systems, notebook computers, cellular phone base stations, and network switches and servers. If you are planning to use RF absorbers in your application, the following are the five types you must know about.
Surface Wave Absorbers
Surface wave absorbers are the most heavily magnetically loaded absorber products that are custom designed to absorb microwave energy in many high-performance appliances without compromising on the features of elastomeric binders. They are designed to provide the highest loss of all absorbers. Most of the surface wave absorbers are used in metal surfaces for attenuating surface wave energy from 1 GHz up to 20 GHz.
Tuned Frequency Absorbers
Resonant or tuned frequency absorbers offer great loss of reflection at a distinct frequency. They typically offer 20dB of attenuation and narrowband absorption from 1 GHz up to 40 GHz.
Low Frequency Absorbers
These absorbers offer high-loss at sub-microwave frequencies and are made with magnetic particles with specific shapes. They show high permeability from 1 MHz up to 3 MHz.
Cavity Resonance Absorbers
Cavity Resonance absorbers are designed to show high-loss inside a microwave chamber. They attenuate resonant frequencies, cavity oscillations, and harmonics. These absorbers attenuate high and normal angles of incidence at frequencies ranging from 1 GHz to 20 GHz.
Building on our previous blog on pulse recovery testing, we present the measurements of pulse recovery time for a commercially available GaN MMIC amplifier with a 5 to 9 GHz bandwidth. The amplifier was assembled into a metal housing, with 2.4 mm connectors used to interface with the test equipment. Three separate units were tested, with the results being consistent among all units. Therefore, we present the results for one unit in the interest of brevity.
We begin by presenting an example of a pulse recovery time measurement in the image above. The interferer pulse is shown in magenta, whereas the desired signal is shown in red. We can see that desired signal is heavily distorted when the interferer is activated, and then recovers once the interferer is disengaged. The recovery is measured as the rise time from 10% to 90% of the signal level.
Next, we observe the pulse recovery times versus input energy under short pulse conditions appears to increase monotonically with increasing input energy, though the relationship appeared to be nonlinear.
We next observed the pulse recovery times versus input energy under long pulse conditions. We note the recovery time increases monotonically with increasing energy, and follows the same trend as the short pulses.
In considering the results for short pulses versus long pulses, we did notice that the recovery time was not solely dependent on the incident energy. Indeed, there were two sets of short pulse and long pulse measurements with the same incident energy, but much different recovery times. Additionally, recovery time vs. energy data is available in our tech brief.
We note that the longer pulses with lower power had a much longer recovery time than the shorter pulses with higher power, even though they had near identical incident energy. Therefore, it appears that pulse recovery time, while being dependent on incident energy, is also dependent on the incident action (energy times duration, uJ-us) of the interfering signal. This is an interesting phenomenon we will explore in future work.
Conclusion
In this two-part blog series, we presented a methodology for measuring the pulse recovery times of GaN low noise amplifiers in the presence of high power, out-of-band jamming signals. Pulse recovery time is becoming an important metric for assessing system performance. In our examination of a commercially available 5 to 9 GHz GaN LNA, we considered jamming signals that operated under short pulse (< 10 us) and long pulse (> 100 us) conditions. We found that in each case, the recovery time was mathematically related to the input energy through a radical relationship. However, the pulse recovery time also appears to be a function of the input action (uJ-us), as short and long pulses with the same incident energy had recovery times that were different by an order of magnitude. In the future, we will explore this phenomenon through more measurements of GaN low noise amplifiers. Article by – Custom MMIC
Ideal for Sub-6 GHz Remote Radio Units, the Front-end Modules Deliver an Ultra-low Noise Figure and Low Power Consumption
PHILADELPHIA – INTERNATIONAL MICROWAVE SYMPOSIUM (IMS) – June 12, 2018 – In IMS Booth #1349, pSemiTM Corporation (formerly known as Peregrine Semiconductor), a Murata company focused on semiconductor integration, introduces a family of switch + low-noise amplifier (LNA) modules for 5G massive multiple-input, multiple-output (MIMO) base stations. With an ultra-low noise figure and excellent input power handling, these modules are ideal for protecting remote radio units that operate in the sub-6 GHz frequency bands.
“As massive MIMO increases the number of transmit and receive channels, base-station equipment manufacturers are requiring more highly-integrated and low-power solutions,” says Jim Cable, chief technology officer of pSemi, a Murata company. “Building on our 30-year history of RF integration, pSemi combines our high-performance switch and LNA products into a family of integrated front-end modules. Compared to competing solutions, the pSemi switch + LNA modules have lower power consumption and superior ESD robustness. But most importantly, the overall solution size is 60 percent smaller due to integration and the fact that no external RF matching components are required.”
The switch + LNA modules—the PE53111, PE53211, PE53110 and PE53210—support sub-6 GHz 5G new radio (NR) bands and meet the stringent RF system requirements of massive MIMO base stations. The PE53111 and the PE53211 cover a frequency range from 2.3 to 2.7 GHz (bands 40, 41, n7, n38, n41), while the PE53110 and PE53210 extend from 3.3 to 3.8 GHz (bands 42, 43, n78). In a single-channel or dual-channel configuration, the receiver modules integrate two-channel LNAs with bypass function and high-power switches. An on-chip, fail-safe switch—with over 5W average power handling—improves the overall robustness of the receive channels. Design engineers can control each channel individually within the selected frequency band, offering flexibility in the overall system design. Regarding performance, the pSemi switch + LNA modules deliver a very low noise figure, high linearity and low power consumption. The modules offer ESD protection up to 1kV HBM and operate in environments up to 105 degrees Celsius.
Offered in a 32-lead, 5 x 5 mm LGA package, the PE53111, PE53211, PE53110 and PE53210 are now available as engineering samples. Contact sales@psemi.com to request samples.
Visit pSemi at IMS booth #1349 to see the switch + LNA modules on display.
About pSemi
pSemi Corporation is a Murata company driving semiconductor integration. pSemi builds on Peregrine Semiconductor’s 30-year legacy of technology advancements and strong IP portfolio but with a new mission: to enhance Murata’s world-class capabilities with high-performance RF, analog, mixed-signal and optical solutions. With a strong foundation in RF integration, pSemi’s product portfolio now spans power management, connected sensors, optical transceivers antenna tuning and RF frontends. These intelligent and efficient semiconductors enable advanced modules for smartphones, base stations, personal computers, electric vehicles, data centers, IoT devices and healthcare. From headquarters in San Diego and offices around the world, pSemi’s team explores new ways to make electronics for the connected world smaller, thinner, faster and better. To view pSemi’s semiconductor advancements or to join the pSemi team, visit www.psemi.com.
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The Peregrine Semiconductor name, Peregrine Semiconductor logo and UltraCMOS are registered trademarks and the pSemi name, pSemi logo, HaRP and DuNE are trademarks of pSemi Corporation in the U.S. and other countries. All other trademarks are the property of their respective companies. The pSemi website is copyrighted by pSemi Corporation. All rights reserved.
In today’s industry, finding a COTS product to integrate seamlessly into a system while meeting your exact performance specifications can be hard when considering the various system design variables that have to be accounted for. Design variables such as operating voltage, size and weight restrictions, and power consumption can make an otherwise ideal product incompatible with your setup. This leaves many system integrators with a choice to make when building their product: sacrificing performance for the best available COTS product to stay within budget and schedule, or funding an expensive custom design for the best performance possible.
NuWaves specializes in delivering COTS product variants to help provide a solution for system integrators in this very dilemma – a custom product variant that integrates seamlessly into your system to provide the desired performance. NuWaves’ extensive line of RF COTS products provide the leverage that our team of skilled and experienced RF engineers and technicians use to quickly and relatively inexpensively transform into new product variants to meet customers’ individual requirements.
A NuWaves Technician Modifying a NuPower™ 11C01A Power Amplifier to Increase Efficiency over a Specified Bandwidth
Some examples of previous custom product variant builds include bidirectional amplifiers with increased receive path gain, increased RF output power and transmit gain at specific frequencies for our NuPowerTMline of high powered amplifiers, and even adding or removing features such as automatic gain control (AGC), switching logic, temperature fault protection, etc.
NuWaves Engineering has the ability to support relatively low-cost, quick-turn custom product variants of our COTS products to provide a solution that closely meets your performance specs, no matter how challenging. This is due to our extensive range of in-house capabilities, that range from our in-house machine shop where we manufacture all of our chassis on-site, to our rapid prototyping capabilities, and our extensive testing resources such as our in-house EMI chamber and humidity and temperature test chamber. Contact our team of personable and friendly sales engineers today to discuss how NuWaves Engineering can maximize your RF capability and readiness! – NuWaves Engineering
