Low-DC power 2-18 GHz monolithic matrix amplifier

摘要

The authors present a (2*5) matrix amplifier with a DC power consumption as low as 200 mW with 13 dBm of RF output power (@1 dB compression point) achieving 7 dB small-signal gain (residual ripple 0.3 dB) and input and output return losses always better than -14 dB. Designed using the LN05 monolithic process of Thomson Composants Microondes (TCM), the amplifier employs ten MESFETs of 160 mu m gate width and submicron (0.5 mu m) gate length, for a total chip area of 2.5*3.5 mm/sup 2/. Broadband performance and very low power consumption make this amplifier very well suited for end-volume realisation of monolithic multiple-stage front-ends in integrated high bit-rate optical receivers.