Pallet Persuasion

摘要

10 years agc.RF discrete transistors integrated into pallets Integration: Traditional designs in the military defense sector often utilized bipolar technology in a pallet form for radar and avionics applications. A pallet or module is a 50 Cl matched design. Most pallets that were requested were single transistor pallets with the input and output matching stages incorporated on a PCB substrate as in Figure 1. A pallet design offers an ease of manufacturability. The pallet manufacturer actually performs the physical mounting of the RF device to the metallic heatsink. This process assures a sufficient thermal transfer path with an adequate connection to RF ground. A sound thermal path to the heatsink eliminates overheating of the semiconductor material and ensures a long lifetime and reliable design. The pallet manufacturer also is responsible for the physical positioning of the device affecting RF performance with the x-axis determining phase performance and the y-axis affecting the impedance match and ultimately the RF performance parameters. With the RF design 100 percent RF tested before being shipped, all that is left to do at the customer end is to physically mount the pallet onto a heatsink with some metal screws and the design is complete. This shortens the design cycle, freeing up the end-user to concentrate on designing higher system level functionality.