A circuit arrangement and method for extending the applicable voltage range and maintaining high input impedance of MESFET and HEMT circuits

摘要

A circuit arrangement having an input terminal connected through a plurality of forward biased Schottky diodes (Jd1,Jd2..Jdn) connected in series to a gate of a transistor (Jd), wherein each Schottky diode (Jd1,Jd2..Jdn) has a Schottky barrier voltage and the number of Schottky diodes (Jd1,Jd2..Jdn) is selected such that the sum of the Schottky barrier voltages of the Schottky diodes (Jd1,Jd2..Jdn) connected in series plus the Schottky barrier voltage of the transistor gate-source diode is higher than a maximum voltage (Vns) between the input terminal (N) and the source terminal of the transistor (Jd) such that the impedance of the input terminal remains high.