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Product Focus
Amplifiers
Solid-state power amplifiers
The S71000, Ku-band SSPA series of solidstate power amplifier modules from Locus
Microwave covers 13.75 GHz to 14.50 GHz.
It ranges in output power from 10 W to 100 W.
This module provides a high quality, slim-line
solution for various medium and high-power
requirements. The series uses state-of-theart techniques, including a thermal design
enabling long-term reliability and a rugged
mechanical design offering suitable products
for any type of system architecture.
The selection of SSPA products provided
by Locus includes L/S, C, X and Ku-band
frequencies as well as high dynamic range.
Locus deals in modular configurations but
has capabilities and specs for a rack-mountable
unit. All Locus Microwave SSPA products
come with efficient module packaging, input/
output isolators and other options.
Locus Microwave
(814) 466-6275
www.locusmicrowave.com
GaAs amplifiers
TriQuint Semiconductor’s new gallium
arsenide (GaAs) amplifiers are designed for
point-to-point radio, wireless base stations,
satellite communications, sat-com ground
terminals, electronic warfare, instrumentation and frequency multipliers. The products
offer designers sought-after performance and
gallium arsenide ruggedness in packages or
as die.
The shift to industry-standard packages is
an on-going trend, and TriQuint offers products to fit those requirements. Still others
require unpackaged die, so that alternative is
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still offered for most designs.
The TGA4040-SM is a packaged wideband, medium-power amplifier for 17 GHz to
35 GHz applications including point-to-point
radio, electronic warfare, instrumentation
and frequency multipliers. Designed using
TriQuint’s 0.15 m power pHEMT production process, the TGA4040-SM provides a
nominal 20 dB small signal gain with 18 dBm
maximum output power at 1 dB gain compression. For 2x and 3x multiplier functions the
TGA4040-SM provides 15 dBm (typical)
output power at 9 dBm input power.
The TGA4525-SM is a packaged compact high-power amplifier (HPA) MMIC for
K-band applications including point-to-point
radio, sat-com, and point-to-multipoint communications that can also address the needs of
emerging, cost-sensitive markets. Designed
using TriQuint’s proven 0.25 m gate power
pHEMT production process, the TGA4525SM provides nominal 37 dBm output TOI.
The HPA also offers 29 dBm of output power
at 1dB gain compression from 17 GHz to
27 GHz with a small signal gain of 22 dB.
The TGA2520 is a HPA MMIC suited for
Ku-band satellite ground terminal applications
and point-to-point radios. Designed using
TriQuint’s robust 0.5 m power pHEMT
process combined with the latest three-metal
layer interconnect (3MI) technology, the 2W
TGA2520 provides 33 dB gain and fully
covers the 12 GHz and 16 GHz bands, while
delivering a high-power transmit function
within an extremely compact footprint: less
than 3.5 mm2. The product’s high gain and
high TOI (>40 dBm), plus its wide frequency
application, make it an ideal choice for pointto-point radios.
The TGA2602-SM is a packaged high IP3
dual pHEMT discrete low noise amplifier
device designed for wireless communications network base station and WiMAX applications, operating from dc to 3000 MHz.
The TGA2602-SM provides a noise figure of
0.55 dB when used in a balanced configuration, with a small signal gain of more than
19 dB at 1950 MHz. The TGA2602-SM is
available in a low-cost, surface-mount six-lead
2 mm x 2 mm QFN package.
Samples of the amplifiers are available.
TriQuint Semiconductor
(503) 615-9000
www.triquint.com
of associated power gain and 62% drain
efficiency when operated at 40 V.
Initial transistor sampling is targeted for
later this year.
Cree
(919) 313-5300
www.cree.com
GaN S-band transistor
RFMD’s five new gallium arsenide (GaAS)
pHEMT low-noise amplifiers (LNAs) are
designed for GSM, CDMA, UMTS, EDGE
and WiMAX air interface standards. These
LNA products are sampling to key cellular
infrastructure and WiMAX base station OEM
Cree has demonstrated a high-power
gallium nitride (GaN) RF power transistor
for use in mobile WiMAX applications. The
discrete transistor produces 400 W of peak
pulsed RF power at 3.3 GHz with 10.6 dB
www.rfdesign.com
Microwave amplifiers
Labtech Microwave is using its thin
dielectric material (TDM) technology in a
new low-cost standard amplifier range.
Labtech’s product range covers low-noise
octave band amplifiers up to 40 GHz, multioctave band amplifiers up to 40 GHz, high
gain multi-octave limiting amplifiers and
medium-power amplifiers to 1 W. Labtech
has also developed a range of low-noise
amplifiers (2 GHz to 18.0 GHz) using the
TDM technology to complement the existing
alumina technology.
All amplifier modules are assembled in
purpose-built clean rooms that house thin film
processing, automatic chip and wire assembly,
alignment, test and laser welding for hermetic
sealing. Amplifiers are offered in a range of
standard or customer package outlines.
All manufacture and testing is undertaken
in a clean room with fully automated chip
placement and wire bonding. Labtech can fully
test components/subsystems and integrated
assemblies to mil-std requirements.
To meet growing high-tech global demands
and increasingly complex system designs,
the company is introducing a miniature
ERDLVA with an 80 dB dynamic range to
complement its standard DLVA and ERLVA
product lines.
Labtech
+44 (0) 1908 261755
www.labtechmicrowave.com
LNA amplifiers
July 2006
customers and are targeted for production
release in September.
The five GaAs pHEMT LNAs offered are
part of the RF386x product family—RF3861,
RF3863, RF3865, RF3866 and RF3867.
Offering customers a broadband frequency
range of 380 MHz to 3800 MHz with low
noise figure (0.7 dB) and a variety of LNA
configurations (single-stage, dual-stage
and dual-channel), these amplifiers provide
flexible supply voltages (2.5 V to 6.0 V), high
gain (up to 30 dB), very high output IP3 (up
to +38 dBm) and excellent input and output
return loss.
In addition, RFMD’s LNA products are
packaged in a low-cost, extremely small
(5 mm x 5 mm) plastic QFN package. For
pricing, contact RFMD.
RFMD
(336) 664-1233
www.rfmd.com
Video op-amps
the TSOP-6/SOT-23-6 package.
The NCS2551 is a voltage feedback device
of 500 MHz. This device has a slew rate of
1400 V/µs, but only consumes 5.5 mA of
current draw. The NCS2551 is offered in a
TSOP-5/SOT-23-5 package.
Pricing in 3000-unit quantities is as follows: the NCS2510 and NCS2511 are priced
respectively at $1.40 and $1.25. The NCS2535
and NCS2540 are priced respectively at
$1.90 and $1.75. The NCS2550 and NCS2552
are priced respectively at $1.35 and $1.40,
and the NCS2551 is priced at $1.25 per unit.
ON Semiconductor
(602) 244-6600
www.onsemi.com
Track and hold amplifier
The HMC660LC4B wideband track-andhold amplifier is the first product within the
new data converter product line from Hittite.
Fabricated in a SiGe BiCMOS process, the
HMC660LC4B is designed for direct sampling of full-scale 1 Vpp signals with up to
4.5 GHz input bandwidth with a maximum
3 GHz sampling clock rate.
Hold mode feedthrough rejection is greater
than 60 dB. Output noise is 0.95 mVrms. The
single-ended impedance for input signals is
50 Ω. Analog input return loss from 0 Hz to
5 GHz is 12 dB. Return loss in analog outputs
is 15 dB from 0 Hz to 4 GHz.
Contact Hittite for pricing and availability.
Hittite Microwave
(978) 250-3343
www.hittite.com
Dual-band power amplifier
The new NCS25xx family of op-amps from
ON Semiconductor uses new technologies
to achieve low distortion levels required by
professional video applications.
The NCS2510 and NCS2511 are current
feedback devices of 1.4 GHz and 1.0 GHz,
respectively. The NCS2511 only consumes
7.5 mA of power vs. the 12 mA of the
NCS2510. Both devices are offered in a
TSOP-5/SOT-23-5 package.
The NCS2535 and NCS2540 are triple
op-amps, ideal for driving component video.
The NCS2535 is a 1.4 GHz current feedback device with disable; the NCS2540 is a
750 MHz voltage feedback device with
disable. Both devices are offered in a
TSSOP-16 package.
The NCS2550 and NCS2552 are voltage
feedback devices of 750 MHz. The NCS2552
comes with an ultrafast enable feature allowing enable times in the range of 5 ns. The
NCS2550 is offered in a TSOP-5/SOT-23-5
package, while the NCS2552 is offered in
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Fairchild Semiconductor’s FMPA2151 is
a highly integrated dual-band WLAN power
amplifier module optimized to increase performance and reduce PCB board footprint in
the latest 802.11a/bg WLAN applications.
The device offers 3.5% error vector measurement (EVM) at 20 dBm output power,
which helps to extend the wireless range in
www.rfdesign.com
computing applications for worldwide Internet
connectivity. It also saves designers up to 22%
board space by combining 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz
power amplifiers into a single package. For
additional space savings, as well as enhanced
reliability, the device provides built-in power
detectors and digital PA on/off controls.
Fairchild’s FMPA2151 is available in a
4 mm x 4 mm, 16-terminal lead (Pb)-free package. Pricing is $1.99 for 10,000-unit orders.
Samples and demo boards are available.
Fairchild Semiconductor
(207) 775-8100
www.fairchildsemi.com
Quad-band power amplifier
Axiom Microdevices’ AX502 device
integrates full quad-band GSM/GPRS PA
function on a single IC using mainstream
silicon CMOS process technology. All of
the functions between transmitter output
and transmit/receive switch are integrated in
0.13 μm silicon CMOS process technology.
The AX502 amplifies low-level radiofrequency (RF) signals to the required highpower levels needed for transmission in
GSM/GPRS mobile phone handsets or data
modules. The device supports quad-band
(GSM 850/900/1800/1900) operation. The
integrated 50 Ω input and output matching
circuitry, enables direct connection to the
transceiver output and the Tx/Rx switch
input without the use of the external matching
components.
The power level is regulated via a fully
integrated closed-loop power controller that
ensures that the GSM power/time mask and
switching spectrum may be met with adequate
margin to allow robust mass production when
subjected to a real world cell phone environment, such as highly elevated VSWR and low
supply voltage.
The reliability of the AX502 has been proven through thousands of hours of life testing,
at accelerated operating conditions, including
greater than recommended operating temperature, extended duty cycle, load mismatches of
greater than 10-to-1 VSWR at all phase angles,
and elevated supply voltages.
Other features include GSM/GPRS Class
12 operation, power supply range of 2.9 V to
5.5 V, RF input range of –2 dBm to 8 dBm,
and <100 dB/V power control slope.
Samples of the AX502 are available. Contact Axiom for pricing.
Axiom Microdevices
(949) 727-9277
www.axiom-micro.com
Variable gain amplifier
WJ Communications’ VG112 is a 1 W,
low-distortion, variable gain amplifier (VGA)
optimized for various current and next-
July 2006
generation wireless technologies such as GPRS,
GSM, CDMA, TD-SCDMA and W-CDMA.
The device operates over the 1800 MHz
to 2200 MHz frequency range, featuring 22.6
dB gain, +46 dBm OIP3, and +30 dBm of
compressed 1 dB power using a single +5 V
supply voltage. The internal attenuation stage
provides 28 dB of gain variation range and is
controlled by a 0 V to 4.5 V control voltage.
The high linearity performance of the
VG112 provides ACPR/ACLR (adjacentchannel power/leakage) performance for
spread-spectrum applications such as CDMA
and W-CDMA. It is capable of providing
+23.5 dBm power output for an IS-95A signal
at -45 dBc ACPR when operating at 1960
MHz. For W-CDMA the power output is +21
dBm with -45 dBc ACLR when operating at
2140 MHz. A key feature of the device is in its
ability to maintain high linearity at any gain
state over its entire attenuation range.
The VG112 is manufactured using the
InGaP HBT process designed for wireless
infrastructure requirements. Capable of operating over the –40 °C to +85 °C temperature
range, the VG112 achieves in excess of 1M
hours MTTF at +85 °C. It is also has an ESD
rating of Class 1B (HBM per JEDEC standard
JESD22-A114) and a level 2 MSL rating at
+260 °C per JEDEC standard J-STD-020.
The VG112 is housed in a 6 mm x 6 mm
QFN package. Samples are available and can
be requested from the web site. Contact WJ
for pricing information.
WJ Communications
(408) 577-6200
www.wj.com
ideal amplifier solution for RFID applications
in the United States, Europe and Japan.
The MAAP-007649-000100 is designed
as a 2 W HBT power amplifier that displays
ultrahigh linearity for RFID applications, with
greater than 1 W DRM spectral mask linearity.
Frequency coverage is designed to be between
800 MHz to 1000 MHz, with 19 dB gain, 15
dB OIP3 / P1dB figure of merit, and 50%
PAE at P1dB. It is fabricated on a low-cost,
high-reliability HBT GaAs process. On-chip
bias networks allow for power down control
capability. The device is available in a surfacemount 4 mm 16 lead PQFN package.
The MAAPSS0095 is priced at $3.71 in quantities of 100,000. The MAAP-007649-000100 is
priced at $4.49 in quantities of 25,000.
M/A-COM
(978) 442-5000
www.macom.com
RFID reader power amps
M/A-COM’s two new power amplifiers,
the MAAPSS0095 and MAAP-007649000100, are designed for applications requiring high power and high efficiency such as
radio-frequency identification (RFID).
The MAAPSS0095 is designed to be a 1.6
W device packaged in a 3 mm, 16-lead PQFN
package and includes bias networks that can
be controlled by analog signals to switch
from active to stand-by modes. It is fabricated
on a low-cost, high-reliability HBT GaAs
process. Each MAAPSS0095 is 100% radiofrequency (RF) tested to ensure performance
compliance. The wide bandwidth and high
efficiency of the MAAPSS0095 makes it the
RF Design
www.rfdesign.com
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