mmTron announces availability of a 2 watt, pHEMT, distributed power amplifier (PA) covering DC to 28 GHz.

The TMC200 at a glance:
— 2 W output power at 1 dB compression
— 15 dB small-signal gain
— 43 dBm OIP3
— On-chip detector and reference diodes
— GaAs pHEMT process

Designed to improve the performance of the venerable distributed amplifier, the TMC200 covers DC to 28 GHz and provides 34 dBm saturated output power with a typical third-order intercept (TOI) of 43 dBm. The PA’s small-signal gain is 15 dB, and it has a typical noise figure of 3.5 dB.

TMC200 gain measured on-wafer.

“With its wide bandwidth and dynamic range, the TMC200 is well-suited for instrumentation and electronic warfare systems,” said Seyed Tabatabaei, mmTron’s CEO and founder. “We designed the amplifier to be more linear by tailoring the epi used for the active devices and optimizing the gate widths and the load seen by each transistor. We added an integrated detector and reference diodes on-chip to enable output power measurement and temperature compensation.”

Because of the distributed amplifier architecture, the MMIC is well matched to 50 Ω, with input and output return losses better than 10 dB.

The recommended bias for the TMC200 is 15 V on the drain and a negative gate voltage to set the quiescent drain current to approximately 530 mA.

The MMIC die measures 3 mm x 1.9 mm x 0.1 mm and has Au-based metallization compatible with the wire and wedge bonding used in chip-and-wire assemblies. The backside metallization is optimized for both epoxy and eutectic die attachment.

Samples of the TMC200 are available for immediate shipment.

The TMC200 is one of a family of distributed amplifiers developed by mmTron. Other products in the family include the TMC162, optimized for low noise; the TMC163 designed for high linearity; and the TMC164, a medium power distributed amplifier. Performance information about these MMICs is at mmtron.com/products.

Note: This announcement has been updated to reflect the latest characterization data.