M/A-COM, a business unit of Tyco Electronics and a leading provider of wireless radio frequency (RF), microwave and millimeter wave components, today announced a new family of high power broadband amplifiers. The four new amplifiers, MAAPGM0074-DIE, MAAPGM0076-DIE, MAAPGM0077-DIE and MAAPGM0078-DIE can be used in various applications including communications and military electronic systems. The power levels, up to 16 Watts, are especially high for multi-octave GaAs MMICs covering frequency bands from 0.7 to 8.0 GHz.

"Our new line of amplifiers will truly benefit a multitude of industries where high power amplifiers need to be utilized on varying frequency bands,” said Jack Redus, Microwave MMIC product manager, M/A-COM, Inc. “Additionally, these amplifiers provide MMIC solutions that are much smaller than existing discrete surface mount or chip-and-wire products, which enables us to significantly reduce NRE (non-recurring engineering) and time-to-market.”

MAAPGM0074-DIE covers 2.0 to 8.0 GHz with an output power level of 8 watts. Other typical performance parameters are gain of 14 dB and VSWR’s of 1.7:1 input and 2.2:1 output. It requires +10 V and negative supply voltages and uses 3.5 A under compression.

MAAPGM0076-DIE covers 1.3 to 2.5 GHz with an output power level of 16 watts. Other typical performance parameters are gain of 25 dB and VSWR’s of 1.3:1 input and 1.6:1 output. It requires +10 V and negative supply voltages and uses 5.2 A under compression.

MAAPGM0077-DIE covers 0.7 to 2.5 GHz with an output power level of 13 watts. Other typical performance parameters are gain of 23 dB and VSWR’s of 1.7:1 input and 1.6:1 output. It requires +10 V and negative supply voltages and uses 4.9 A under compression.

MAAPGM0078-DIE covers 2 to 6 GHz with an output power level of 12 watts. Other typical performance parameters are gain of 20 dB and VSWR’s of 1.4:1 input and 2.3:1 output. It requires +10 V and negative supply voltages and uses 4.1 A under compression.

The amplifiers are fabricated using M/A-COM’s MSAG (multi-function self-aligned gate) process, which features a polyimide coating and no air bridges to produce a rugged chip for high assembly yields. The MTTF is one million hours at a 170oC junction temperature.

Price and Availability

The MAAPGM0074-DIE, MAAPGM0076-DIE, MAAPGM0077-DIE, MAAPGM0078-DIE, as COTS (commercial off-the-shelf) solutions, are available today as a bare die and from stock in low quantities for engineering development. Lead times on higher quantities start at 12 weeks. Ceramic packaged versions of the amplifiers will be available in mid-2006. Contact M/A-COM’s sales and distribution channels for price and delivery quotations. Datasheets and supporting technical documents are available online at http://www.macom.com.