10W CW broadband balanced limiter/LNA fabricated using MSAG MESFET process

This article presents the design and test data for a 10W broadband balanced limiter/LNA MMIC fabricated using MSAG MESFET process. The limiter is based on Schottky diodes and the two-stage LNA is designed using high-performance MESFETs. The typical measured performance for the limiter/LNA circuit includes gain greater than 14 dB, NF less than 2.7 dB, and return loss better than 20 dB over the 8.5–11.5 GHz frequency range. The CW power handling for the packaged limiter/LNA circuits was greater than 10W. The packaged devices were also exposed to power levels greater than 10W, and no catastrophic failures were observed up to 18W. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J RF and Microwave CAE 13: 118–127, 2003.