A 3.5 V, 1.3 W GaAs power multi-chip IC for cellular phones

A GaAs power multi-chip IC (MCIC) operable at a voltage of 3.5 V designed for cellular phones has been developed. The MCIC is able to deliver an output power of 1.3 W with a power-added efficiency of 60% in a frequency range from 890 to 950 MHz. This consists of two GaAs MESFET's, three GaAs passive matching chips, and a printed circuit board on which biasing networks are disposed. These are mounted on an aluminum nitride (AlN) package, occupying a half volume of conventional power hybrid IC's, i.e., only 0.4 cc. In order to improve the low voltage operation characteristics, a GaAs power MESFET operable at a low voltage of 3.5 V with an output power of 32 dBm and a power-added efficiency of 65% is developed, and microstrip lines having high impedance characteristics are incorporated also in order to minimize the conductor loss of matching network. The MCIC would be highly useful to develop compact cellular phones with advanced characteristics. >