10 September 2015

Guerrilla RF's new high-linearity gain blocks act as broadband pre-drivers for GaN power amplifiers

Guerrilla RF Inc of Greensboro, NC, USA - which provides monolithic microwave integrated circuits (MMICs) to wireless infrastructure original equipment manufacturers - has added to its family of high-linearity gain blocks (which features a combination of simple-application schematic, flat gain and high compressed output power operating from near DC up to 4GHz). 

The GRF2012 and GRF2013 are suitable as cost-effective pre-drivers for existing broadband gallium nitride (GaN) high-power amplifiers as well as a multitude of general-purpose, high-performance gain block applications. Their flat gain and flexible biasing allow for high levels of re-use both within a single design and across platforms, says the firm.

The new gain blocks address a critical industry need for cost-effective, broadband pre-drivers for GaN power amplifiers (PAs), reckons the firm. "With flexible biasing and Vdd capability up to 8V, these amplifiers provide consistent, broadband, compressed output power that GaN designers have been searching for," says Alan Ake, VP of applications and technical marketing. "These versatile devices provide high levels of performance covering a wide frequency range, all with internal matching. This results in a low-part count which ultimately yields compact, low-cost solutions for design engineers," he adds.

According to analyst firm Research and Markets, the overall wireless network infrastructure market will rise at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of over 5% to more than $104bn by the end of 2020.

A typical GaN pre-driver application of the GRF2012 and the GRF2013 (announced in May) deliver a compressed output power greater than +25dBm using a Vdd of 8V over a wide frequency range of 200-2600MHz. This bandwidth matches up well with the broadband performance capability of some of today's newer GaN PAs, reckons Guerrilla RF. Their flexible biasing capability allows Vdd over a range of 2.7-8.0V and the device Iddq can be set independently from the Vdd, allowing for optimal power consumption and efficiency, adds the firm.

Guerrilla RF also offers SOT-89 variants of the GRF2012 and GRF2013 as the GRF3012 and GRF3013, respectively. These SOT-89 variants offer similar broadband compressed output power capability compared with the GRF2012/2013 devices and can also be used as drop-in replacements for industry-standard SOT-89 gain blocks while offering superior performance, it is claimed.

All four devices in this family are sampling now. Pricing is $1.48 for the GRF2012 and GRF2013 and $1.10 for the GRF3012 and GRF3013 each, in 10,000-unit quantities.

Tags: MMIC

Visit: http://guerrilla-rf.com