A 12-GHz 1-W GaAs MESFET Amplifier

A practical method using small signal S/sub 22/ is presented for the design of GaAs MESFET power amplifier. A five-stage MIC amplifier, which delivers 1-W power output with 27-dB linear gain in the 12-GHz band, was constructed based on this method. Further improvement in the power performance of the amplifier was investigated using newly developed flip-chip MESFET's resulting in 4-W and 2-W power outputs for a unit and a five-stage amplifier, respectively.