Conditionally stable amplifier design using constant μ-contours

Conditionally stable amplifiers (0 < k < 1) can be an attractive design option for commercial applications where increased gain can be achieved by accepting a measured risk of instability. A procedure is presented for designing amplifier input and output matching networks which permits an a-priori, quantitative trade-off between gain and the stability parameter, μ (or μ'). Analytical results have been derived suitable for CAD implementation.