A High Gain MMIC Broadband Amplifier with Extremely Low Power Consumption

The design and performance of a high gain, monolithic, broadband amplifier with extremely low power consumption are described. The amplifier, fabricated using a 0.5 μm GaAs depletion-mode MESFET process, utilizes very small gate width devices to achieve a measured gain of 19 dB and a 0.1 to 2.1 GHz bandwidth with only 63 mW DC power dissipation. This is the lowest power consumption broadband MMIC reported to date and is intended for mobile radio applications.