A Two-Watt 5-10 GHZ Miniature Cascode Amplifier Design using BeO Microwave Integrated Circuits

An octave bandwidth power amplifier design which exploits the unique capabilities of a new miniature hybrid technology is presented. The technology features flip-chip mounted FETs which are placed directly on thin film matching circuits defined on high thermal conductivity BeO. One advantage of this approach is that novel topologies, such as the cascode configurations of this design, are easily implemented. Better than 7dB gain over 5 to 10 GHz with 25% power-added efficiency is predicted for this design which, with bias circuits, measures 4.4 × 6.4 mm.