A modal analysis of MMIC power amplifier stability

Author

Freitag, Ronald G.

Author_Institution

Westinghouse ESG, Baltimore, MD, USA

fYear

1992

Firstpage

1012

Abstract

A technique for predicting power amplifier stability is presented. Monolithic microwave integrated circuit (MMIC) power amplifiers use large periphery output devices to meet their output power goals. Bandwidth and impedance matching considerations typically require that the large output device be subdivided into smaller devices and power combined on-chip. This power combining introduces n possible modes of oscillation when n devices are combined. The usual stability analyses only address one mode. The author presents an approach for predicting and stabilizing oscillations for all n modes. Specific cases for n=2, 3 and 4 are discussed. The approach can be implemented using standard small-signal analysis software

Keywords

MMIC; SPICE; circuit analysis computing; circuit oscillations; microwave amplifiers; power amplifiers; stability; MMIC power amplifier; SPICE; modal analysis; modes of oscillation; small-signal analysis software; stability prediction; Circuit stability; MMICs; Microwave amplifiers; Microwave devices; Microwave integrated circuits; Modal analysis; Monolithic integrated circuits; Power amplifiers; Power generation; Stability analysis;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Circuits and Systems, 1992., Proceedings of the 35th Midwest Symposium on

Conference_Location

Washington, DC

Print_ISBN

0-7803-0510-8

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/MWSCAS.1992.271123

Filename

271123