HBT Technology for High Power X Band and Broadband Amplification

For many applications like active phased array antennas for airborne radar, high power levels are required. To provide high performance and high manufacturing yield at a reduced coast, a MMIC solution is naturally very attractive. This can be achieved by choosing an efficient technology for active components. In this paper, a solution based on the HBT technology is presented. The 10W class, X band power amplifiers, and 1W, 4.5GHz-18GHz amplifiers were designed using the HBT technology HB20P from UMS. Based on the results obtained, this paper will discuss the capability and the technology improvements needed to reach the power and frequency bandwidth specifications with margin.