Sub-nanosecond greater-than-10V compact pulse amplifier with improved linearity and reduced power consumption

A new sub-nanosecond greater-than-10 V compact pulse amplifier for ultra-wideband high-peak-power low-duty-cycle transmitters has been implemented in a high voltage GaAs-HBT integrated circuit. Compared to previously reported designs of the amplifier, the present design uses a single-stage instead of double-stage driver for improved linearity and reduced power consumption. Additionally, the output stage of the present amplifier uses a larger HBT biased in cutoff to boost the output without consuming more power. The resulting output pulse amplitude varies linearly between 5.3 V and 11.3 V with the input pulse amplitude, while the output pulse width varies linearly between 0.18 ns and 0.47 ns with the input pulse width.