Large signal circuit design-medium power, class A amplification

This paper deals with large signal microwave circuit design techniques as applied to medium power amplifiers operating in class A. In the context of microwave monolithic integrated circuits (MMICs) on GaAs, the term “medium” refers to power outputs in the range 0.25 to 5 W produced by a single chip with its own on-board matching networks. After a brief examination of the load-pull design technique, the pseudo linear design approach is used to design a practical 0.25 W single stage MMIC amplifier. The amplifier measures only 0.9×0.9 mm, has a flat 5 dB gain over 8-14 GHz and employs a single 0.7 μm FET with an 800 μm gate width