Electronic component distributor Richardson RFPD Inc (an Arrow Electronics Company) of LaFox, IL, USA has announced availability and full design support capabilities for a new evaluation kit for a 5W gallium nitride monolithic microwave integrated circuit (MMIC) power amplifier made by Nitronex LLC of Durham, NC, USA, which provides gallium nitride on silicon (GaN-on-Si) solutions using its proprietary SIGANTIC manufacturing process.
Picture: Nitronex’s NPA1003QA-EVK evaluation board.
The NPA1003QA-EVK evaluation kit includes: a test fixture tuned for 20-1000MHz broadband performance; two device loose samples; and a USB memory stick containing the NPA1003 datasheet, test data, and full drawings and documentation.
The evaluation board arrives ready for testing. It is a full, 50Ω circuit, with input and output connectors, and DC supplies for both drain and gain voltage. The unit can be immediately connected to any network analyzer to test small-signal gain, or to any power measurement system.
Nitronex’s NPA1003 5W GaN MMIC PA (which was launched in mid-2011) is optimized for broadband operation from DC to 1500MHz, and offers an integrated 50Ω I/O match, in a small, 4mm x 4mm QFN package. The device is suited to avionics and L-band radar applications, as well as applications in communications bands under 1GHz.