Hittite Microwave Corp of Chelmsford, MA, USA (which designs and supplies analog, digital and mixed-signal RF, microwave and millimeter-wave ICs, modules and subsystems as well as instrumentation) has launched the HMC6981LS6 power amplifier for high-linearity point-to-point and point-to-multi-point radios, SatCom, military and space applications.
The HMC6981LS6 is a four-stage gallium arsenide (GaAs) pHEMT monolithic microwave integrated circuit (MMIC) power amplifier that operates at 15-20GHz. Suitable for covering the 18GHz licensed microwave radio band, the amplifier provides 26dB of gain, +34.5dBm of saturated output power, and 25% power-added efficiency (PAE) from a +6V supply. With up to +43.5dBm OIP3 and drawing only 1100mA of current from a +6V supply, the HMC6981LS6 also suits 'green' mode of operation, which demands amplifiers offering increased RF output performance for lower DC input power.
The HMC6981LS6 is housed in a ceramic RoHS-compliant 6mm x 6mm QFN leadless air-cavity package that exhibits low thermal resistance and is compatible with surface-mount manufacturing techniques. The RF I/Os are internally matched to 50 Ohms.
The new device complements Hittite's line of power amplifiers, which provides frequency coverage for all of the licensed microwave radio bands from 6GHz to 86GHz. Samples are available from stock.
