Ultra-low dc power consumptions in monolithic L-band components

A set of monolithic L-band components operating at milliwatt and sub-milliwatt dc power consumptions have been designed and fabricated. A maximum gain/power quotient of 19.1 dB/mW was recorded for a monolithic amplifier at a frequency of 1.25 GHz with a cascade of 2 MMIC amplifiers yielding a total gain of 15.3 dB on a total power consumption of just 800 microW. This is believed to be the highest gain/power quotient ever reported for a monolithic circuit at L-band. A four pole voltage controlled filter with low power amplifier gain stages showed a loss of 1.6 dB with 15 percent 3 dB bandwidth on a power consumption of 6.75 mW at 1.575 GHz. A subsystem containing the chips was assembled and tested. The ultra-low power consumptions were obtained with a standard foundry process using an enhancement mode MESFET with a variety of design techniques. Yields obtained on two 4-inch GaAs wafers were 96-100 percent.