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wirelessZONE Products for the week of October 27, 2008
Microsemi Says…
0405SC-1000M: Silicon Carbide RF Power Devices for VHF and UHF Radar Applications
Microsemi Corporation, a leading manufacturer of high performance analog/mixed signal integrated circuits and high reliability semiconductors announced its first two RF power transistors utilizing silicon carbide technology for high power VHF and UHF band pulsed radar applications.
"These are the first parts in a breakthrough series of silicon carbide RF power transistors Microsemi is now able to bring to the market, utilizing our new state of the art production capabilities," said Charlie Leader, Vice President of Microsemi's Power Products Group Military and Aerospace business in Santa Clara, California.
"The performance of these new devices demonstrates the clear advantages silicon carbide technology brings to applications in avionics, radar, and electronic warfare," Leader said. "They also underscore the leadership position Microsemi's Power Product Group has established in providing innovative and cost effective solutions for the most demanding RF pulsed power applications," he added.
Designated 0150SC-1250M and 0405SC-1000M, these RF Power transistors utilize state-of-the-art silicon carbide technology designed for VHF - 150 to 160 MHz, and UHF - 406 to 450 MHz respectively. These high performance, common gate, class AB, high power transistors offer the industry's highest power output, typical 1400W at VHF and 1100W at UHF of peak power in compact single-ended packages.
EN-Genius Says…
At long last!
I have been waiting for someone to go run with SiC for RF for the last ten years or so but Cree – who should have been in the business first – were always too busy with illumination and insulators!
Looking at the UHF device (as the most difficult to build) the nomenclature used shows it is the SiC version of the already existing 0405-1000M which was Microsemi’s Bipolar/LDMOS solution. With the 0405SC-1000M the functional drain voltage is 125 V (compared to 40 V for the LDMOS version), reducing dc demands dramatically, and offers a power gain of a typical 8.5 dB over the range of 406 MHz to 450 MHz. Drain efficiency is quoted at a minimum of 50% at 450 MHz producing 1 kW of pulsed output (300 µs, 10%).
Impedance matching looks pretty straightforward (although Microsemi needs to produce proper S11 and S22 tables, not just numbers at what they think will be the three frequencies of most interest). The part will withstand a 10:1 VSWR.
The 0405SC-1000M will end up in Class AB, single-ended PA solutions for weather and tracking radar. No pricing was quoted. We look forward to seeing more devices from the same stable. LDMOS is still going to have applications but the future is bright for SiC in RF power applications. The 0405SC-1000M is in Microsemi’s (APT’s) 55KT FET package. Demonstration kits are available.
Data Sheet
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