GaAs MMIC Low Noise Amplifier SOIC-8 Platform

Rev. V3

Application Note

M540

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1

Visit www.macomtech.com for additional data sheets and product information.

M/A-COM Technology Solutions Inc. and its affiliates reserve the right to make

changes to the product(s) or information contained herein without notice.

Introduction

Early in 1994, M/A-COM began offering a family of

plastic packaged GaAs MMIC low noise amplifiers

(LNAs) featuring single positive supply voltage, low noise

figure, high dynamic range, and low power consumption

for the high volume commercial wireless communications

market. These MMIC LNAs use M/A-COM’s 0.5-micron,

low noise GaAs MESFET process and are housed in low

cost, 8-lead SOIC packages. These LNAs are tested in

M/A-COM’s volume automated facility to achieve low

production cost. The LNAs share a common ‘platform,’ a

product concept explained in the first major section

below, enabling fast development and delivery cycles.

This application note will show the user how to achieve

the performance in the product data sheets, i.e., how to

“get what we get,” and will answer some commonly

asked questions such as how performance varies over

bias.

This note also expands on the data sheet

information to show some interesting properties of the

MMIC LNAs for use in other applications and at slightly

different frequencies than those in the product data

sheet.

To allow the reader to use only those sections that are of

interest, the following is a brief synopsis of the major

sections of this application note:

GaAs MMIC LNA SOIC-8 Product Family:

This section

discusses the ‘platform’ concept and gives an overview

of the salient features for each MMIC LNA.

MMIC

LNA

Product

Design

and

Performance

Features:

This section is a detailed look inside the

design, manufacturing, and reliability issues for these

GaAs MMIC LNAs.

MMIC LNA Product Customer Use Considerations:

This section discusses the issues of importance to the

customer in order to “get what we get “ in the data sheet.

MMIC LNA Product Applications:

This section shows

additional performance features of the MMIC LNAs for

their designed applications, as well as performance

characteristics for other applications such as power

amplifier driver amplifiers and using off-chip tuning

networks to shift the frequency range of performance.

Performance Data & Recommended Board Layouts:

This section discusses the measurement data that is

available, evaluation samples, and printed circuit boards.

Conclusion:

This section summarizes the application

note and gives names, addresses, and phone numbers

for worldwide support.

Glossary:

This section defines the abbreviated terms and

acronyms used in this application note.

GaAs MMIC LNA SOIC-8 Product Family

The MMIC LNA SOIC-8 product family establishes a

‘platform’ for M/A-COM’s Integrated Circuits Business

Unit.

A ‘platform’ is a proven product concept and

manufacturing

methodology

that

translates

core

competencies into product families which fulfill the needs

of strategic markets. The MMIC LNA SOIC-8 platform

products share some common attributes, namely:

Standard Circuit Design:

All internal design blocks such

as low noise stage, gain stage, and biasing schemes are

based on proven design topologies.

Standard IC Fabrication:

Only one fixed production IC

process is used; it has proven yields and well defined

SPC parameters.

Standard Manufacturing:

All chips are assembled on

the same ISO-9001 certified manufacturing line in the

same SOIC-8 package.

The methods for product

assembly, test, qualification, in-line quality monitoring,

and documentation are identical for each device in the

platform.

The advantages of a platform approach to GaAs MMIC

product development are several.

Using a common

design topology and methodology for similar products

means that many such products can be designed in

parallel-essentially

a

batch

process-enabling

fast

development times. The entire development cycle from

inception to preliminary release for the original five LNAs

(MAAM12021, MAAM12022, MAAM12031, MAAM12032,

and MAAM22010) in this platform took six months.

Additionally, these five LNAs are housed in one style

package, the SOIC-8, with identical pin assignments.

This commonality greatly simplifies the assembly,

fixturing, test, and documentation requirements.

Another advantage to the platform approach is that

derivative products, such as those with a different

frequency range or gain level, can be developed quickly

in one single design and manufacturing cycle; it is not

unusual to make the transition from

concept to full

production in three months. Both the AM50-0001

have benefited from the platform approach. The AM50-

0001 is a higher dynamic range LNA in a lower frequency

band which utilizes the SOIC-8 platform design

methodology and has identical pin assignments to the

original LNAs.

The AM50-0002 combines design

topologies from the original LNAs to produce a higher

gain LNA in the SOIC-8 platform.