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Toshiba Announces The Industryıs Highest Power Ku-Band GaAs FET for Satellite Communications

New device increases output power to 18 watts for existing SSPA design platforms

The manufacturer says . . .

ChipCenter's Paul O'Shea says . . .

Toshiba America Electronic Components, Inc. (TAEC) announced an 18 watt internally-matched Ku-Band gallium arsenide field effect transistor (GaAs FET), currently the highest power device currently available for operating in the 14.0 to 14.5 gigahertz (GHz) range in satellite communications (SATCOM) applications. Designated TIM1414-18L, the new device developed by Toshiba Corp. (Toshiba) is targeted for use in solid-state power amplifiers (SSPAs) for Ku-Band satellite communication transmitters and very small aperture terminals (VSATs). ıThe increasing demand for multimedia-rich content driven by commercial Internet use, along with the trend toward broadband communication, has maintained strong growth for the SSPA market and created a need for more power,ı said Lupita Ho, senior manager of business development for microwave products at TAEC. ıWith the introduction of this new device, we are allowing customers to boost their power limit for SSPA to the next level, while enabling SSPA suppliers to penetrate new markets never before possible.ı The first 18W device of its kind, the TIM1414-18L supports the highest output power from a single device and offers designers a solution for use in a smaller high-power amplifier (HPA) design. Due to Toshibaıs refinement of its gate structure and fabrication process, the new device provides high linearity performance to support the requirements of SATCOM applications. The TIM1414-18L is housed in a reliable, hermetically-sealed 2-11C1B package with a small footprint measuring 21.5 millimeters (mm) x 12.9mm. This allows designers to simplify designs and lower total system cost by reducing device count. This deviceıs packaging is consistent with that of Toshibaıs existing 10W and 15W Ku-Band GaAs FETs, providing designers the ability to realize a higher output power SSPA without requiring significant design changes. Toshiba is an industry leader in microwave devices, with a history of achievements in output power, small size and high performance. The TIM1414-18L is implemented in Toshibaıs Heterojunction Field Effect Transition (HFET) process technology. The HFET process is ideal for high-power microwave devices due to its high carrier concentration that enhances output power and gain. Since HFETs have a higher Schottky Barrier height than GaAs Metal Semiconductor Field Effect Transistors (MESFETs), HFETs achieve improved gate breakdown voltage (BVgd) with reduced gate leakage current - a critical factor in higher-power devices. Key Features High Power: P1dB = 42.5dBm at 14.0 to 14.5GHz High Gain: G1dB = 6.0dB at 14.0 to 14.5GHz Low Intermodulation Distortion: IM3 = -42dBc at Po = 36dBm Single Carrier Level Internally-Matched Hermetically-Sealed Package Product Specifications Part Number    TIM1414-18L Frequency Range    14.0GHz to 14.5GHz P1dB Typical    42.5 dBm G1dB Typica    6.0 dB IDS Maximum    6.0A IM3 Minimum    -25 dBc For technical questions: Tech.Questions@taec.toshiba.com For additional company and product information: www.chips.toshiba.com

The infrastructure market for satellite communications (SATCOM) uses two technologies; one is tube based and the other is solid state based. The tube-based technology can offer considerably higher power figures (and higher heat) than the solid state. In the output power amplifier marketplace for SATCOM 25% is solid-state power amp (SSPA) and the other 75% is tube-based technology. However, the cold reality of the marketplace is that customers cannot extend their footprint, meaning everything must get smaller. So they want more power in the same or smaller space. Toshiba knows this and they continue to develop larger wattage solid state power amps. They are in the enviable position of having customers tell them they want a solid-state power amp product with more power before they can develop it. For that reason, this product will be gobbled up as fast as they can make them. Even so, Toshiba has the highest power solid-state power amps compared to their competition and now they have added to their selection with this 18W product. This particular product is used for the solid-state power amps for the SATCOM and very small aperture terminal applications. Past products from Toshiba used a Metal Semiconductor Field Effect Transistors (MESFET) technology, which is a conventional material process. Now they use this Heterojunction Field Effect Transition (HFET); which is similar to pseudomorphic high-electron-mobility transistor (PHEMT) process. HFET process technology allowed Toshiba a higher gain and higher frequency than MESFET. The HFETs offer improved gate breakdown voltage with reduced gate current leakage, improved from the MESFETs. According to Toshiba, the highest power you can get from the MESFETs is about 15W. Additionally, the company says that 18W is the about the highest they can go in the current size package, so if they decide to go to a product with higher power they will also have to make the package larger. It is impossible to put this die in the same package size because of the heat issue. Infrastructure customers who want to build the Ku band for higher levels like 50W to 100W can combine tube and solid-state products to get to that power level. However, for 100W and above in the Ku Band, only tube-based technology can presently access that power level. However, lower power levels of solid-state power amps are equivalent to higher wattage tube-based amplifiers.This has allowed users like carriers to conserve energy. The reason this is true is because the linearity of the SSPA is better than the tube-based amp so the solid-state device doesnıt need to have the same output power to have the same transmission performance. Another benefit of SSPA is the lifetime reliability or of the part. The tube-based amp typically needs to be replaced every year or two, because tube-based technology is unreliable. SSPA is much more reliable and Toshiba is targeting 1 million hours of MTBF, or about 110 years. Samples of the TIM1414-18L are scheduled to be available in September 2002, priced at $1,100 in quantities of 1,000. Full production is scheduled for December. For additional information: http://www.toshiba.com/taec/howtobuy/index.shtml Data sheet: http://www.toshiba.com/taec/components/Datasheet/TIM1414-15LDS.pdf

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