Date: 11/08/2011

200 mA & 1.6 A active bias controllers for Class-A amplifiers

Hittite Microwave Corporation, has added three new HMC980LP4E, HMC981 and HMC981LP3E complete monolithic Class-A amplifier biasing and monitoring solutions to its DC Power Management product line, are suitable for power management and control in cellular infrastructure, microwave and millimeterwave communications, fiber optic, consumer, military, space and test equipment applications.

Hittite explains that bias control solutions automatically adjust the gate voltage to achieve a constant bias current over part-to-part and temperature variations, provides a significant advantage compared with discrete-based solutions since it eliminates manual calibration. The HMC980LP4E, HMC981 and HMC981LP3E reduce the PCB area while designing by integrating negative voltage generator, automatic gate adjustment and power-up sequencing circuit blocks in a single monolithic device.

The HMC980LP4E targets amplifiers operating with bias currents up to 1.6 A and supply voltages from 5V to 16.5V and also features an optional current alarm feature, is available in a compact 4 x 4 mm plastic SMT package and requires a minimal number of external components, says Hittite.

According to Hittite, the HMC981LP3E is a highly compact biasing solution that requires only eight standard external passive components and features simplified functionality compared with the previously released HMC920LP5E, available in a 3 x 3 mm plastic SMT package and is capable of biasing amplifiers with currents up to 200 mA and supply voltages from 4V to 12V. For customers designing with die amplifiers, the HMC981LP3E is also available in die format as the HMC981.

Die samples, SMT product samples and evaluation PC boards for all SMT packaged products are available.