Ceramic Surface Mount Amplifier

Rev. V3

Application Note

C2084

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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.

1. Introduction

M/A-COM’s

Ceramic

Surface

Mount

amplifier

platform

offers

superior

intermodulation

performance for IF amplifiers in a commercial LGA

(Land Grid Array) package. This design approach

integrates coupler feedback transformer technology

into a low cost package with excellent thermal

performance. The amplifiers in this family can be

used individually or cascaded in pairs to achieve

any gain between 10 and 30 dB in 5 dB steps.

Desired

Gain (dB)

Stage 1

Amplifier

Stage 2

Amplifier

Prototype

Amplifier

10

AM05-0006

N/A

AM05-0006-TB

15

AM05-0005

N/A

AM05-0005-TB

20

AM05-0006

AM05-0006

N/A

25

AM05-0005

AM05-0006

N/A

30

AM05-0005

AM05-0005

N/A

Table 1. Selection Guide for 10 to 30 dB

Gain

2. Product Selection and Prototype

Boards

For gains of 10 or 15 dB an individual AM05-0006

or AM05-0005 amplifier would be used.

For gains

of 20, 25, and 30 dB two amplifiers would be

cascaded per Table 1. Note that for the 25 dB gain

cascade, it is desirable to put AM05-0005 first,

since noise figure is lower when the higher gain

amplifier is the first element of the cascade.

Prototype boards are available for the AM05-0005

and AM05-0006 amplifiers.

These boards are

connectorized so the the customer can easier

evaluate prototype quantities, without needing to

develop prototype boards. DC voltage and return

wires can be soldered or clipped to the DC

connectors.

The part numbers for the prototype

boards are AM05-0005-TB and AM06-0006-TB.

See Figure 1 for a prototype board with the AM05-

0006 amplifier mounted to it.

3. Package Design

The base of the package is ceramic due to the

power dissipated in the transistor. Using a ceramic

package is the best way to transfer heat out of the

transistor, and still keep the design low cost for the

commercial market. A land grid array package was

used so that the amplifiers can easily be soldered

to the end user’s printed circuit board. There are

two RF connections (RF IN and RF OUT) and a

bias connection. All of the other connections are

ground. The grounds are kept small to minimize

mechanical stress on the solder joints as the

temperature

changes,

due

to

the

thermal

expansion and contraction of the ceramic. Some of

the grounds are actually used for thermal transfer,

as opposed to just providing an RF ground. The

leads

are

pretinned

with

solder

to

enhance

soldering by the customer. See Figure 2 for a top

and bottom view of the package.

Figure 1. Prototype Board AM05-0006-TB