Package assemblies for improving heat dissipation of high-power components in microwave circuits are described. A laminate that includes microwave circuitry may have cut-outs that allow high-power components to be mounted directly on a heat slug below the laminate. Electrical connections to circuitry on the laminate may be made with wire bonds. The packaging allows more flexible design and tuning of packaged microwave circuitry.

There is provided an electronic amplification apparatus (40) comprising a travelling wave tube amplifier (20) and a limiter (10), wherein the configuration of the amplifier (20) is optimised whilst maintaining signal linearity for operation with improved DC power efficiency at an operating point below saturation, and the limiter (10) is arranged to prevent the output power of the amplifier from going beyond a predetermined limit. This can prevent possible damage. There is also provided a multiport amplifier system (50) containing the electronic amplification apparatus (40), and a multi-feed, multi-amplifier phased array type antenna system (130) containing the electronic amplification apparatus (40), and a satellite communications system comprising the electronic amplification apparatus (40) or the multiport amplifier system (50) or the multi-feed, multi-amplifier phased array type antenna system (130).

Wideband power combiners and splitters are provided herein. In certain embodiments, a power combiner/splitter is implemented with a first coil connecting a first port and a second port, and a second coil connecting a third port and a fourth port. The first coil and the second coil are inductively coupled to one another. For example, the first coil and the second coil can be formed using adjacent conductive layers of a semiconductor chip, an integrated passive device, or a laminate. The power combiner/splitter further includes a fifth port tapping a center of the first coil and a sixth port tapping a center of the second coil. The fifth port and the sixth port serve to connect capacitors and/or other impedance to the center of the coils to thereby provide wideband operation.

A multiple-path amplifier (e.g., a Doherty amplifier) includes a semiconductor die, a radio frequency (RF) signal input terminal, a combining node structure integrally formed with the semiconductor die, and first and second amplifiers (e.g., main and peaking amplifiers) integrally formed with the die. Inputs of the first and second amplifiers are electrically coupled to the RF signal input terminal. A plurality of wirebonds is connected between an output of the first amplifier and the combining node structure. An output of the second amplifier is electrically coupled to the combining node structure (e.g., through a conductive path with a negligible phase delay). A phase delay between the outputs of the first and second amplifiers is substantially equal to 90 degrees. The second amplifier may be divided into two amplifier portions that are physically located on opposite sides of the first amplifier.

A power amplifier includes a semiconductor die, and an amplifier and bias circuit integrally formed with the semiconductor die. The die has opposed first and second sides, and a device bisection line extends between the first and second sides. The bias circuit includes a multi-point input terminal with first and second terminals that are electrically connected through a conductive path that extends across the device bisection line, and one or more bias circuit components connected between the multi-point input terminal and the amplifier. The amplifier may include a field effect transistor (FET) with gate and drain terminals, and the bias circuit component(s) are electrically connected between the multi-point input terminal and the gate terminal. In addition or alternatively, the bias circuit component(s) are electrically connected between a multi-point input terminal and the drain terminal. The one or more components may include a resistor-divider circuit.

An apparatus includes a first directional coupler, a second directional coupler, a first detector, and a second detector. A through port of the first directional coupler is coupled to a through port of the second directional coupler. An isolated port of the first directional coupler is coupled to an isolated port of the second directional coupler. A coupled port of the first directional coupler is coupled to the first detector. A coupled port of the second directional coupler is coupled to the second detector. A detected power signal is generated by combining an output of the first detector and an output of the second detector.

A Doherty amplifier module includes a substrate, an RF signal splitter, a carrier amplifier die, and first and second peaking amplifier dies. The RF signal splitter divides an input RF signal into first, second, and third input RF signals, and conveys the input RF signals to splitter output terminals. The carrier amplifier die includes one or more first power transistors configured to amplify, along a carrier signal path, the first input RF signal to produce an amplified first RF signal. The peaking amplifier dies each include one or more additional power transistors configured to amplify, along first and second peaking signal paths, the second and third input RF signals to produce amplified second and third RF signals. The dies are coupled to the substrate so that the RF signal paths through the carrier and one or more of the peaking amplifier dies extend in substantially different (e.g., orthogonal) directions.

An on-chip transformer circuit is disclosed. The on-chip transformer circuit comprises a primary winding circuit comprising at least one turn of a primary conductive winding arranged as a first N-sided polygon in a first dielectric layer of a substrate; and a secondary winding circuit comprising at least one turn of a secondary conductive winding arranged as a second N-sided polygon in a second, different, dielectric layer of the substrate. In some embodiments, the primary winding circuit and the secondary winding circuit are arranged to overlap one another at predetermined locations along the primary conductive winding and the secondary conductive winding, wherein the predetermined locations comprise a number of locations less than all locations along the primary conductive winding and the secondary conductive winding.

In a case where the power of a signal to be amplified is greater than or equal to a threshold value, a signal distributor (2) outputs one of signals to a carrier amplifier (6), outputs another signal, a phase of which is 90 degrees behind that of the one of the signals, to a peak amplifier (8), and adjusts a phase shift amount of a signal shifted by a phase shifter (7) depending on the frequency of the signal to be amplified. In a case where the power of the signal to be amplified is less than the threshold value, the signal distributor (2) outputs the one of the signals to the carrier amplifier (6) without outputting the other signal to the peak amplifier (8).

The present disclosure relates to digital up-conversion for a multi-band Multi-Order Power Amplifier (MOPA) that enables precise and accurate control of gain, phase, and delay of multi-band split signals input to the multi-band MOPA. In general, a multi-band MOPA is configured to amplify a multi-band signal that is split across a number, N, of inputs of the multi-band MOPA as a number, N, of multi-band split signals, where N is an order of the multi-band MOPA and is greater than or equal to 2. A digital upconversion system for the multi-band MOPA is configured to independently control a gain, phase, and delay for each of a number, M, of frequency bands of the multi-band signal for each of at least N1, and preferably all, of the multi-band split signals.