Computer-Aided Design of Microstrip GaAs Mesfet Amplifiers

Results on computer-aided design of broadband GaAs MESFET amplifiers in microstrip is presented. The analysis of an amplifier is based on measured scattering parameters and a model of the microstrip structure, which includes parasitics and junction effects. The optimized performance of one stage amplifiers with lossless distributed matching elements is presented. Realized amplifiers are in good agreement with the theory. One stage amplifiers with a 1 ¿m FET in chip form exhibit 5.8 dB of gain in the range 8-12 GHz, while a gain of 4.5 dB from 4-8 GHz has been obtained with a packaged 1 ¿m FET.