Sub-nanosecond greater-than-10V compact pulse amplifier for ultra-wideband application

Based on the recent discovery of much higher current and voltage capacity of GaAs HBTs under sub-nanosecond isothermal operation, an ultra-wideband pulse-amplifier IC is designed to boost the output power of CMOS pulse generators. The measured output pulse amplitude increases from 1.6 to 11.8 V while the pulse width increases from 0.07 to 0.39 ns. The die size is smaller than 1 mm². The die cost is less than $1. The power consumption is currently 120 mW, but can be reduced to approximately 1 mW. These results compare favorably to that of pulse amplifiers based on step-recovery diodes, which tend to be bulky, costly and inefficient.