Millimeter wave power modules: are they a marriage made in heaven?

The development of millimeter wave TWTs at the 20 to 150 watt level in the frequency range from 24 to 45 GHz has proceeded using low perveance, high beam voltage designs to minimize magnetic field requirements and to maximize the size of the small millimeter wave helix. Representative of these millimeter wave TWTs is the CPI 6193A6 which provides 50 watts of saturation power over the 26 to 40 GHz range with 30 dB gain. The TWT operates at 12 kV and is 12" long. For many applications, the ideal millimeter wave amplifier would be a combination of technologies-a millimeter wave power module-offering small size and weight, high efficiency, high gain, low noise figure and low voltage operation and the integrated packaging of the microwave power module (MPM), with millimeter wave frequency performance. This paper will describe CPI\´s current work on millimeter wave power modules.