An investigation of GaAs MMIC high power limiters for circuit protection

In this paper, we present an investigation of GaAs MMIC semiconductor limiters which can be fabricated on a standard MMIC process. This investigation, which included high power vector measurements of S-parameters over lime, led to the design of a highly compact limiter integrated directly onto an FM-CW radar MMIC. As we demonstrate, the limiter significantly improved the lifetime of the FM-CW radar MMIC when exposed to both single and multiple short, high power pulses of microwave energy.