News: Microelectronics
26 April 2023
GRF adds to high-linearity gain block portfolio, extending coverage to include full suite of gain options
Guerrilla RF Inc (GRF) of Greensboro, NC, USA — which develops and manufactures monolithic microwave integrated circuits (MMICs) for wireless OEMs — has announced the production release of the GRF2010 and GRF2011 high-linearity gain blocks targeting infrastructure applications such as 5G/4G base stations, automotive telematics, and cellular repeaters/DAS.
The new cores extend the gain coverage for GRF’s existing portfolio of general-purpose RF/microwave gain blocks. When used in conjunction with the GRF2013, customers can now choose from a family of devices offering nominal gain levels of 10dB, 15dB and 18dB. In addition, the entire set of components is drop-in compatible with the GRF2040, GRF2042 and GRF2043 – Guerrilla RF’s corresponding collection of gain blocks with bypass.
“By offering these additional gain variants, GRF provides significant design latitude to its customer base,” says CEO & founder Ryan Pratt. “Since these devices utilize our popular 1.5mm x 1.5mm DFN-6 package, designers can quickly modify existing hardware to support new bands and lineup requirements. Each of these DFN-6 modular cores can be easily swapped out to yield different levels of gain, linearity and noise figure – all critical parameters that define a radio’s overall performance and spec compliance. In today’s highly competitive business environment, this flexibility gives our customers a significant edge when pivoting to chase new design opportunities.”
The entire series of gain blocks provide exceptionally flat gain and flexible biasing options – essential features allowing for high levels of re-use within a single design and across multiple platforms. When using a nominal 5V bias and single match covering 400–4000MHz, the GRF2010 draws 90mA of current while delivering 10dB of gain, 36dBm of OIP3 linearity, a compression level of 20dBm, and a noise figure of 3.1dB. The GRF2011, with a single match tune of 700–3800MHz, increases the gain offering to 15.2dB, with 40dBm of OIP3 linearity, 22.7dBm of OP1dB compression, and an even lower noise figure of only 2dB. Both devices can be tuned to operate over lower frequencies reaching down to 50MHz.
Samples and evaluation boards are available for the GRF2010 and GRF2011. Prices start at $0.85 for each (10,000-up, EXW USA).
Guerrilla RF's new high-linearity gain blocks act as broadband pre-drivers for GaN power amplifiers
