Pulser Plus is a reference design for biasing Gallium Nitride RF Power Amplifiers. It plugs directly into Analog Devices’ GaN PA evaluation boards such as ADPA1106 and ADPA1107. The only input signals required to control and operate the board are a power supply voltage between 24 V and 50V and a 0V/3V signal on the Drain Pulse Enable or Gate Pulse Enable digital inputs.

Pulser Plus was specifically designed to enable fast pulsing of GaN Radar Power Amplifiers. It can support RF pulses as short as 1us and with rise and fall times of less than 100 ns in both Drain Pulsed mode and Gate Pulsed Mode.

The EV1HMC8415LP6G evaluation board consists of a two layer PCB fabricated from 10 mil thick Rogers 4350B copper clad or equivalent, mounted to an aluminum heat spreader. The heat spreader assists in providing thermal relief to the part as well as mechanical support to the PCB. Mounting holes on the heat spreader allow it to be easily attached to larger heat sinks for improved thermal management. The RFIN and RFOUT ports are populated by 2.9 mm female coaxial connectors and their respective RF traces are of 50 ohm characteristic impedance. The board is populated with components suitable for use over the entire Operating Temperature range of the part. Because the HMC8415LP6GE is intended for pulsed DC bias operation, a separate drain pulser PCB is provided to simplify evaluation without the need to create a custom pulser. The drain pulser PCB has four layers and is fabricated from Isola 370HR or equivalent. For information regarding the required connections, DC biasing via the drain pulser, and typical performances, refer to the HMC8415LP6GE data sheet.