Teledyne e2v HiRel, has released a new radiation tolerant RF power limiter that uses Silicon-on-Insulator (SOI) technology. The TDLM06100 is a 6 GHz, 100 Watt limiter which is radiation tolerant to >100 krad(Si), making it the perfect choice for satellites and other high-altitude applications. This limiter has been developed for use in high frequency, high reliability applications in aerospace and defense.
This RF power limiter provides significantly expanded performance capabilities to engineers in the space design community. It is an all-in-one, monolithic device that delivers a more reliable and robust power protection solution when compared to discrete GaAs PIN diode circuits with multiple external components, which is the traditional alternative solution in the industry.
The power limiter delivers low insertion loss and high linearity under non-limiting power levels and extremely fast response time in a limiting event, ensuring protection of sensitive circuitry. Manufactured on the UltraCMOS process, an advanced form of SOI technology by pSemi (a Murata Company), the TDLM06100 is available in a leadless, ultra-small, 4x4 mm, hermetic, QFN package. Fully screened for space applications, it provides reliable protection for sensitive transceivers, with a response time of <1 ns.
Using the traditional alternative industry solution, the input signal with a PIN diode is shunted to ground. PIN diodes are known for their high maximum power handling and low insertion loss. However, they also feature slow response and recovery time, poor linearity, low ESD ratings, and require dc blocking capacitors. Additionally, PIN diodes take a significant amount of time to design and validate and cannot be easily integrated into a system.
In contrast to PIN diodes, the TDLM06100 power limiter provides a 10–100x improvement in response and recovery time, deliver a greater than 10–30 dB linearity (IIP3) improvement and offer a 20x improvement in ESD protection. Finally, the limiting threshold can be adjusted through a high impedance voltage control pin (VCTRL), eliminating the need for external components such as dc blocking capacitors, RF choke inductors and bias resistors.
Teledyne was meant to be showcasing the new RF Power Limiter, TDLM06100 along with its latest RF portfolio at the SATELLITE 2020 event being held in Washington DC from March 10-12. However the are not attending the event this year due to the coronavirus outbreak across the globe. About 12% of the exhibitors dropped out of the event this year due to COVID-19.
In December 2019, Teledyne e2V HighRel introduced a 2.5 GHz radiation tolerant RF power limiter - Click here to learn more about that product.
