Failure of low noise amplifier stressed by multiple microwave pulses

Authors:

  • Quamar-Ul Wahab
  • Rolf Jonsson
  • Eric Magnus Höijer
  • Lars-Gunnar Huss

Publish date: 2010-12-27

Report number: FOI-R--3146--SE

Pages: 21

Written in: English

Keywords:

  • LNA
  • HPM
  • EMC
  • Wunsch-Bell
  • electrical overstress
  • EMP
  • multiple pulses

Abstract

that will be hit by high power pulses in case of an electronic attack. Destructive testing on a large number of LNAs has been carried out to investigate their sensitivity to high power microwave signals with varied power and pulse lengths. Especially the relation between destruction by single pulses and destruction by multiple pulses was studied. The power levels required to destroy this device with short pulses was found to be rather high compared to the maximum allowed input power specified by the manufacturer. We can also conclude that the power needed for destruction can be lowered a few dB by using multiple pulses for pulse powers above 40 dBm. The dependency on the signal average power was also explored by testing with pulsed signals with a range of signal average powers. This showed that the dependency, in the number of pulses needed to destroy the device, on average power is weak for pulse power above 40 dBm. This kind of information could be useful when designing protection of microwave front ends against pulsed power threats or, on the other hand, when designing HPM sources.