Investigation on conductive electromagnetic pulse (EMP) effects on the breakdown of GaAs MESFET-built power amplifiers (PA)
Investigation on conductive electromagnetic pulse (EMP) effects on performance degradation and breakdown of GaAs MESFET-based power amplifiers (PA) are performed in this paper. One special measurement system is built, which consists of an adjustable EMP source, one controller, couplers, limiters, attenuators, one four-channel oscilloscope, and DUT. The PA performance degradation and electrothermal breakdown of its first-stage GaAs MESFET are observed and analyzed for the injected EMP with different widths, and its energy capabilities are characterized and studied in detail.