Monolithic variable attenuation switched limiter.

摘要

This invention provides a switched limiter (10) with variable attenuation designed with monolithic GaAs p-i-n diodes (16, 18, 34) and n-i-p diode (36). Greater than 30 dB of small-signal variable attenuation is achieved at X band frequencies, with a minimum insertion loss of 0.5 dB. The variable attenuation switched limiter (10) provides 15 dB of isolation to a +30 dBm input signal to the input terminal (12). Under bias conditions that result in variable attenuation, the variable attenuation switched limiter input impedance remains matched. When used as a passive limiter, 7 dB of limiting has been achieved for a +30 dBm input signal at 10 GHz.