A C‐band 370 W MMIC high‐power PIN limiter with heterogeneous integration

Abstract This paper designs a mesa‐structured monolithic microwave integrated circuit (MMIC) limiter working in C‐band. The quasi‐vertical Si‐based PIN diodes are heterogeneously integrated on the SiC substrate with high thermal conductivity, such that the parasitic parameters are greatly reduced and the power capacity is enhanced. According to the measured results, a maximum insertion loss of 1.1 dB and a minimum return loss of 17.69 dB for both input and output terminals are realized to cover the 5–6 GHz frequency range. The flat leakage of 23 dBm is achieved for a 150 W continuous wave and 370 W pulse input signal level. We believe the proposed MMIC limiter provides an effective tool that can be used in the transmit‐receive modules working in C‐band.