For price, delivery, and to place orders, please contact Hittite Microwave Corporation:
20 Alpha Road, Chelmsford, MA 01824 Phone: 978-250-3343 Fax: 978-250-3373
Order On-line at www.hittite.com
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13
HMC920LP5E
v07.1013
ACTIVE BIAS CONTROLLER
Active Bias Control Loop
The HMC920LP5E regulates the bias current (I
DRAIN
) of the external amplifier through VGATE output connected to
the gate of the external amplifier. In this closed loop operation the current passing through the external amplifier is
sampled and is used to adjust VGATE to achieve constant quiescent bias through the external amplifier.
The HMC920LP5E continuously compensates for any supply, temperature, process variations and threshold drifts
due to aging, without any calibration.
The gate control of the HMC920LP5E can both sink and source current (at least ? mA) to achieve constant bias
current over input power variations.
The bias current passing through the external amplifier can be adjusted with R
SENSE
, where R
SENSE
is the total resistor
(R4 + R19) connected from ISENSE to GND. Use the relation given in equation (4) to set the desired bias current
through the external amplifier.
Power Foldback
The HMC920LP5E employs a power foldback protection feature to limit the power consumption on the HMC920LP5E
package under excessive loading such as a short circuit from VDRAIN to GND.
HMC920LP5E senses the instantaneous power consumption over the VDRAIN LDO (P
SENSE
= (Vdd-VDRAIN)
x I
DRAIN
), and limits the instantaneous power consumption less than 4.5W. This is achieved by decreasing VDRAIN
voltage and I
DRAIN
current simultaneously.
The advantage of the power foldback protection feature over a hard current limit is safe operation with higher user
fexibility.
The following plots present the power foldback characteristic over Vdd.
R
SENSE
adjustment is referenced to the total resistance seen from ALMM (PIN#27) to GND. Connect 5 k& resistor from
ALMM to GND (R16 + R15) to ensure equation (4) holds.
I
DRAIN
=    A (4)
165
R
SENSE
Power Foldback VDRAIN vs. IDRAIN
over Vdd
Power Foldback Delivered Power
vs. IDRAIN Over Vdd
0
1
2
3
4
0
100
200
300
400
500
600
700
800
Vdd = 6V
Vdd = 9V
Vdd = 12V
Vdd = 15V
IDRAIN (mA)
0
0.5
1
1.5
2
2.5
0
100
200
300
400
500
600
700
800
Vdd = 6V
Vdd = 9V
Vdd = 12V
Vdd = 15V
IDRAIN (mA)