A HIGH POWER SOLID-STATE AMPLIFIER

DURING THE PAST 10 YEARS SIGNIFICANT PROGRESS HAS BEEN MADE IN THE PERFORMANCE CHARACTERISTICS OF SOLID-STATE DEVICES. THE OUTPUT POWER CAPABILITY HAS SUBSTANTIALLY INCREASED, THE EFFICIENCY HAS ALMOST DOUBLED, THE RELIABILITY, WHEN OPERATED CONSERVATIVELY, HAS ALWAYS BEEN BETTER THAN TUBES BEACUSE OF GRACEFUL DEGRADATION CHARACTERISTIC, AND THE COST PER DEVICE HAS DECREASED. THESE AND OTHER POSITIVE SOLID-STATE AMPLIFIER CHARACTERISTICS WILL BE APPLIED TO THE DESIGN OF A STATE-OF-THE-ART 5 KW, 1500 MHZ, 40% EFFICIENT, 45 DB AMPLIFIER THAT COULD REPLACE THE PRESENT CONTINUOUS ELECTRON BEAM ACCELERATOR FACILITY (CEBAF) KLYSTRON TUBE. THE USE OF AN INTEGRAL DC TO DC CONVERTER WILL BE INVESTIGATED. THE CONVERTER WOULD BE PART OF THE AMPLIFIER PACKAGE AND WOULD ENABLE THE AMPLIFIER TO RUN DIRECTLY FROM THE 11.6 KV DC VOLTAGE BUS THAT PRESENTLY EXISTS. THE END RESULT WOULD BE AN AMPLIFIER WITH BETTER EFFICIENCY, MORE GAIN, BETTER RELIABILITY, EASIER MAINTENANCE AND LOWER SYSTEM OPERATING COST THAN THE EXISTING TUBE. IN ADDITION, THE AMPLIFIER COULD REPLACE THE EXISTING TUBE WITH ONLY MINOR SYSTEM MODIFICATIONS.