ERZIA upgrades ratings of space amplifier line
ERZIA, a European specialist in GaAs and GaN RF and microwave solutions, has upgraded the environmental ratings across its entire New Space (-NS) amplifier line.
Visitors to European Microwave Week can see the amplifiers in person from October 6–8, at ExCeL London.
Launched in September 2025 with 13 amplifiers, the -NS line has since grown to 20 and will continue to expand. Qualification test data now show that -NS amplifiers withstand significantly more severe levels, and the datasheets of all 20 -NS amplifiers, 10 high-power amplifiers (HPAs) and 10 low-noise amplifiers (LNAs), have been raised accordingly.
The increase is substantial, according to the company. Random vibration rises from 8 g RMS to 23.5 g RMS for three minutes per axis, almost three times the original rating; quasi-static acceleration rises from 15 g to 25 g; and shock, previously specified as a 20 g, 11 ms sawtooth pulse, is now qualified to 1,414 g (SRS, Q = 10).
The upgraded ratings also add sine vibration up to 25 g and 10 thermal-vacuum cycles from -40 °C to +85 °C below 1×10⁻⁵ mbar with the unit operating and functionally tested at each plateau. The new levels follow ECSS-E-ST-10-03C and GSFC-STD-7000B (GEVS), the standards satellite manufacturers work with every day and are listed in a new “Environmental Specifications (-NS)” section of every datasheet.
Radiation tolerance, part of the -NS specification from day one, is now stated to ECSS-Q-ST-60-15C: 30 krad(Si) total ionizing dose for the DC section behind the housing, more than 300 krad(Si) for the RF section, and single-event latch-up immunity or protection, with key components rated to an LET of at least 43 MeV·cm²/mg. These figures are supported by ERZIA’s 2026 heavy-ion test campaign, carried out at NASA and Michigan State University laboratories, on the -NS power-conditioning components, which recorded no destructive single-event effects.
In addition, every -NS unit that leaves ERZIA’s facility in Santander is thermally cycled four times from -40 °C to +85 °C and ships with an Acceptance Test Report measured at three temperatures: -40 °C, +25 °C and up to +85 °C for LNAs (+70 °C for high-power amplifiers). Additional acceptance tests, such as vibration or thermal vacuum, are available on request, and no non-recurring engineering (NRE) is required for catalogue -NS products.
“Our -NS amplifiers were robust from the start: they were launched with the same MIL-STD-810 ratings as our COTS line,” said David Diez, MD of ERZIA. “Our qualification data now tell us they are even more robust than that, so we have raised the specifications to match. Publishing the levels we have demonstrated by test, and testing every unit before it ships, is how we turn reliability from a promise into a specification customers can check, across the whole -NS line.”
