Implementing Modulation Functions in Microwave Frequency ...

ALSO PUBLISHED ONLINE: 

www.highfrequencyelectronics.com 

OCTOBER2011 

4G PA DESIGN GETS HELP 

FROM ACCURATE CIRCUIT 

ENVELOPE SIMULATION 

Online Edition 

JUMP DIRECTLY TO THE 

TABLE OF CONTENTS 

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ADVERTISER INDEX 

Copyright © 2011 Summit Technical Media, LLC 

INSIDE THIS ISSUE: 

Wafer Level Testing of Chip Scale Packaging 

Modulating Microwave Frequency Synthesizers 

Technology Report—Cable & Connector News Update 

Featured Products—Power Amplifiers, Materials, Services 

Tutorial—Performance of PCB Mounted Connectors 

Ideas for today’s engineers: Analog · Digital · RF · Microwave · mm-wave · Lightwave

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MODEL RANGE GAIN FLATNESS FIGURE VSWR P1dB Psat CURRENT @ 30V 

NUMBER (GHz) (dB, Min.) (dB, Max.)(dB, Max.) IN/OUT (dBm, Min.)(dBm, Min.) (mA) 

AMFG-3F-00030300-60-33P 0.03-3 40 2 6 2:2.2 33 35.5 750 

AMFG-3F-00030400-60-32P 0.03-4 40 2 6 2:2 32 35 750 

AMFG-3F-00040250-60-33P 0.04-2.5 40 2 6 2:2.2 33 35.5 670 

AMFG-3F-00050100-50-34P 0.5-1 40 1.5 5 1.8:1.8 34 37 750 

AMFG-3F-00230025-30-37P 0.23-0.25 50 1 3 1.5:2 37 40 250 

AMFG-3F-00700380-60-35P 0.7-3.8 40 2 6 2.5:2.5 35 39 1500 

AMFG-3F-00800220-60-35P 0.8-2.2 40 1.5 6 2:2 35 38 900 

AMFG-2F-01000300-60-35P 1-3 40 2 6 2:2.2 35 39 1500 

Note: Psat is defined as the output power where a minimum of 3 dB gain compression takes place. 

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ALSO PUBLISHED ONLINE AT: 

OCTOBER2011 

www.highfrequencyelectronics.com Vol. 10 No. 10 

You can view this issue page-by-page, or click on any of 

the articles or columns in the Table of Contents below 

20 

frequency synthesizers 

Implementing 

Modulation Functions 

in Microwave 

Frequency Synthesizers 

Alexander Chenakin 

36 

cover story 

Circuit Envelope 

Simulation: a Powerful 

Resource for 4G Power 

Amplifier Design 

Josh Moore 

52 

wafer probe testing 

Probe Testing of Wafer 

Level Chip Scale 

Packaging 

John Whittaker 

16 

hf applications 

Research News 

60 

tutorial 

RF/Microwave 

Connectors on Printed 

Circuit Boards 

Gary Breed 

28 

product coverage 

Featured Products 

44 

technology report 

News Update on Cable 

and Connector Business 

and Technology 

64 

product coverage 

New Literature 

80 

design notes 

Reader “Feedback” 

6 Editorial 

8 Meetings & Events 

Regular Columns 

12 In the News 

68 New Products 

78 Product Highlights 

79 Advertiser Index 

On the cover—This issue’s cover features AWR’s Circuit Envelope simulation capability, 

described in the article that begins on page 36. (Cover artwork courtesy AWR Corp.) 

October 2011 5

EDITORIAL 

Vol. 10 No. 10, October 2011 

Editorial Director 

Gary Breed 

gary@highfrequencyelectronics.com 

Tel: 608-437-9800 

Fax: 608-437-9801 

Publisher 

Scott Spencer 

scott@highfrequencyelectronics.com 

Tel: 603-472-8261 

Fax: 603-471-0716 

Associate Publisher 

Tim Burkhard 

tim@highfrequencyelectronics.com 

Tel: 707-544-9977 

Fax: 707-544-9375 

Associate Editor 

Katie Landmark 

katie@highfrequencyelectronics.com 

Tel: 608-437-9800 

Fax: 608-437-9801 

Business Office 

High Frequency Electronics 

PO Box 10621 

Bedford, NH 03110 

Editorial and Production Office 

High Frequency Electronics 

104 S. Grove Street 

Mount Horeb,WI 53572 

Also Published Online at 


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circulation@highfrequencyelectronics.com 

Send subscription inquiries and address changes 

to the above contact person. You may send them 

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Our Environmental Commitment 

High Frequency Electronics is printed 

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the Program for the Endorsement 

of Forest Certification (PEFC), 

www.pefc.org 

Copyright © 2011, Summit Technical Media, LLC 

Re-Thinking How 

Products are 

Designed and Built 

Gary Breed 


In this column, and on our Design Notes 

page, I’ve written about energy-efficient 

products a few times. It’s one of my non- 

RF areas of interest, but it includes electronic 

technology. As “wireless everywhere” 

continues to grow, almost any electronic or 

electromechanical technology, including 

those used for energy efficiency, fit into the 

niche covered in these pages. 

For example, in my home, I have been gradually replacing incandscent 

bulbs with LED lighting. It’s still relatively expensive, but the performance 

level—mainly brightness and a pleasing color of the light—have 

rapidly improved over the past couple years. As I’ve kept abreast of LED 

advances, one of the comments I recently read stuck with me: LEDs won’t 

reach their optimum price/performance level until houses and offices have 

electrical systems designed to support them, including several entirely 

new concepts for the construction trade: 

· Complete LED lighting fixtures, not just replacements for screw-in 

incandescent bulbs or tubular fluorescent lights. 

· Voltage and current ratings of lighting system wiring optimized for 

these low-voltage devices. 

· On/off and dimming controls located in each fixture, controlled wirelessly 

with ZigBee or one of the other IEEE 802.15 technologies. 

The last item on the above list makes LED fixtures part of an integrated 

household control system, expanding the traditional HVAC (heating, 

ventilation and air conditioning) to include lighting—along with 

power management and security, all communicating wirelessly on a network 

that can be accessed remotely for the residents’ convenience, utilities’ 

efficiency optimization, public safety communications and other functions 

that may not yet be conceived or developed. 

You can see how one item, the LED lighting fixture, is capable of being 

linked to many other pieces of a larger system. Of course, an individual 

homeowner may opt for a less complex system, or may prefer to allow less 

control by outside entities. A stand-alone system can use an in-home con- 

6 High Frequency Electronics

troller connected to a few key 

devices and appliances and still 

make a big difference in energy 

efficiency, comfort and convenience. 

Any integrated approach must 

work from the ground up. When my 

own home was built six years ago, 

only a few of the construction 

tradesmen understood the core concepts 

of an energy efficient home— 

orientation on the site, control of air 

leakage, proper insulation, humidity 

control, air circulation, etc. 

Fortunately, most of the workers’ 

bosses understood that these things 

would eventually become standard 

building practices, even if they were 

considered “advanced” at the time. 

Expanding on the Lesson 

Re-thinking building construction 

is one of the most visible examples 

of an evolving trend. The 

“plug-and-play” concept used in PC 

perpherals and accessories is 

another, where the device drivers 

are included on-board, not installed 

separately. I’d include many of the 

automotive industry’s features as 

well, like tire pressure monitoring, 

GM’s OnStar, or using GPS not just 

for navigation, but for monitoring 

speed, distance traveled, terrain 

type, elevation, etc. 

In the electronics world, we are 

now getting Internet-ready TV sets 

and smartphones with far more 

capabilities than we imagined. 

Wireless audio and video distribution 

is becoming more easily available, 

and will eventually be integrated 

with other entertainment 

and communications when they all 

are able to support the necessary 

bandwidth. 

The essence of this recent trend 

is the ability for us to employ 

devices, appliances—and even individual 

light fixtures—as part of a 

larger, integrated system with 

many new capabilities. Some of 

those new capabilities are powerful, 

such as energy management. 

Some are oriented to personal convenience 

like navigation systems, 

while others are entirely for our 

enjoyment and entertainment, 

such as multi-player gaming and 

flexible distribution of audio/video 

programming. 

As designers, all of you need to 

remember that there is no such 

CUSTOM 

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Teledyne Cougar’s RF and 

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manufacturing expertise provide 

reliable performance-based 

solutions for each challenge in 

your design block diagram. 

A 

thing as “the way it’s always been 

done.” The way things have been 

done recently may seem established, 

but when you look at history, 

the status quo is a moving target. 

Your job is to take the best 

from the past and improve on it to 

create “the way it’s going to be done 

tomorrow.” 

VHF Band 1.0 Watt Amplifier with RF Bypass (A) 

Output of 1 watt from 35 to 350 MHz, 29 dB gain and 3 dB noise figure, this 

amplifier assembly incorporates an RF bypass switch. You can route the RF 

through the amplification stages, or remove the DC bias from the switch and bypass 

the amplifier. 

2 to 18 GHz 6 Channel Downconverter (B) 

Teledyne Cougar's Six Channel 2 - 18 GHz (RF and LO) downconverter operates with 

an IF of ~960 MHz, providing 25 dB of RF-IF gain, and bandwidth of ~500 MHz. This 

downconverter operates on a single LO at -6 dBm which is amplified, split, then 

again amplified to each of the 6 channels. Integrated into each channel is a range 

extension switch, controlled by a TTL input and adding 20 dB attenuation. Noise 

figure is ~13.5 dB and output IP3 is ~25 dBm. The downconverter is 2-sided, 

hermetically sealed and designed for rugged applications. 

17 to 19 GHz QPSK Modulator (C) 

Differential Drive Digital QPSK (Quadrature Phase Shift Keying) modulator operates 

across the 17.0 to 19.0 GHz frequency range. Modulator utilizes differential drive 

digital inputs (180° apart) to drive both of the bi-phase modulators (mixers) 

integrated into the assembly. The QPSK modulator provides constant amplitude, 

90° vector: 0 (ref.), 90°, 180°, 270° and operates across the -55° to 85° C 

temperature range. 

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MEETINGS & EVENTS 

CONFERENCES 

November 6-9, 2011 

60th International Wire & Cable and Connectivity Conf. 

Charlotte, NC 

Information: Conference Web site 

http://www.iwcs.org/meeting11.html 

November 10-11, 2011 

2011 Korea-Japan Microwave Conference 

Fukuoka, Japan 


http://www.ieee-jp.org/japancouncil/chapter/MTT- 

17/kjmw2011/ 

November 29- December 1, 2011 

Global MilSatCom 2011 

London, England 


http://www.smi-online.co.uk/2011globalmilsatcom51.asp 

November 29- December 2, 2011 

ARFTG 78th Microwave Measurement Symposium 

Tempe, AZ 


http://www.arftg.org 

December 5-7, 2011 

IEDM—IEEE International Electron Devices Meeting 

Washington, D.C. 


www.ieee-iedm.org 

December 5-8, 2011 

2011 Asia-Pacific Microwave Conference 

Melbourne, Australia 


http://www.apmc2011.com 

December 18-20, 2011 

IEEE Applied Electromagnetics Conference (AEmC) 

and Indian Antenna Week 

Calcutta, India 


http://www.ieee-aemc.org 

January 15-19, 2012 

IEEE Radio and Wireless Symposium, including: 

• 12th Topical Meeting on Silicon Monolithic 

Integrated Circuits in RF Systems, 

• 2012 IEEE Topical Conference on Biomedical Wireless 

Technologies, Networks, and Sensing Systems, 

• 2012 IEEE Topical Conference on Wireless Sensors 

and Sensor Networks, and 

• 2012 Topical Conference on Power Amplifiers for 

Wireless and Radio Applications 

Santa Clara, CA 


http://www.www.radiowirelessweek.org 

March 4-8, 2012 

OFC/NFOEC 2012—Optical Fiber Communication and 

the National Fiber Optic Engineers Conference 

Los Angeles, CA 


http://www.ofcnfoec.org/Home.aspx 

March 5-7, 2012 

IEEE International Workshop on Antenna 

Technology: Small Antennas and Unconventional 

Applications 

Tucson, AZ 


http://www.cccmeetings.com/iwat2012.pdf 

April 1-4, 2012 

WCNC 2012—IEEE Wireless Communications and 

Networking Conference 

Paris, France 


http://www.ieee-wcnc.org/2012 

April 10-14, 2012 

The 28th International Review of Progress in Applied 

Computational Electromagnetics 

Columbus, OH 


http://aces.ee.olemiss.edu 

June 10-15, 2012 

ICC 2012—IEEE International Conference on 

Communications 

Ottawa, Canada 


http://www.ieee-icc.org/2012 

SHORT COURSES 

Besser Associates 

201 San Antonio Circle, Suite 115 

Mountain View, CA 94040 

Tel: 650-949-3300 

Fax: 650-949-4400 

E-mail: info@besserassociates.com 

http://www.besserassociates.com 

Applied RF Techniques I 

November 14-18, 2011, Irving, TX 

Understanding Digital Signal Processing (DSP) 


Transceiver and Systems Design for Digital 

Communications 


Applied Analog/Mixed-Signal Measurements 


Fundamentals of WCDMA, HSPA & LTE 


Power Conversion & Regulation Circuits for VLSI 

Systems 



Components and Integrated Assemblies 

Renaissance 

20th Year 

1991-2011 

Electronics 

Corporation 

Receiver Multi-Coupler 

Renaissance Electronics’ Receiver Multi-Coupler Model #14A4NH is designed for next generation commercial 

wireless applications. With a very low noise figure, the signal-to-noise ratio of the system improves significantly. 

Redundant power supplies require less system maintenance and lower maintenance cost. This unit has been field tested 

for facilitating site expansion in a cost effective and timely manner. 

Multi-Band Combiner 

Renaissance Electronics has designed a multi-band combiner Model #18A3BAA for GSM 800/900/1800/1900 & 

UMTS frequency bands. This is ideal for in-building distributed antenna systems (DAS) where different operators 

require simultaneous coverage without interference. 

Surface Mount Circulator 

Renaissance Electronics has designed an innovative industry first coplanar Surface Mount Circulator in the frequency 

bands of 4.2 - 4.4 GHz (3SMH6NA) and 5.3 - 5.9 GHz (3SMH6NB) for radio and radar altimeter applications. This 

design is re-flow compatible and suited for pick and place manufacturing practices. This is a new addition to our 

surface mount designs. 

ADC/DAC Switch Matrix 

Renaissance Electronics Corporation has released a new DC to 500 MHz Switch Matrix with two inputs and six 

outputs. The 18A1NA will support the high level of integration required during qualification testing for digital and 

analog assemblies operating at microwave frequencies. 

35 GHz Integrated Transceiver 

HXI produces two highly integrated transceivers to support the ground-based and flight units for a UAV landing 

system application. The program has been in production for 5+ years using our parts. The ground-based unit 

integrates 17 individual Millimeter Wave and IF circuit functions, including a 3.5W Ka-band power amplifier 

and a SP4T non-reflective switch matrix. 

60 GHz & E-Band Radio Links 

We have more high-capacity 60 GHz millimeter wave radios commercially deployed than any other manufacturer. Our 

standard off-the-shelf GigaLink radio links at 60 GHz and in E-Band are now being marketed worldwide. In addition, 

we have produced a number of variants of these radios for military and government usage, including analog links, 

custom antenna configurations, HDTV usage, etc. Standard links are full duplex, operate at a data rate of 1.25 Gbps 

and have near-zero latency. Each link is bench and range tested for dynamic range and bit errors. 

HDTV Link System for 3D HD Sports Production 

Our GigaLink HD wireless system is the ideal solution for the most challenging temporary deployment applications 

where studio quality feeds are essential. Dual channel operation supports 3D-HDTV, multiple camera 

feeds or as a redundant hot standby configuration for absolutely critical real-time acquisition. 

Millimeter Wave Components 

HXI offers a broad range of standard catalog components for use in prototyping new systems and for production 

requirements. These components consist of single function modules that can easily be configured into subsystems 

using waveguide or coax connections. The modules use mature technology such as GaAs MMICs and beam 

lead semiconductor devices, resulting in well established performance characteristics. The use of many common 

stocked parts results in low cost and fast delivery. Custom components include variations of many of our catalog 

products, such as LNAs, power amplifiers, frequency multipliers, mixers, switches and isolators/circulators. 

We are here to be part of your 

current and future innovation. 

Please contact us at 

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AS9100 Certified 

The New Thinking in Wireless Technology

MEETINGS & EVENTS 

CMOS RF Design 


RF Power Amplifier Techniques 


RF Transceiver Architecture, Design and Evaluation 

December 5-9, 2011, San Jose, CA 

RF and High Speed PC Board Design Fundamentals 


Applied RF II: Advanced Wireless and Microwave 

Techniques 


Kimmel Gerke Associates, Ltd. 

628 LeVander Way 

S. St. Paul, MN 55075 

Tel: 888-EMI-GURU 

http://www.emiguru.com 

EMC / SI Seminars 

September 28-29, 2011, Portland, OR 

October 10-11, 2011, Minneapolis, MN 

October 13-14, 2011, Chicago, IL 

October 27-28, 2011, San Jose, CA 

November 7-8, 2011, Phoenix, AZ 

D.L.S. Electronic Systems, Inc. 

1250 Peterson Drive 

Wheeling, IL 60090 

Tel: 847-537-6400 

http://www.dlsemc.com 

EMC by Your Design—An EMC Practical Applications 

Seminar and Workshop 

October 18-20, 2011, Northbrook, IL 

Georgia Institute of Technology, Professional Education 

PO Box 93686 

Atlanta, GA 30377-0686 

Tel: 404-385-3500 

http://www.pe.gatech.edu 

Radar Cross Section Reduction 

October 17-19, 2011, Atlanta, GA 

Principles of Modern Radar 

October 31-November 4, 2011, Atlanta, GA 

CALLS FOR PAPERS 

IEEE International Microwave Symposium 

Montreal, Canada 

Conference Dates: June 17-22, 2012 

Paper Submission Deadline: December 5, 2011 

Topics: 

Technical areas include the following: Microwave Field 

and Circuit Techniques, including field analysis and 

guided waves, frequency-domain EM analysis techniques, 

CAD algorithms and techniques, nonlinear 

device modeling, and more; Active Components, including 

semiconductor devices and monolithic ICS, signal 

generation, frequency conversion and control, highpower 

amplifiers, and more; Passive Components, 

including transmission line elements, passive circuit 

elements, planar passive filters and multiplexers, 

MEMS components and technologies, and more; 

Systems and Applications, including microwave photonics, 

mixed mode and digital signal processing circuits, 

instrumentation and measurement techniques, 

wireless and cellular communication systems, and 

more; and Emerging Technical Areas, including RF 

nanotechnology, wireless power transmission, innovative 

systems, and more. 

Information: 

Authors are invited to submit technical papers describing 

original work on radio-frequency, microwave, millimeter-wave, 

and terahertz (THz) theory and techniques. 

The deadline for submission is December 5, 

2011. Papers should be three pages in length (PDF format), 

and should not exceed two megabytes in file size. 

Hardcopy and email submissions will not be accepted. 

Please refer to the IMS2012 website (http:// 

ims2012.mtt.org) for detailed instructions concerning 

paper submission, as well as an expanded description of 

the technical areas. Authors must adhere to the format 

provided in the conference paper template available on 

the symposium’s website. 

WAMICON 2012—IEEE Wireless and Microwave 

Technology Conference 

Cocoa Beach, FL 

Conference Dates: April 16-17, 2012 

Paper Submission Deadline: January 9, 2012 

Topics: 

Topics of interest include, but are not limited to, the 

following: Power Amplifiers, including high-efficiency 

PAs, novel PA architectures, high-power devices, PA 

applications, and more; Active Components and 

Systems, including transceiver design, system-onchip, 

low-power IC, RF/MMIC electronics, and more; 

Passive Components and Antennas, including filters, 

transmission line components, MEMS, advanced 

packaging, antennas and arrays, and more; Wireless 

Communications, including cognitive radios, wireless 

networking, 3G/4G, MIMO, and more; and Emerging 

RF and Microwave Technologies, including biomedical 

applications, wireless sensing, energy harvesting, 

wireless power transfer, and more. 

Information: 

Authors are asked to submit papers electronically, in 

PDF format. In order to be considered for publication 

by the Technical Program Committee, a draft with a 

minimum of 4 pages (maximum of 8 pages), clearly 

describing the concept and results must be submitted. 

The final manuscript will be requested only after the 

paper is accepted. The conference webpage 

(www.wamicon.org) has complete details of submission. 

Submissions will be evaluated for originality, significance 

of the work, technical soundness, and interest 

to a wide audience. 


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IN THE NEWS 

Business News 

Aeroflex Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of 

Aeroflex Holding Corp., and Lancaster University 

announced the inauguration of the Aeroflex Wireless 

Broadband Laboratory in the University’s School of 

Computing and Communications at InfoLab21, 

Lancaster’s center for research in information and communication 

technologies. The new laboratory is equipped 

with $1.4 million worth of test equipment donated by 

Aeroflex. 

RFMW Europe announces the addition of a new office in 

France. The new office allows RFMW France to introduce 

the latest supplier technology to Europe’s rapidly growing 

market. In the past few months, RFMW Europe has 

opened offices in the UK, Germany, Italy and France to 

join with RFMW Israel in covering Europe, the Middle 

East and Africa (EMEA). 

SV Microwave is announces the signing of Mouser 

Electronics as its newest authorized distributor. Mouser 

Electronics is a fast-growing global catalog and online 

semiconductor and electronic component distributor. 

Mouser is a welcomed addition to the SV Microwave sales 

team. 

L-com, Inc. has partnered with Bertek Import e Com. 

Ltda. from Vitoria, Brazil, a division of Stile Comercial, a 

trading company. The partnership allows L-com greater 

distribution of both wireless and wired products in Brazil. 

Agilent Technologies Inc. announced that it has 

increased the company’s capability to provide on-site 

Z540.3 calibration services at locations from Canada to 

Brazil. In March 2010, the Roseville, Calif., service center 

became the first commercial calibration lab to be accredited 

by A2LA to ANSI/NSCL Z540.3-2006. Since then, 14 

Agilent service centers, many with mobile calibration 

teams, have all been accredited to Z540.3 by A2LA. These 

centers now offer Z540.3 calibration service for over 500 

models, up from 230 during the same time period. 

ElectriPlast Corporation, a wholly owned subsidiary 

of Integral Technologies, Inc. and makers of the 

ElectriPlast line of electrically conductive resins, 

announced that Think Wireless, Inc. has purchased 

next generation antenna components engineered from 

ElectriPlast conductive resins for use in a new series of 

SiriusXM Satellite Radio receivers. The two companies 

will also work together to jointly develop future technologies 

incorporating ElectriPlast composites into nextgeneration 

Think Wireless products and devices. 

National Instruments announced that it is donating 

design tools to the Massachusetts Institute of 

Technology (MIT) to help expand the use of NI software 

and hardware in the MIT Department of Mechanical 

Engineering via 10 mechatronics, robotics, manufacturing, 

control and design courses over the next five years. 

The donation will include products such as the NI 

LabVIEW Control Design and Simulation Module, the NI 

LabVIEW MathScript RT Module, NI PXI instrumentation, 

NI CompactRIO and NI Single-Board RIO. 

OML, Inc. celebrates their 20th Anniversary since startup 

in 1991 by offering an extended 3-year warranty on all 

millimeter wave products purchased between January 1, 

2011 and December 31, 2012. This promotion only applies 

to products purchased directly from OML, Inc. that satisfy 

our standard terms and conditions. This warranty 

reduces overall cost-of-ownership and demonstrates our 

commitment for manufacturing both innovative and reliable 

millimeter wave measurement solutions. 

SGS Consumer Testing Services is expanding in the 

U.S. with the opening of a new electrical and electronics 

lab in Atlanta dedicated exclusively to testing and certifying 

electrical and electronic (E&E) products. The new 

lab will evaluate the electromagnetic capability, battery 

and energy efficiency, and safety compliance of products 

in dozens of categories ranging from medical devices and 

home electronics to office equipment, lighting products 

and laboratory equipment. 

Wireless Telecom Group has been awarded a 5-year 

supply agreement by Robin Warner Air Force Base for 

Boonton 4542 high performance RF power analyzers. 

These RF power analyzers are used to service and maintain 

Radar and control systems for the Global Hawk 

unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV). Global Hawk UAVs are 

equipped with Synthetic-Aperture Radars (SAR) that can 

provide details of target areas with resolutions of less 

than 10 cm (4 inch). SAR use relative motion between the 

Radar antenna and the target. This radar system repeatedly 

transmits high power pulses of various frequencies 

(“chirps”) to a target and receives multiple echo waveforms 

that are stored. Post-processing of the received 

information creates images revealing the most subtle 

details. 

Ethertronics announced that its active antenna technology 

has been selected by MEPS Real-Time for its 

Intelliguard RFID Solutions for Critical Inventory. This 

selection is the latest example of Ethertronics’ ability to 

provide advanced RF and antenna system solutions 

where high performance and reliability are critical. 

mimoOn announced its collaboration with Texas 

Instruments Incorporated (TI) for 3GPP compliant 

LTE PHY software. TI will offer complete PHY software 

for LTE Release 8 and 9 for its KeyStone multicore architecture, 

with a specific focus on its newest TMS320TCI- 

6612 and TMS320TCI6614 System-on-Chips (SoCs). 

These SoCs are especially designed for small cell base 

stations in the enterprise, pico and metro markets. 

Mouser Electronics, Inc. is partnering with Anaren, 

Inc. to stock its new family of FCC-, IC- and ETSI- compliant 

Integrated Radio (AIR) modules. Anaren’s AIR 

product family incorporates Texas Instruments low- 


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IN THE NEWS 

power RF technology to offer a “plug and play” RF solution 

for electronic engineers challenged with adding 

wireless capability to new or existing devices. 

Applications for AIR modules range from industrial control, 

building automation, and low-power sensor networks 

to lighting and equipment and appliances intended 

for inclusion in smart-grid scenarios (e.g., automated 

smart metering). 

Ultra low power RF specialist Nordic Semiconductor 

ASA announces that the Compex Wireless, a wireless 

muscle electro-stimulator—as used by HTC-Highroad, 

the cycling team of top 2011 Tour de France sprinter 

Mark Cavendish—employs Nordic nRF24LE1 proprietary 

2.4 GHz Systems-on-Chip (SoCs) and targets professional 

athletes and serious consumer sports and fitness 

enthusiasts such as marathon runners and keen 

cyclists. The Compex Wireless employs mechanical 

biofeedback (“mi-SCAN”) technology to automatically and 

safely adjust the stimulation settings to the specificities 

of each muscle. Electro muscle stimulation has long been 

used by elite professional athletes both during training 

(to stress key target muscles) and between training sessions 

and competitive events (to accelerate recovery 

cycles and treat common intensive training ailments such 

as lower back pain). The Compex Wireless is the first electro-stimulator 

to the offer the convenience of wireless to 

maximize application freedom and comfort without the 

risk of users getting tangled up in trailing cables. 

People in the News 

Modelithics, Inc. announces the addition of John Fisher 

as member of the Modelithics management 

team. Fisher has over 29 years of 

engineering and management experience, 

including extensive background 

in international product development 

as well as in executive management 

roles. His experience in process and 

product management along with previous 

roles as Director of Engineering 

and VP of Sales and Marketing will be 

a valuable asset in Modelithics’ goals. Fisher earned a BS in 

Electrical Engineering from the University of Central 

Florida along with a MS in Electrical Engineering and a 

MBA from the University of South Florida. 

Nujira announced the appointment of Patrick McNamee 

to the newly created post of VP of 

Silicon Operations with overall responsibility 

for taking its Envelope 

Tracking ICs from design completion to 

volume production. Patrick McNamee 

has over 25 years experience in the 

semiconductor industry including 15 

years senior management experience 

with successful fabless semiconductor 

companies such as Powervation, 

Cambridge Silicon Radio (CSR) and Dialog Semiconductor. 

Patrick McNamee joins Nujira from EoSemi, a UK based 

start-up with novel intellectual property in the field of silicon 

timers. Prior to EoSemi, Patrick was VP of Operations 

at Powervation, a fabless digital power IC technology company. 

Prior to this, he spent seven years as VP of Product 

Engineering at Cambridge Silicon Radio and eight years as 

Product Engineering Manager at Dialog Semiconductor. 

Earlier in his career, Patrick held test and product development 

positions at senior engineer level with National 

Semiconductor and GEC Plessey. He is a Director and 

Board Member of the National Microelectronics Institute 

(NMI). 

Anatech Electronics appointed Dean Handrinos as director 

of U.S. sales, with the responsibility of developing new 

business and managing of the company’s 

sales activities throughout the 

country, including working with regional 

sales representatives. Mr. Handrinos 

comes to Anatech from Stealth 

Microwave (a division of Micronetics), 

where he was vice president and 

responsible for business development 

and technical sales of the company’s 

power amplifier products. He was previously 

sales and marketing manager for Stealth. Mr. 

Handrinos received his Bachelor of Engineering degree 

from Stevens Institute of Technology and is currently working 

toward his MBA degree from Lehigh University. 

AR RF/Microwave Instrumentation has announced 

that Jay Osselburn has joined the 

company as a Senior Product-Engineer 

for the “A” Series of RF power amplifiers. 

These amplifiers offer coverage 

up to 400 MHz and power up to 16,000 

watts and beyond. Mr. Osselburn 

brings over 20 years of experience in 

the RF industry to his new position at 

AR. His background includes designing 

and developing RF amplifier and transmitter 

systems, as well as leading the teams of engineers 

working on these products. His most recent work was as a 

Senior Project Engineer at Innovation Engineering, Inc., 

and throughout his career, he has worked at a variety of 

engineering companies creating products that have helped 

to move the RF industry forward. 

Giga-tronics Incorporated announces that Mr. Mark 

Elo joined the Company as Vice President of Marketing 

effective August 29, 2011. Mr. Elo comes to Giga-tronics 

with more than 20 years of test and measurement experience 

in RF and microwave instrumentation. He has held 

various positions at Hewlett-Packard/Agilent Technologies 

and Keithley Instruments—including Product Marketing 

Manager, Marketing Director and Business Development 

Director—as well as number of R&D management roles. 

Mr. Elo will be responsible for the marketing of all Gigatronics 

products and for keeping new investment programs 

aligned with their target markets. 


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HIGH FREQUENCY APPLICATIONS 

Research News 

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology has announced the creation of the MIT/MTL Center for Graphene 

Devices and Systems (MIT-CG—www-mtl.mit.edu/wpmu/graphene/). This interdepartmental center, part of the 

Microsystems Technology Laboratories (MTL), brings together MIT researchers and industrial partners to advance the 

science and engineering of graphene-based technologies. 

Graphene, a form of pure carbon arranged in an hexagonal lattice just one atom thick, has generated great excitement 

among researchers worldwide for its unique properties that stand to revolutionize materials science and electronics. 

Until recently, most studies have focused on the basic physical properties of graphene. Work at the new Center 

will go beyond this research, exploring advanced technologies and strategies that will lead to graphene-based materials, 

devices and systems for a variety of applications, including graphene-enabled systems for energy generation, 

smart fabrics and materials, radio-frequency communications, and sensing, to name a few. 

Researchers at the International Center for Materials Nanoarchitectonics (MANA—www.nims.go.jp/ 

mana/index.html) demonstrate for the first time the key features in the neuroscience and psychology of memory by a 

AgS 2 

synapse. Artificial neural networks have attracted attention as a means to a better understanding of biological 

neural networks, as well as aiding developments in artificial intelligence. The complex and interconnected nature of 

thought processes make neural behavior difficult to reproduce in artificial structures without software programming. 

Now Takeo Ohno and researchers at the International Center for Materials Nanoarchitectonics (MANA), Tsukuba, 

Japan, and the University of California have mimicked synaptic activity with the electroionic behavior of a nanoscale 

AgS2 electrode. 

The researchers observed a temporary higher-conductance state in the AgS 2 

system following an incident electric 

pulse. Repetition of the input pulse over two second intervals led to permanently higher conductance. These two 

responses mimic the short-term plasticity and long-term potentiality in biological synapses. In the most widely accepted 

‘multistore’ model of memory in human psychology, new information is stored briefly as a sensory memory. 

Rehearsal converts short-term memory to long-term. When demonstrating memorization of the numerals ‘1’ and ‘2’ in 

a 7 × 7 inorganic synapse array, the behaviour of the artificial synapse indicated ‘multistore’ memory rather than a 

conventional switch. The researchers add, “The data indicate that we may apply a psychlogical memory model simultaneously 

with the emulation of biological synaptic-like behaviour.” 

Mitsuteru Inoue and colleagues at Toyohashi University of Technology (Toyohashi Tech—www.tut.ac.jp/english/) 

have developed high sensitivity magnetic sensors using magnonic crystals—artificial magnetic crystal structures 

capable of controlling the propagation of magnetostatic waves. Magnonic crystals support the propagation of magnetostatic 

waves through the crystal spin system or suppress the propagation of waves due to the periodicity of the crystal 

structure. 

In this research the Toyohashi Tech researchers fabricated magnonic crystals by the direct formation of one-dimensional 

arrays of metal strips on yttrium iron garnet (YIG)—a ferromagnetic material widely used in the magneto-electronics 

industry—which serves as the propagation medium. The metal stripes induce an attenuation band in the frequency 

spectra of the magnonic crystal and restrict the propagation of waves of specific frequencies. Even at room temperature, 

the output signal of the devices—frequency of the attenuation band—is very sensitive to external magnetic 

fields applied to the YIG crystal, where a one Oersted change in the field causes a 2.6 MHz shift in the attenuation 

band gap. Importantly, the maximum detection sensitivity of the magnonic crystals is more than 10 times greater that 

of giant magneto-impedance devices. Next the researchers are planning to demonstrate the measurement of magnetic 

fields in three dimensions. 

A Theory Unifying Gravity and Electromagnetism, the two long range forces of nature, has been presented by Dr. 

John Brandenburg, a plasma physicist at a Symposium on String Theory Phenomenology at the University of 

Wisconsin (www.wisc.edu) in Madison Wisconsin. This new unified field theory yields a highly accurate formula of 

one of the most important physical constants in the Cosmos: The Newton Gravitation constant G. The unification theory, 

called simply the GEM theory, from the words Gravity Electro-Magnetism, completes the quest of Einstein, who 

labored until his death to unify gravity and electro-magnetism. The theory links gravity to an effect widely known in 

plasma physics called the “E × B drift” which effects all particles the same, and is similar to the radiation pressure 

exerted by light. Among the predictions of the GEM theory is that gravity can be modified directly by strong electromagnetic 

fields, leading to anti-gravity technologies, and that even wormholes for warp drive may someday be created 

electro-magnetically. A description of the theory has also been published in the Journal of Cosmology. The theory is 

expected to undergo extensive analysis and review in the scientific community. 


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High Frequency Design 

FREQUENCY SYNTHESIZERS 

Implementing Modulation 

Functions in Microwave 

Frequency Synthesizers 

By Alexander Chenakin 

Phase Matrix, Inc. 

The main function 

This article reviews the of a frequency synthesizer 

is to deliv- 

typical methods for implementing 

modulation within er a stable and clean signal. 

However, many 

a frequency synthesizer 

instrument or system applications require not 

only a fixed frequency 

signal but also various modulation functions 

ranging from simple pulse, amplitude, frequency 

and phase modulation to complex digital 

modulation formats. Although modulators 

are usually realized as external devices, 

they can also be incorporated into a frequency 

synthesizer core. Inside any synthesizer 

there are many circuits that can carry multiple 

functions and be reused to increase the 

functionality without a significant increase in 

cost. This results in a more cost efficient and 

versatile design. The most commonly used 

modulation schemes are briefly reviewed in 

this article. Further details on modulation 

theory and implementation techniques can be 

found in [1-7]. 

Figure 1 · Pulse modulation is implemented 

by inserting a switch into the synthesizer output 

path. 

Pulse Modulation 

Pulse modulation is probably the simplest 

modulation form. It is achieved by switching 

the output signal on and off in accordance with 

the applied modulating pulses. The result is a 

sequence of RF pulses that replicate (or tend to 

replicate) the input modulating signal. The 

minimum RF pulse width, rise time, fall time 

and overshoot are important characteristics 

that define how well the modulating signal is 

replicated. Typical rise time and fall time numbers 

required are in the order of 10 nanoseconds. 

Pulse modulation on/off ratio is another 

critical parameter. A typical specification is 

80 dB or higher. The modulating signal frequency 

(also called rate) can be between DC 

and several megahertz. Pulse modulation is 

practically implemented by inserting a switch 

(or a chain of switches for a higher on/off ratio) 

into the synthesizer output path as depicted in 

Figure 1. The switch can be built using PIN- 

Figure 2 · A pulse modulator is integrated 

into a switched filter bank. 


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diodes or FET devices that support 

nanosecond switching. A high-pass 

filter follows the switch to suppress 

the leakage of the modulating 

signal (called video feedthrough) 

to the synthesizer output. 

Alternatively, the pulse modulator 

can be conveniently combined 

with a switched filter bank 

used for harmonic (or subharmonic) 

rejection. The idea is to reduce 

the design complexity and cost by 

utilizing the same devices for 

both functions. Furthermore, no 

additional loss is introduced that 

eases requirements for the output 

power amplifier. In this case, the 

pulse modulator incorporates a 

digital decoder (as shown in Fig. 

2) to control the switches in such 

a manner that they will provide 

the highest possible isolation 

(on/off ratio) for any given frequency 

subband. 

Amplitude Modulation 

Amplitude modulation (AM) 

historically has been one of the 

most popular methods for carrying 

information via RF frequencies. It 

is realized by varying the output 

signal amplitude in accordance 

with an applied modulating signal. 

The simplest way to implement 

AM is to control the insertion loss 

of an attenuator inserted into the 

synthesizer output circuit as 

depicted in Figure 3. This can be 

naturally combined with an openloop 

amplitude control as depicted 

in Figure 4. The synthesizer is first 

commanded to set a desired output 

power level by programming DAC 

(digital-to-analog converter) voltage. 

Then a modulating voltage is 

applied over the DAC voltage to 

vary the output signal around its 

nominal value. Naturally, the output 

power cannot be set at its 

highest (or lowest) level because 

certain headroom is needed to 

allow further power changes. The 

maximum power variation (which 

can also be expressed in terms of 

modulation index or depth) is 

achieved by setting the output 

power level in the middle of its 

control range. Another important 

requirement is linearity because 

the modulator must translate the 

modulating signal with minimal 

distortion. This may further limit a 

realizable modulation depth. 

Various linearization techniques 

can be applied to minimize AM signal 

distortion. In some cases, it is 

desirable to implement not a linear 

but a logarithmic modulating 

scale, meaning that the output 

power changes in dB per volt. This 

mode is utilized for large power 

variations (e.g., for simulation of 

rotating antenna patterns) and is 

called deep AM. 

Alternatively, amplitude modulation 

can be implemented by 

summing the modulating signal 

into the ALC (automatic level control) 

loop as shown in Figure 5. In 

general, the ALC-based amplitude 

modulation offers better linearity 

and repeatability characteristics. 

However, the modulation 

depth may be limited by the available 

ALC dynamic range, which, 

in turn, depends on the utilized 

detector. The maximum modulating 

signal rate is also lower compared 

to the open-loop alternative 

because of the settling time of the 

closed-loop ALC system. 

Frequency and Phase 

Modulation 

Frequency modulation (FM) is 

another popular form of analog 

modulation that offers better signal 

immunity compared to AM. 

The process of producing a frequency-modulated 

signal involves 

the variation of the synthesizer 

output frequency in accordance 

with the modulating signal. The 

frequency bandwidth where the 

synthesized signal fluctuates is 

proportional to the peak amplitude 

of the modulating signal and 

is called frequency deviation. FM 

Figure 3 · Amplitude modulation is realized 

using a voltage-controlled attenuator. 

Figure 4 · Amplitude modulation is combined 

with an open-loop amplitude control. 

Figure 5 · Amplitude modulation can be 

realized by summing the modulating signal 

into the ALC loop. 


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Figure 6 · Frequency and phase 

modulation. 

Figure 7 · Frequency modulation is 

realized by modulating the VCO tuning 

voltage. 

Figure 8 · A modulating signal is 

applied to the reference oscillator. 

can also be described by modulation 

index, which is the ratio of the maximum 

frequency deviation to the frequency 

of the modulating signal. 

Note that we can vary not only the 

frequency but also the phase of the 

synthesized signal, thus producing 

phase modulation (PM). Both processes 

are quite similar because in both 

cases we vary the argument (the 

angle) of the same sine function as 

illustrated in Figure 6. Hence, the 

angular modulation is a more general 

case that represents both FM and PM. 

The difference is not in the output signal 

waveform but rather in the modulator 

circuit configuration; that is, 

what parameter (frequency or phase) 

is directly proportional to the amplitude 

of the modulating signal. Because 

the instantaneous angular frequency 

is mathematically the time derivative 

Figure 9 · A phase shifter provides a 

phase modulation function. 

Figure 10 · Frequency modulation is 

realized by controlling the DDS output 

frequency. 

of the phase, it is possible to convert 

FM to PM (and vise versa) by adding 

an integrator (or differentiator) circuit 

into the modulating signal path. 

How can we modulate the synthesizer 

output frequency? From first 

glance, it is quite straightforward—we 

can simply modulate (i.e., change) the 

VCO (voltage-controlled oscillator) 

tuning voltage around the value where 

it is settled. The problem, however, is 

that the synthesizer’s PLL (phaselock-loop) 

core will tend to correct any 

voltage change we introduce. Most 

likely, we will lose this battle unless we 

change the tuning voltage so fast that 

the PLL will not be able to react to the 

change. This is exactly the idea that 

stands behind a so-called wideband 

FM modulation mode. The FM modulator 

is built by adding a circuit (e.g., 

an operational amplifier) that sums an 

external modulating signal with the 

control voltage delivered by PLL as 

depicted in Figure 7. The PLL remains 

locked all the time, thus ensuring that 

the overage output frequency 

remains correct. For proper operation, 

the modulating signal rate 

has to be well above the loop filter 

bandwidth. Thus, the PLL filter 

bandwidth is adjusted (narrowed 

down) to allow lower modulating 

rates. As a result, the phase noise 

usually increases when FM is 

enabled. Typical achievable modulating 

rates range from a few 

kilohertz to tens of megahertz. 

What if we need to apply a 

lower-frequency modulating signal? 

Obviously, we have to further 

decrease the loop filter 

bandwidth, which may not 

always be possible because of 

prohibitory high VCO free-running 

phase noise at low frequency 

offsets. An alternative solution 

is to modulate not the VCO but 

the reference oscillator as shown 

in Figure 8. If the modulating 

signal rate is sufficiently low, the 

PLL will track the reference frequency 

change and, hence, translate 

the modulation to the VCO 

output. This mode is often called narrowband 

FM because the modulating 

frequency must be within PLL filter 

bandwidth. The loop filter bandwidth 

should be set as wide as possible to 

allow higher modulating rates. 

Typical rates start from nearly DC to 

a few tens of kilohertz. Thus, the narrowband 

mode complements its wideband 

counterpart to extend the overall 

modulating frequency range. 

A disadvantage of this technique 

is low achievable deviation caused by 

very low tuning sensitivity of the reference 

oscillator. Although the reference 

frequency deviation is multiplied 

up by the PLL at the 20logN rate, the 

synthesizer output deviation may be 

insufficient. A higher deviation can be 

achieved by changing not the reference 

frequency but rather its phase as 

depicted in Figure 9. This represents 

a classical phase modulation; however, 

both forms are interchangeable. 

Practical implementation requires a 

phase shifter that can be purchased 


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Figure 11 · A signal is presented as 

a vector on a polar diagram. 

or can be built using discrete devices 

such as varactor diodes. 

An interesting solution is to control 

the division ratio of a frequency 

divider inserted into either the PLL 

reference or feedback path as illustrated 

in Figure 10. The divider has 

to be a high-resolution device such as 

a fractional-N divider or DDS (direct 

digital synthesizer). The modulating 

signal is first digitized by an ADC 

(analog-to-digital converter) and then 

is summed with the DDS tuning 

word to vary the DDS’s output frequency. 

Because the DDS offers 

exceptionally small frequency increments 

and a fast update rate, a simple 

yet high-performance FM (or PM) 

modulator can be constructed. 

Complex Modulation 

More effective modulation formats 

are possible by simultaneously varying 

both amplitude and phase. The 

simplest way to visualize such a complex 

signal is to draw it as a vector on 

a polar diagram. The amplitude and 

phase are represented as the length 

and the angle of the vector as shown 

in Figure 11. In digital communication 

systems, such a signal is expressed in 

I (in-phase) and Q (quadrature) terms, 

which are projections of the signal vector 

on a corresponding orthogonal 

axis. Therefore, the amplitude and 

phase modulation assumes the change 

of the signal vector, which can be conveniently 

accomplished by varying 

two independent IQ-components. 

Figure 12 · IQ-modulator block 

diagram. 

Hence, such a complex modulation is 

called vector or IQ-modulation. 

Vector modulation can be applied 

directly at RF frequencies by utilizing 

an IQ-modulator. It consists of two 

identical mixers driven with a 90- 

degree phase shift at their LO (local 

oscillator) ports as shown in Figure 12. 

The base-band data signals are 

applied directly to the mixer IF (intermediate 

frequency) ports, upconverted, 

and summed together with no phase 

shift between them. The resulting output 

is an IQ-modulated signal at the 

same carrier frequency as the LO. The 

quality of the synthesized signal can 

be tested by applying two base-band 

signals of the same frequency and 

amplitude with a 90-degree phase 

shift with respect to each other. For a 

perfect modulator, only one sideband 

should be present. However, in reality, 

the output signal contains another 

sideband because of imperfect amplitude 

and phase balance. For example, 

equalizing the signal paths within 1 

dB (amplitude) and 10 degrees (phase) 

results in approximately a 20-dB sideband 

rejection. Naturally, better rejection 

is required. Moreover, an LO leakage 

also takes place. The undesired 

sideband can be further suppressed by 

adjusting the amplitude and phase of 

the applied IQ signals. The LO leakage 

can be controlled by adjusting DC offset 

voltages for the diodes used in the 

balanced mixers. Therefore, it is generally 

possible to calibrate the modulator 

characteristics to a degree where it can 

be practically utilized. The difficulty is 

that this calibration has to be implemented 

at many frequencies across the 

entire operating range. Moreover, the 

calibration has to survive over time 

and temperature changes. Thus, 

achieving a good image and LO leakage 

suppression for a broadband, highfrequency, 

direct IQ-modulator is a 

very challenging task. 

An alternative solution is to create 

a desired IQ-modulated signal at a 

lower, fixed frequency and then 

upconvert it to microwave frequencies 

as illustrated in Figure 13. Obviously, 

it is much easier to achieve better 

cancellation of undesired products at 

a single (and lower frequency) point. 

However, the difficulty now moves to 

the upconversion side. We still need to 

remove the undesired sideband and 

LO leakage posted by the second (regular) 

mixer. However, because the 

product separation is much larger 

(compared to the direct IQ-modulation), 

a hardware filter can be used. 

For a broadband operation, a YIGtuned 

filter is a simple and effective 

solution. The disadvantage of the YIG 

filter is slow tuning speed and relatively 

narrow pass-band that can be 

insufficient in certain applications. A 

switched filter bank (Fig. 14) offers 

better characteristics. However, it 

requires a larger number of channels 

(compared to devices used for harmonic 

and sub-harmonic filtering) 

and, hence, is hardware extensive. 

This results in a more complex system 

design and posts other challenges 

(e.g., achieving high isolation between 

filter channels, etc.). 

In the past, complex microwave 

assemblies were often built using 

individual connectorized modules 

connected with coaxial cables. The 

designer could easily isolate and 

refine individual blocks to make them 

perfect. These days, such assemblies 

have to be made on a common PCB 

using tiny surface-mount parts. A 

great effort is required to minimize 

interactions between individual components 

sitting on the same board. 

Furthermore, many parts are reused 


Figure 13 · Upconversion using a tunable filter. 

“If what you want is 

RF Power, high performance, 

reliability, and customization, 

then we are a No Brainer” 

Figure 14 · A broadband upconverter based on a 

switched filter bank. 

to accomplish different functions, which are distributed 

through the whole assembly. The net result is a significant 

increase in “design density,” meaning both component 

count and functionality per square inch. All these factors 

drastically complicate the design process. Nevertheless, 

this seems to be a “must” approach these days. 

References 

1. Manassewitsch, V., Frequency Synthesizers: Theory 

and Design, 3rd ed., NJ: Wiley, 2005. 

2. Gardner, F. M., Phaselock Techniques, 3rd ed., NJ: 

Wiley, 2005. 

3. Crawford, J. A., Advanced Phase-Lock Techniques, 

MA: Artech House, 2008. 

4. Coombs, C. F., Jr., (ed.), Electronic Instrument 

Handbook, 3rd ed., New York: McGraw-Hill, 1999. 

5. Terman, F. E., Electronic and Radio Engineering, 

New York: McGraw-Hill, 1955. 

6. Gentile, K., “Fundamentals of Digital Quadrature 

Modulation,” RF Design, February 2003, pp. 40-47. 

7. Chenakin, A., Frequency Synthesizers: Concept to 

Product, Norwood, MA: Artech House, 2010. 

Author Information 

Dr. Alexander Chenakin is the vice president of the 

Signal Sources Group at Phase Matrix, Inc., where he oversees 

the development of advanced frequency synthesizer 

products for test-and-measurement applications. His professional 

achievements have been widely presented in trade 

publications and international conferences. Dr. Chenakin 

can be reached by phone at 408-954-6409 or by e-mail at 

achenakin@ phasematrix.com. 

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Copyright© 2011 AR. The orange stripe on AR products is Reg. U.S. Pat. & TM. Off. 


High Frequency Products 

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Power Amplifiers 

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Hybrid Power Modules 

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3W Power Amp 

Hittite Microwave Corporation announces the release of 

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Broadband Pallet Amplifiers 

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Services 

Calibration Services 

Agilent Technologies Inc. 

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IEEE Wireless and Microwave Technology Conference 

WAMICON 2012 

Hilton Cocoa Beach FL 

April 16 & 17 2012 

www.wamicon.org 

General Chair 

Xun Gong, University of Central Florida 

xun.gong@ucf.edu 

General Vice-Chair 

Joel Johnson, Harris 

wjohns19@harris.com 

Technical Program Co-Chairs 

Jing Wang, University of South Florida 

jingw@usf.edu 

Changzhi Li, Texas Tech. University 

changzhi.li@ttu.edu 

Tutorials Chair 

Ray Pengelly, Cree Inc. 

ray_pengelly@cree.com 

Invited Papers Co-Chairs 

Mohamed Sayed, MMS 

mmsayed@sbcglobal.net 

Jenshan Lin, University of Florida 

jenshan@ieee.org 

Juan-Mari Collantes, University of the Basque Country 

juanmari.collantes@ehu.es 

Finance Chair 

Heather Quinones, ATK 

heather.quinones@atk.com 

Local Arrangements Chair 

Lester Lopez, Harris 

llopez04@harris.com 

Exhibits & Sponsorship Co-Chairs 

Ryan Baker, Cree 

ryan_baker@cree.com 

Scott Maynard, AWR 

smaynard@awrcorp.com 

Publicity Chair 

Michael Hallman, Microwave Journal 

mhallman@mwjournal.com 

Publications Chair 

Gary Breed, High Frequency Electronics 

gary@highfrequencyelectronics.com 

Poster Session Chair 

Kamran Entesari, Texas A&M University 

kentesar@mail.ece.tamu.edu 

Registration Chair 

Gokhan Mumcu, University of South Florida 

mumcu@usf.edu 

Website Chair 

Kim McPeek, Trak Microwave 

kmcpeek@trak.com 

Awards Chair 

Richard Abrahams, Harris 

rabrah01@harris.com 

Paper Competition Chair 

Jane Gu, University of Florida 

qgu@ece.ufl.edu 

IEEE Liaisons 

Jenshan Lin, University of Florida 

jenshan@ieee.org 

WAMICON Advisors 

Larry Dunleavy, University of South Florida 

ldunleavy@modelithics.com 

Tom Weller, University of South Florida 

weller@usf.edu 

Submission Deadline Jan 9, 2012 

The 13 th annual IEEE Wireless and Microwave Technology Conference 

(WAMICON 2012) will be held in the beautiful Cocoa Beach area in Florida. The 

conference will address up-to-date multidisciplinary research needs and 

interdisciplinary aspects of wireless and RF technology. The program includes oral 

presentations, poster presentations, workshops, and tutorials. Prospective authors are 

invited to submit original and high-quality work for presentation at the WAMICON 

and for publication in IEEEXplore. The technical program will cover wireless 

communication systems and RF technologies. 

Topics of Interest Include: 

Power Amplifiers (PAs) 

High-Efficiency PAs, Linearization and Efficiency Enhancement Techniques and 

Topologies, Novel PA Architectures, High-Power Devices, Linear and Nonlinear 

Device Modeling and CAD, Thermal Considerations and Reliabilities, PA 

Applications 

Active Components and Systems 

Transceiver Design, Multi-Band RF Circuits and Systems, System-On-Chip, 

System-In-Package, Low-Power IC, Low-Noise IC, Radar RF/MMIC Electronics, 

Terahertz Electronics, Active (Non-Foster) Filters and Non-Foster Impedance 

Matching 

Passive Components and Antennas 

Filters, Transmission Line Components, MEMS, Advanced Packaging, Antennas 

and Arrays, Meta-Materials, Electromagnetic Bandgap Structures 

Wireless Communications 

Cognitive Radios, Wireless Networking, 3G/4G, Ultra-Wideband (UWB), MIMO, 

Multi-Carrier, Spread Spectrum, Channel Characterization and Modeling, 

Software Defined Radios (SDR) 

Emerging RF and Microwave Technologies 

Biomedical Applications, Wireless Sensing, Energy Harvesting, Wireless Power 

Transfer, Nano Devices and Circuits 

Paper Submission Instructions 

Authors are asked to submit papers electronically, in pdf format. In order to be 

considered for publication by the Technical Program Committee, a minimum of 4 

pages (maximum of 8 pages), clearly describing the concept and results must be 

submitted. The final manuscript will be requested only after the paper is accepted. The 

conference webpage at www.wamicon.org has complete details of submission. 

Submissions will be evaluated for originality, significance of the work, technical 

soundness, and interest to a wide audience. 

Important Dates 

Papers Due: Jan. 9, 2012 

Author Notification: Jan. 30, 2012 

Final Papers Due: Feb. 13, 2012

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CIRCUIT ENVELOPE 

Circuit Envelope Simulation: 

A Powerful Resource for 

4G Power Amplifier Design 

By Josh Moore 

AWR Corporation 

This issue’s cover features 

AWR’s circuit envelope 

simulation, which allows 

desginers to analyze how 

circuit design choices 

affect performance with 

modulated signals 

Designers of RF 

power amplifiers 

for 3G and 4G 

wireless systems face 

conflicting challenges 

unlike those they have 

encountered before. For 

example, while today’s 

higher-order modulation 

schemes require exceptional linearity 

throughout both transmit and receive signal 

paths, wireless carriers require the highest 

possible efficiency at the system level. 

Optimizing a circuit for one parameter invariably 

requires sacrificing performance of the 

other. Combine this and other unavoidable 

design conflicts with demands for greater 

instantaneous bandwidth and designers 

indeed have a conundrum. Achieving acceptable 

solutions requires not just standard timedomain 

and frequency-domain simulators but 

the unique contributions of circuit envelope 

simulation as well. This tool is seamlessly 

integrated within AWR 2011, and together 

with Microwave Office and Visual System 

Simulator (VSS) software, it can shave time 

from the design process while producing highperformance, 

manufacturable products. 

The appeal of circuit envelope simulation 

results from its ability to more efficiently simulate 

complex digital waveforms than can 

time-domain and frequency-domain simulators 

such as harmonic balance (HB) and 

SPICE. The technique does not disregard the 

inherent advantages of these venerable simulators 

but rather builds on their unique characteristics 

by combining modulation data in 

the time domain and carrier signals in the frequency 

domain. It delivers a spectrum that 

gives designers access to the modulation information 

(i.e. amplitude and phase) of every 

harmonic of the signal as they evolve over 

time. The result is the ability to analyze complex 

digitally-modulated waveforms fast and 

with greater accuracy than with the aforementioned 

simulators alone. 

The further advantages provided by AWR’s 

circuit envelope simulation result from its 

synergy with the other tools within the AWR 

2011 Design Suite. That is, Microwave Office 

high-frequency design software incorporates 

thermal device effects and captures distributed 

design elements in a complete linear and 

steady-state nonlinear design suite. Its circuit 

representation flows seamlessly into the system-level 

environment of VSS, where circuit 

envelope simulation is then employed to monitor 

voltage and current waveforms in seconds 

rather than the minutes or hours required by 

transient solvers. With access to DC dissipated 

power as an output and any number of DC 




Figure 1 · Infineon power amplifier viewed within AWR 2011 (circuit envelope 

schematic, layout, 3D view and simulation results). 

input pins to an underlying 

Microwave Office power amplifier circuit, 

VSS and circuit envelope simulation 

can enable complex active 

feedback, dynamic biasing, or 

MAC/PHY layer simulation scenarios. 

Beyond Harmonic Balance 

Harmonic balance is the basic 

nonlinear simulation engine for RF 

and microwave design, solving for 

nonlinear, steady-state voltages and 

currents in the frequency domain. As 

long as the signals of interest are 

periodic, HB engines are computationally 

efficient, very fast, and produce 

excellent results when provided 

with good models. 

Harmonic balance, however 

assumes that the data stream is periodic. 

So, when simulating a complex 

modulated signal (common to modern 

digital communication systems) with 

an arbitrary bit stream, the period of 

the input signal must be at least as 

long as the stream of input data. 

When sampled appropriately, this 

leads to a huge number of spectral 

frequencies that must all be solved 

for simultaneously via HB techniques. 

Likewise, when simulating 

memory effects using HB simulation 

techniques for example, their aperiodicity 

must first be reformulated as 

a predictable signal. Corre-lation 

effects, not part of the actual physical 

phenomena, can then creep into the 

results and cause inaccuracies. 

Another limitation of HB pertains 

to circuit/system-level co-simulation. 

When it is advantageous to include 

feedback within the system simulation—where 

the circuit simulation is 

controlled by the system simulation 

using previous circuit simulation 

time samples—this type of co-simulation 

simply cannot be performed with 

a steady state HB circuit simulator. 

Enter Circuit Envelope Simulation 

To capture dynamic operating 

phenomena such as memory effects, 

time-domain simulation is required, 

usually in the form of a transient, 

SPICE-type solver which, unlike HB, 

requires the entire waveform to be 

sampled. A 5 MHz-wide modulated 

signal on a 2 GHz carrier, for example, 

would require an integer multiple 

(N) of 2 GHz as a sampling frequency. 

If the simulated signal frame 

is 10 ms long, the simulation engine 

must simulate N ×2GHz×10ms = 

N × 2e7 samples to achieve results. 

While this will produce a solution, so 

many time steps are required that 

simulation speed slows to a crawl. 

Circuit envelope simulation 

assumes that the input waveform has 

somewhat different characteristics. 

Unlike HB, time-domain techniques 

such as SPICE and circuit envelope 

can capture non-periodic dynamic 

operating-point information required 

for simulating memory effects. 

Rather than sampling the RF carrier, 

circuit envelope simulation samples 

only the modulation envelope. In the 

example above, this translates into 

N×5 MHz × 10 ms samples which is 

a 400x reduction in the number of 

time steps. Each time sample in a circuit 

envelope simulation is effectively 

solving the harmonic balance equations 

at the modulation carrier and 

related harmonic frequencies, so a 

single time sample in envelope is 

more expensive than a single SPICE 

transient time point (typically 10 to 

100x slower) and thus a 400x reduction 

in time samples would result in 

a 4 to 40x improvement in circuit 

envelope simulation time versus that 

of SPICE. As the modulation bandwidth 

increases, the benefits of circuit 

envelope simulation will 

decrease, and for very wide band 

modulation, a SPICE type simulation 

will more than likely be faster. 

Circuit envelope simulation is a 

perfect co-simulation match for VSS, 

which also samples the modulation 

envelope while creating, demodulating, 

and analyzing modulated waveforms 

such as GSM, EDGE, WCDMA, 

and LTE. Circuit envelope simulation 

lets designers place N-port Microwave 

Office circuit schematics directly 

into VSS system diagrams and 

simulate them to see how they 

behave in the presence of modulated 

waveforms. Dynamic voltages and 

currents and thus power-added efficiency 

can be of value weighted as 

well. The AWR software environment 

makes it possible to easily move 

between simulators and analysis 

techniques. Schematic elements corresponding 

to analyses and measurements 

can have multiple roles allowing 

linear, HB, transient, and circuit 


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Figure 2 · Circuit envelope nonlinear simulation-based instance of 

Infineon power amplifier 

envelope simulation to coexist in the 

same schematic. 

As circuit envelope (Figure 1) is a 

time-domain technique, it is necessary 

to specify voltage and current 

probe-points on the schematic. 

Traditional input/output ports for the 

design are handled by PORT elements. 

Additional probes are also 

placed at the drain and in the DC 

bias path to supply DC voltage and 

monitor RF and DC voltage and current. 

Furthermore, since circuit envelope 

simulation is not restricted to 

the DC, fundamental, and harmonic 

Figure 3 · Complete VSS diagram with circuit envelope co-simulation and 

predistortion. 

elements of an HB analysis, the decision 

about where to place probes can 

be made based on much broader set 

of design criteria than signal sources 

and paths. The time-domain aspect of 

circuit envelope simulation allows 

design criteria like dynamic bias 

amplifiers, bias turn-down, or active 

equalization to be incorporated into 

the simulation as well. 

Prior to incorporating the power 

amplifier in a circuit envelope test 

bench in VSS software, a hierarchical 

element must be created within 

Microwave Office. The “subckt” element 

representing the power amplifier 

design (Figure 2) has a typical 

PORT input driven by a source and a 

corresponding PORT output, but the 

element is augmented by five additional 

pins defined by the (NCONN)- 

named connectors: two voltage supply 

lines, one RF voltage monitor, one 

RF current monitor, and one DC current 

monitor. 

Moving on to the envelope 

schematic, the complete power amplifier 

can be assembled from its constituent 

parts. The device within 

Microwave Office software can be 

combined with other elements such 

as digital pre-distortion, filtering, 

and antenna and channel models. 

Port definitions are added to the element 

to describe port functionality 

relative to the circuit simulation so 

the input port or ports, output ports, 

and DC or bias input lines can be controlled 

and monitored. Total DC 

power dissipation can be monitored 

as a separate port, calculated within 

the Microwave Office simulation, and 

then ported to VSS and circuit envelope 

for analyses of power-added efficiency 

and other DC-related parameters. 

The FCOUTSPEC parameter 

specifies the harmonic around which 

the envelope is to be simulated. Both 

RF and DC can be indicated for each 

of the output ports. 

RF source and signal blocks combined 

with a Vector Signal Analyzer 

(VSA) block determine the simulation 

criteria. A voltage source is 

added to control the DC bias into the 

power amplifier, which in a more 

advanced design could be dynamic 

biasing, active time-domain circuitry, 

or MAC or PHY layer control, and 

even including feedback, because the 

voltage pin is within the VSS/circuit 

envelope time-domain environment. 

This is not available in linear or HB 

analyses alone. In Figure 3, a digital 

predistortion circuit precedes the 

power amplifier in the signal path to 

create a more efficient, highly-linear 

design solution that could not be 

designed with only a time-domain or 


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Frequency Gain Gain Noise VSWR Output Power Nom. 

Model Range (Min./Max.) Flatness Figure IN/OUT @ 1 dB Comp. DC Power 

Number (GHz) (dB) (±dB) (dB, Max.) (Max.) (dBm, Min.) (+15 V, mA) 

OCTAVE BAND AMPLIFIERS 

AFS3-00120025-09-10P-4 0.12-.25 38 0.50 0.9 2.0:1 +10 125 

AFS3-00250050-08-10P-4 0.25-0.5 38 0.50 0.8 2.0:1 +10 125 

AFS3-00500100-06-10P-6 0.5-1 38 0.75 0.6 2.0:1/1.5:1 +10 150 

AFS3-01000200-05-10P-6 1-2 38 1.00 0.5 2.0:1 +10 150 

AFS3-01200240-06-10P-6 1.2-2.4 34 1.00 0.6 2.0:1 +10 150 

AFS3-02000400-06-10P-4 2-4 32 1.00 0.6 2.0:1 +10 125 

AFS3-02600520-10-10P-4 2.6-5.2 28 1.00 1.0 2.0:1 +10 125 

AFS3-04000800-07-10P-4 4-8 32 1.00 0.7 2.0:1 +10 100 

AFS3-08001200-09-10P-4 8-12 28 1.00 0.9 2.0:1 +10 80 

AFS3-08001600-15-8P-4 8-16 28 1.00 1.5 2.0:1 +8 100 

AFS4-12001800-18-10P-4 12-18 28 1.50 1.8 2.0:1 +10 125 

JS4-18002600-22-10P 18-26 35 1.50 2.2 2.0:1 +10 200 

JS3-18004000-40-15P 18-40 32 2.70 4.0 2.6:1 +15 400* 

JS4-18004000-30-5P 18-40 23 2.50 3.0 2.5:1 +5 200 

JS42-18004000-31-8P 18-40 35 3.50 3.1 2.5:1 +8 300 

JS1-26004000-100-19P 26-40 17 2.50 10.0 2.5:1 +19 400* 

JS4-26004000-30-8P 26-40 23 2.50 3.0 2.5:1 +8 200 

JS42-26004000-31-8P 26-40 37 3.50 3.1 2.5:1 +8 300 

MULTIOCTAVE BAND AMPLIFIERS 

AFS3-00500200-08-15P-4 0.5-2 38 1.00 0.8 2.0:1 +15 125 

AFS3-01000400-10-10P-4 1-4 30 1.50 1.0 2.0:1 +10 125 

AFS3-02000800-09-10P-4 2-8 26 1.00 0.9 2.0:1 +10 125 

AFS4-02001800-24-10P-4 2-18 35 2.50 2.4 2.5:1 +10 175 

AFS4-06001800-22-10P-4 6-18 25 2.00 2.2 2.0:1 +10 125 

AFS4-08001800-22-10P-4 8-18 28 2.00 2.2 2.0:1 +10 125 

ULTRA WIDEBAND AMPLIFIERS 

AFS3-00100100-09-10P-4 0.1-1 38 1.00 0.9 2.0:1 +10 125 

AFS3-00100200-10-15P-4 0.1-2 38 1.00 1.0 2.0:1 +15 150 

AFS3-00100300-12-10P-4 0.1-3 34 1.00 1.2 2.0:1 +10 125 

AFS3-00100400-13-10P-4 0.1-4 30 1.00 1.3 2.0:1 +10 125 

AFS3-00100600-13-10P-4 0.1-6 30 1.25 1.3 2.0:1 +10 125 

AFS3-00100800-14-10P-4 0.1-8 28 1.50 1.4 2.0:1 +10 125 

AFS4-00101200-22-10P-4 0.1-12 30 1.50 2.2 2.0:1 +10 150 

JS4-00102000-25-10P 0.1-20 29 2.00 2.5** 2.5:1 +10 200 

JS4-00102600-30-10P 0.1-26 28 2.50 3.0** 2.5:1 +10 200 

JS4-00104000-54-5P 0.1-40 30 3.00 5.4** 2.5:1 +5 200 

Noise figure increases below 500 MHz. 

* Dual Voltage, -8V@50 mA. ** Above 800 mHz. 

This is only a small sample of our extensive list of standard catalog items. 

Please contact our Sales Department at (631) 439-9220 or e-mail components@miteq.com 

for additional information or to discuss your custom requirements. 

100 Davids Drive, Hauppauge, NY 11788 

TEL.: (631) 436-7400 • FAX: (631) 436-7430 

www.miteq.com 


Engineers: 

Stay Informed! 

Subscribe to 

High Frequency 

Electronics! 

Be on top of your game: 

Figure 4 · Multi-carrier spectrum, time domain waveforms, as well as drain 

current and voltage for Infineon PA as simulated by AWR 2011 software 

featuring circuit envelope technology. 

• Timely technical articles 

• New product information 

• Industry news and events 

• Knowledgeable editors 

HB simulator. 

The analysis results provide all 

the information required for system 

and circuit co-design without constraints 

on the simulation techniques 

used (Figure 4). Harmonic content, 

spectral masks, P in 

-versus-P out 

curves, and gain all can be analyzed 

with AWR’s new circuit envelope 

technology. Additionally, these 

results can now be combined with 

time-domain analyses, such as collector 

current and voltage waveforms 

and RF perturbations of DC bias 

lines. Active turn-down through simulated 

control of DC pins can also be 

explored and analyzed. Waveforms 

and outputs are continually updated 

based on user-specified sampling and 

averaging criteria and can run realtime, 

which allows tuning and optimization 

within both Microwave 

Office and VSS software. 

Summary 

The stringent demands of the 

higher-order modulation schemes 

employed in today's leading-edge 

wireless systems make it essential 

that all ASP banks of RF power 

amplifier performance be taken into 

consideration. The integration of circuit 

envelope simulation within the 

AWR 2011 design suite and its seamless 

interaction with VSS allow 

designers to create amplifiers that 

deliver both high linearity and efficiency 

are of broad bandwidths that 

could not otherwise be achieved. 

Acknowledgements 

AWR would like to thank Infineon 

for their assistance with the testing 

of this new feature from AWR. The 

design shown in all figures is courtesy 

of Infineon Technologies and corresponds 

to their ELMO models for 

LD9-based smart discrete devices. 


Josh Moore, a University of 

Illinois Engineering alumnus, is 

presently a Solution Architect with 

AWR. Before joining AWR, Josh spent 

several years at Nokia as an RF 

design engineer working on base station 

and mobile device receivers, and 

at Agilent Technologies as an ADS 

Application Engineer. 

For more information contact: 

AWR Corporation 

www.awrcorp.com 

Tel: 310-726-3000 

E-mail: info@awrcorp.com 

Subscribe online at our Web site: 

just click on the “Subscriptions” 

button on our main page, www. 

highfrequencyelectronics.com 

Print & Online 

Editions! 

• Both editions are identical 

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• Find articles quickly 

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RENEW TODAY! 

www. 

highfrequencyelectronics 

.com 

October 2011 43

TECHNOLOGY REPORT 

News Update on Cable 

and Connector Business 

and Technology 

For this month’s report, we felt the best way to 

report on recent developments in cables and connectors 

was to present recent new product and 

technology announcements from various suppliers of 

these essential components. 

Power Connector for Tower-Mounted Base Stations 

Amphenol Industrial (www.amphenol-industrial.com ) 

has introduced Amphe-BTS, a new power connector 

designed to provide 

power from a wireless, 

mast-mounted 

base station to a 

remote radio head. 

This compact connector 

meets the strict 

requirements set 

forth by the next 

generation of base stations. This field-installable connector 

eliminates the need to ship heavy pre-made cable 

assemblies around the world. 

The Amphe-BTS provides 360° EMI shielding with 

grounding fingers and utilizes a bayonet locking mechanism 

with strong vibration and shock resistance. The connectors 

are lightning resistant due to their excellent conductivity. 

The receptacle has crimp contacts and the plug 

has screw termination contacts for easy field installation 

and replacement. This circular connector, based on MIL- 

C-26482 series 2, features a brass shell construction with 

tin over nickel plating, making it corrosion resistant and 

compliant with ISO 21207. The Amphe-BTS has a cable 

sealing range of 7 mm to 18 mm, a temperature range of 

–55° to +85°C and is available in standard two-way 48 

VDC, two-way reverse gender 48 VDC and three-way 400 

VDC/250 VAC power configuration. The IP65-rated 

Amphe-BTS connector is UL and TUV certified. 

Simulation of Cable Currents and EM Fields 

Computer Simulation Technology (CST–www.cst.com) 

announces the release of transient bidirectional co-simulation 

between cable currents and the electromagnetic 

fields in the surrounding space for CST STUDIO 

SUITE version 2011 SP5. The announcement was made 

at the 2011 IEEE EMC Symposium in Long Beach, CA. 

In many EMC applications, cabling has a major 

impact on the immunity and emissions performance of a 

system. Cables can receive electromagnetic fields and 

propagate the induced voltages/currents through enclosures 

(shields) into sensitive circuits causing interference. 

Conversely, cables can conduct and radiate electromagnetic 

noise from a system resulting in EMC compliance 

issues. 

In reality, the coupling between fields and complex 

cable bundles is bi-directional; cables can both receive 

and re-radiate electromagnetic fields. Depending on the 

routing/position of cables within an enclosure, the field 

distribution, modes and current paths can be strongly 

affected. In the past, modelers have often simplified the 

field/cable interaction problem by assuming one-way coupling, 

but this may produce inaccurate results. 

CST has overcome this limitation by tightly integrating 

CST CABLE STUDIO (CST CS) with the powerful 3D 

transient solvers in CST MICROWAVE STUDIO ® (CST 

MWS). This enables true transient bi-directional 

field/cable coupling to be simulated for complex cable 

bundles routed through complex 3D environments such 

as electronics enclosures, aircraft, automobiles etc. 

Accurate analysis can be performed efficiently, despite 

the huge difference in scale between cable cross-section 

dimensions and overall system/vehicle dimensions. 

Cable Assemblies Feature Low Passive IMD 

San-tron, Inc. (www.santron.com) has announced a 

new series of PIM cable assemblies. Dubbed the Intermod 

Squad, they feature intermodulation performance as low 


When your name alone says it all 

Your application demands more than a commodity 

solution. TRU engineered designs deliver field-proven 

performance and reliability. Demand the best. 

Connect TRU with your 7-16 challenge. 

• Extensive range of cable assembly and 

connector products 

• Vertically integrated design, manufacture 

and test capabilities 

• Available with TRUlustre, tri-metal plating for 

sensitive intermodulation requirements 

To learn more about how TRU can connect with you, 

visit our new website: trucorporation.com 

Scan to learn more about 

TRU 7-16 solutions 

©2011 TRU Corporation 

TRU Corporation 

Peabody, MA 01960 USA 

1 800 262-9878 

(1 800 COAX-TRU) 

978 532-0775 

To request literature: 

marketing@trucorporation.com 

trucorporation.com


as –181 dBc with an eSeries 7/16 connector terminated on 

TFlex-402 cable. Typical performance across the lineup of 

assemblies terminated with eSMA and eSeries Type Ns is 

–162 dBc. The eSMA 

cable assemblies perform 

DC-20 GHz and 

the eSeries Type N 

cable assemblies perform 

DC-18 GHz. 

These assemblies are 

phase and attenuation 

stable, provide excellent shielding, support UL/NEC 

Plenum class CMP, are corrosion resistant, and are low in 

weight and highly flexible. 

The key component in San-tron PIM cable assemblies 

are the latest series of connectors recently introduced by 

San-tron, the eSeries of connectors, which includes SMA 

(trademarked as eSMA), Type N, TNC, and 7/16 styles. To 

facilitate strong PIM performance these connector bodies 

are plated with white bronze Albaloy. The Albaloy plating 

provides a robust surface that easily accepts the braid solder 

joint and supports corrosion resistance per salt fog 

testing. The eSMA center contacts are BeCu; they are 

plated .000030 gold over a copper strike providing great 

RF performance, corrosion resistance, and controls over 

porosity. The eSeries N and 7/16 center contacts are plated 

.000200 silver over a copper strike which contains cost 

versus gold, and also provides excellent RF performance 

and corrosion resistance. 

EMI-Filtered Circular Connectors 

API Technologies’ 

Spectrum Control 

(www.SpecEMC 

.com) product line 

announces their new 

composite connector 

series. These composite 

connectors feature 

shells fabricated 

from high grade thermoplastic. Designed to replace traditional 

metal connector shells for substantial weight 

reduction, this addition to the Spectrum Control product 

line offers composite shell versions of its circular connectors 

in MIL-38999 series III and IV, available with EMI 

filtering. 

The new composite shell maintains the form, fit and 

function of the original connector shell, making it ideal 

for applications where weight is a critical factor, such as 

in the military and aerospace industries. Given the company’s 

unique vertical integration capabilities, custom 

mechanical variations may be provided without traditional 

tooling charges. With several types of filtering 

available, these custom high reliability, circular connectors 

provide high quality and performance. 

SMP Connectors for UT Series Cables 

Cross RF (www.crossrf.com) offers SMP Connectors 

for UT series cables, 

both semi-rigid and 

semi-flexible types. 

The SMP interface is 

a subminiature 

interface in the same 

scale as MMCX connectors. 

Four types of 

50-ohm SMP connectors 

have been introduced, 

in either right 

angle or straight with termination capability to either 

0.047” or 0.086”, semi-rigid or conformable coax. They 

cover the frequency range of DC-12 GHz with a maximum 

0.1 dB insertion loss and 1.25:! VSWR. 

Interface is per Mil-STD-348, with an anti-lock ring 

body, beryllium copper contact, brass cap and Teflon ® 

insulator. The connectors have gold plating over nickel 

underplate. Typical applications include PC board to 

board interconnect, broadband communications, instrumentation, 

and telecom systems. 

Low Loss, Low PIM Coaxial Cable 

Times Microwave (www.timesmicrowave.com) LMR ® - 

SW is a low loss, low PIM, high performance 50 ohm coax 

cable with a seamless aluminium outer conductor, providing 

better durability in bending than seam-welded cables, 

and better electrical performance than corrugated cables. 

LMR-SW cable is also lighter and provides significant 

cost savings compared to corrugated cables. The field 

installed connectors have superior weather sealing, 

VSWR and consistent PIM performance. 

LMR-SW cables support PIM-sensitive installations 

such as full duplex transmission lines and co-located 

sites. They are suitable for short to medium height tower 

runs and flexible enough to be used as jumper cables in 

cell-sites and other RF applications up to 6 GHz. The high 

quality type N and 7/16 DIN connectors are user-friendly 

and provide excellent and reliable performance when 

installed with the easy-to-use cable prep tools. PIM per- 


Flex Test TM 

Quick Lock 

PRECISION TEST 

Armored 

CABLESnow up 

40 GHz 

Low Loss 

to 40 GHz 

Rugged, reliable, ready to ship, custom lengths on request! 

40 GHz 

Phase Stable 

High-quality data requires high-quality cables — and 

different models to meet different needs. Mini-Circuits Precision 

Test Cables have been designed with our 40 years of industry 

experience in mind, and tested beyond any others on the 

market. It’s why we can back them with an unprecedented 

6-month guarantee,* and customers can save time and 

money with fewer false rejects and less retesting. 

Flex Test Our standard, triple-shielded CBL cables are so 

tough, we had to invent a new way to test them: 

Flex Test. Even after more than 20,000 flex cycles, 

these cables deliver unimpaired performance from 

DC-18 GHz. Ideal for design labs or test benches, 

they’re available in lengths up to 25 feet with SMA or 

N-type connectors. 

Armored For harsh, abusive, outdoor environments, our APC 

cables can’t be beat. Even 1,000 crush cycles with a 

440-lb nitrogen tank had minimal effect: attenuation 

increased only 0.15 dB, while return loss in/out 

remained 20 dB from DC-18 GHz. N-type 

connectors are standard, with lengths from 6 

to 15 feet in stock. 

Our new 40 GHz cables are proven through 20,000 flex 

cycles, and are fitted with high-performance connectors that 

mate with K ® - and SMA-equipped DUTs. Standard lengths 

range from 1.5 feet to 2 meters. 

Low Loss For design work requiring long cable runs or whenever 

Ka-band signal strength is key, our KBL-LOW 

cables are ideal. Insertion loss is only 2.46 dB/m 

at 40 GHz, with a velocity ratio of 84%. 

Quick Lock For high-speed production efficiency and superior 

electrical & mechanical performance, our QBL cables are Phase Stable When phase stability is a concern, as in many 

the answer. Just push them onto a standard female 

high-frequency production tests, try our KBL-PHS 

cables. They offer a phase change 0.1°/GHz 

SMA connector and slide the collar forward to lock. 

when wrapped a full turn around a 3” diameter 

You’ll get proven high-integrity DC-18 GHz connections, 

mandrel, and a shielding effectiveness of 110 dB! 

even after 20,000 flex and 20,000 mating cycles! 

RoHS compliant 

See minicircuits.com for cable lengths, specifications, performance data, and surprisingly low prices! 

* Mini-Circuits will repair or replace your test cable at its option if the connector attachment fails within six months of shipment. 

This guarantee excludes cable or connector interface damage from misuse or abuse. 

K-Connector is a registered trademark of Anritsu Company. 


® 

U.S. Patents 

7739260, 7761442 

ISO 9001 ISO 14001 AS 9100 

® 




491 rev B


formance better than –170 dBc can be achieved consistently. 

0.450" and 0.610" cable sizes are offered, along 

with grounding kits, hangers and other installation accessories. 

Composite BNC 75 ohm HDTV Connectors 

Radiall (www. radiall.com) 

recently 

added a lightweight 

and easy-to-use composite 

BNC 75 ohm 

HDTV connector to its 

offering of affordable 

HDTV BNC series for 

studio quality broadcast 

production to 

video conferencing equipment applications. 

Radiall’s new technologically advanced true 75 ohm 

BNC HDTV connector features an easy-to-use two-piece 

design that makes it easy to crimp on the cable. This new 

connector can handle data rates up to 3 Gbps or higher 

while meeting or exceeding SMPTE 292M and 424M 

standards. The gold plated center and outer contacts provide 

excellent electrical performance with a frequency 

range of up to 6 GHz, and a low return loss of -32 dB at 3 

GHz. In addition, it is rated for a minimum of 1000 mating 

cycles for guaranteed durability in the field. 

It comes in a wide variety of colors for signal cable 

identification and its special curved interface composite 

material design with positioning marks makes it easy 

and fast to connect and disconnect from the rear in highdensity 

and recessed bulkhead applications. The connectors 

are also perfectly matched to high-performance HD 

cables. 

Cables Need No Braid Trim 

Times Microwave Systems (www.timesmicrowave. 

com) announces that No-Braid-Trim-X series of connectors 

for LMR ® cable 

has been expanded 

to encompass the 

most popular interfaces 

for the most 

popular cables, LMR- 

400 and LMR-600 

The new No-Braid- 

Trim-X series of connectors 

offers the 

new feature of a termination process that no longer 

requires trimming of the braid shield thereby facilitating 

the cable termination procedure and reducing the time 

required to terminate the cable. 

The new No-Braid-Trim-X line of connectors has all of 

these advanced features and benefits: 

· Cable can be stripped using a CST type LMR cable 

stripping tool. 

· No braid trimming required. 

· Combination hex/knurl coupling nut allows tightening 

by hand or with a wrench. 

· Tri-metal plating instead of silver eliminates tarnishing, 

while providing superior electrical performance. 

· Chamfered cable entry hole for ease of termination. 

· Ridged landing area on the aft end for improved 

strain relief and weather sealing. 

· Improved impedance matching to provide improved 

VSWR. 

Distributor Stock of 75-ohm HD-BNC Connectors 

The electronics distributor Newark/element14 

(www.newark.com, www.element14.com), a business of 

global Premier Farnell, announces that it is stocking the 

HD-BNC, the newest line of RF connectors from 

Amphenol RF (www.amphenolrf.com). The HD-BNC 

enables design engineers 

to fit more connectors 

into a smaller 

space without 

compromising true 

75 ohm performance. 

The HD-BNC 

series can be configured 

with a centerline 

spacing of 8 mm minimum, in comparison to the 

standard BNC at 15.5. This enables 400% density 

improvements and a 250% improvement over the standard 

1.0/2.3 DIN. The HD-BNC delivers performance 

needed for next-generation broadcast systems. The series 

not only meets the specifications of a BNC, it meets or 

exceeds all SMPTE requirements. 

Microwave Connector Torque Wrenches 

Coaxial Components Corp. (Coaxicom–www.coaxicom.com) 

now offers a line of torque wrenches for precision 

microwave connectors. 

The tools are 

available for the following 

connector 

types: SMA/3.5 mm/ 

2.92 mm/2.4 mm, 

Type N, SC/N, TNC, 

SMC, SSMC, SSMA, 

SMA hermetic, 7/16. 

Where applicable, wrench models available for either normal 

coupling torque or proof coupling torque. 

Next month’s Technology Report will be an update on 

power amplifiers. 


Tactical Advantage. 

When Reliability Counts. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Read Our New 

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Features 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Benefits

ZVA-213X 

SUPER ULTRA WIDEBAND 

AMPLIFIERS 

+24 dBm output... 0.7 to 21 GHz 

Calling these amplifiers “wideband” doesn’t begin to describe them. 

Consider that both the ZVA-183X and ZVA-213X amplifiers are 

unconditionally stable and deliver typical +24 dBm output power at 1dB 

compression, 26 dB gain with +/- 1 dB flatness, noise figure of 3 dB 

and IP3 +33 dBm. What’s more, they are so rugged they can even 

withstand full reflective output power when the output load is open or 

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MODEL FREQ. GAIN POUT NOISE FIG. PRICE 

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@ 1 dB Comp. 

ZVA-183X+ 0.7-18 26 +24 3.0 845.00 

ZVA-213X+ 0.8-21 26 +24 3.0 945.00 

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ISO 9001 ISO 14001 AS 9100 

® 




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Freq. Gain Pout (dBm) Dynamic Range DC Pwr. Price Price 

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LZY-22+ 0.1-200 43 +42.0 +45.0 8.9 +52 24 6.0 1495 1470 

LZY-1+ 20-512 43 +45.7 +47.0 8.6 +54 26 7.3 1995 1895 

LZY-2+ 500-1000 46 +45.0 +45.8 8.0 +54 28 8.0 1995 1895 

ZHL-5W-1 5-500 44 +39.5 +40.5 4.0 +49 25 3.3 995 970 

ZHL-5W-2G+ 800-2000 45 +37.0 +38.0 8.0 +44 24 2.0 995 945 

ZHL-10W-2G 800-2000 43 +40.0 +41.0 7.0 +50 24 5.0 1295 1220 

ZHL-16W-43+ 1800-4000 45 +41.0 +42.0 6.0 +47 28 4.3 1595 1545 

ZHL-20W-13+ 20-1000 50 +41.0 +43.0 3.5 +50 24 2.8 1395 1320 

ZHL-30W-252+ 700-2500 50 +44.0 +46.0 5.5 +52 28 6.3 2995 2920 

ZHL-30W-262+ 2300-2550 50 +43.0 +45.0 7.0 +50 28 4.3 1995 1920 

ZHL-50W-52 50-500 50 +46.0 +48.0 6.0 +55 24 9.3 1395 1320 

ZHL-100W-52 50-500 50 +47.0 +48.5 6.5 +57 24 10.5 1995 1920 

ZHL-100W-GAN+ 20-500 42 +49.0 +50.0 7.0 +60 30 9.5 2395 2320 

ZVE-3W-183+ 5900-18000 35 +34.0 +35.0 5.5 +44 15 2.2 1295 1220 

ZVE-3W-83+ 2000-8000 36 +33.0 +35.0 5.8 +42 15 1.5 1295 1220 

Protected under U.S. Patent 7,348,854 

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U.S. Patents 

7739260, 7761442 

ISO 9001 ISO 14001 AS 9100 

® 




416 rev Y


WAFER PROBE TESTING 

Probe Testing of Wafer Level 

Chip Scale Packaging 

By John Whittaker 

Teradyne 

Wafer Level Chip 

Eliminating the”probe 

Scale Packaging 

tower” in automated wafer 

(WLCSP) has 

probe systems reduces the enabled smaller and thinner 

semiconductor devices 

size and complexity of the 

test system, improves test with greater functionality 

accuracy, but requires to be used in consumer 

more precise mechanical mobile applications such 

interface tolerances as smart phones, tablets 

and hand held GPS tracking 

devices. There is an accelerating trend 

toward wafer level chip scale packaging, with 

estimates placing growth at 26% CAGR for 

2011 (Yole Marketing, 2011). WLCSP has lead 

the way to reduced cost of complex semiconductor 

devices through simplified packaging and a 

reduction in the number of touches in the semiconductor 

test process. Paradoxically, simplified 

WLCSP packaging demands have increased 

the demands on the test cell, including the test 

system, wafer prober and the interface to the 

device under test. 

One of the more significant impacts is the 

signal performance requirements that were 

required at final package test are now shifted 

to the wafer probe environment, where pad-topad 

and ball-to-ball dimensions and tolerances 

are much smaller than those at final 

test and continue to shrink. This is most clearly 

seen in the device contacting requirements. 

At final test of a packaged device, alignment of 

the device under test (DUT) to its test socket 

and contacts is independent of the number of 

parallel test sites (multi-site test), and each 

Figure 1 · Comparison of test procedures with, and without, a probe tower. 




test site has alignment features in 

the socket that positions the packaged 

device with respect to the contacts. 

With wafer chip scale packing 

parallel test sites are no longer physically 

decoupled because they are all 

on the common wafer. Planarity and 

alignment errors become cumulative. 

Multi-site test is essential to 

obtaining optimal test economics. 

While multi-site probe has long been 

a solution for testing pure digital and 

memory devices, complex analog and 

mixed-signal SOC devices add complexity 

to test floor management 

because these devices tend to be of 

lower volume and a greater variety. 

This leads to a higher frequency of 

reconfiguring the test cell to accommodate 

the changing mix of device 

types. In order to obtain the efficiencies 

of multi-site test in the face of 

these challenges it is important to 

focus on these essential requirements 

of the test cell: 

1. Provide for minimal signal path 

from instrument to DUT. 

2. Provide highly accurate and 

repeatable planarity alignment 

to support the requirements of 

membrane and fine-pitch, highperformance 

probe technology. 

3. Provide for rapid changeover 

and setup of probe cards to minimize 

down time in high mix, 

low volume production environments. 

It has been demonstrated that 

test cells can meet each of these 

requirements resulting in 

changeover of probe cards, performed 

by an operator in a production environment, 

meeting the required planarity, 

all in a matter of minutes. 

Let’s consider each of these requirements. 

Figure 2 · Close-up photo of contacts 

on a test probe from 

Microprobe Inc. 

Figure 3 · Dies are accessed along 

a diagonal pattern. 

Signal Path 

In the past, wafer probe test interfaces 

have been based on the use of a 

probe tower to provide flexible solutions 

to meet low-to-medium performance 

requirements. These solutions 

consist of a probe interface board 

(PIB) that resides on the tester signal 

interface and a probe tower that 

extends test signals from the PIB 

into the prober to a probe card, which 

provides the needles to make contact 

with the wafer. These are lower cost 

solutions where only the probe card 

needs to be changed over to accommodate 

a different device. It also 

requires only reasonable mechanical 

accuracy for positioning the tester 

interface to the plane of the wafer. 

The layer of mechanical decoupling 

provided by the probe tower comes at 

the price of extending signal path 

length between the tester instrumentation 

to the probe needles and 

adding interconnects, both of which 

can degrade electrical signal performance 

due to impedance discontinuities. 

Even though there is signal 

degradation, many analog signals 

can be addressed with calibration or 

error de-embedding techniques as is 

done with RF (radio frequency) signals. 

In comparison, digital signals 

can be sensitive to overall round-trip 

delay and are impacted by reflections 

at multiple interconnect boundaries. 

Reflections at high data rates lead to 

inter-symbol interference and data 

dependent jitter of signal edges. 

These effects are much more difficult 

or impossible to remove and can only 

be controlled by reducing the overall 

path length and eliminating interconnects. 

As high performance functional 

test moves to the probe environment 

and digital speeds continue 

to increase, the path effects become 

an unavoidable obstacle and a key 

limiter to signal performance. 

Towerless solutions minimize these 

effects and come closest to the original 

design intent of the tester’s signal 

delivery system. 

Figure 4 · Summary of planarity requirements for three types of probes. 


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® 




432 rev R



Figure 5 · Photo of the wafer probe system hardware. 

Figure 6 · This diagram illustrates the reduction in complexity 

of the new prober system. 

Planarity 

High performance function test 

wafer probe requires a solution that 

overcomes issues of interconnects 

and extended signal path lengths. For 

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proven to provide the best environment 

for controlling impedance to 

within 10s of µm of the die pad or solder 

ball. Other technologies such as 

pogo pins, cobra probes or buckling 

column probes also can maintain 

very short lengths to minimize inductance 

and achieve best performance. 

In all cases the z-axis compliance of 

these short probes is limited, requiring 

the probe interface solution to 

have very high z-axis accuracy to stay 

within the probes compliance range. 

Additionally, with increasing 

multi-site counts, access of the probes 

to the dies on the wafer dictates feasible 

probe patterns. It is optimal to 

arrange the probes such that dies are 

accessed along a diagonal pattern 

(see Fig. 1). While this maximizes the 

probe connection access, it spreads 

the test sites over a distance that is 

increased by the √2 or 40% than if the 

sites were arranged in a direct row. 

However, a direct row arrangement 

severely limits probe access to the 

die. The z-axis planarity between the 

wafer (probe chuck) and the probe 

card must minimize angular z-errors 

to accommodate the z-axis compliance 

of the probes themselves. The 

probe card alignment system must 

provide accurate, repeatable alignment 

as probe cards are routinely 

swapped out. The alignment system 

must assure rapid, consistent 

changeover in the production environment. 

It is also essential for the probe 

card and supporting mechanical 

structure to absorb the forces introduced 

by the increasing probe count. 


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If it is insufficient, deflection will 

occur when probes are compressed 

when making contact with the wafer. 

It is important that the support 

structure is both rigid and accurate 

so that proper contact force is made 

between the probes and the wafer. 

This force needs to be great enough to 

obtain the proper scrubbing action to 

break through oxides on the contact 

surface. It is also important that 

excess contact force is not required to 

overcome planarity errors as the 

excess force may damage structures 

on the die beneath the pads or can 

excessively deform solder balls. 

By minimizing the tolerance loop 

from tester to wafer, z-errors can be 

maintained to 0.029 degrees, which is 

a factor of 2 better than what is 

required by multisite membrane 

probe solutions spanning up to 8 die 

of 8 × 8 mm, and even better for pogo 

based solutions. 

Figure 7 · Diagram comparing the old and new probe systems. 

Rapid Changeover 

In routine production, downtime 

is expensive, and unpredictable 

downtime is disruptive. Routine 

changeover of probe cards for a different 

device or for maintenance or 

repair must be quick to minimize 

downtime. Thus, minimizing the tolerance 

loop from probe tips to accuracy 

alignment features is essential to 

provide repeatable changeovers. 

To address this, the process of 

changing the probe card should allow 

the test system interface to remain 

connected and aligned to the prober. 

A bottom-loading scheme is used to 

manipulate the probe card into place 

and align using unique alignment 

features in the design. 

A modified bottom load probe card 

changer can achieve this. The production 

floor operator can remove and 

replace probe cards in the changer’s 

loading tray. From there the loading 

operation is completely automated. 

The time required to place the probe 

card in the loader and have it planarized 

and locked in place is less 

than 5 minutes. 

Summary 

In summary, the cost and performance 

requirements of semiconductor 

devices used in consumer mobile electronics 

and other applications demand 

greater functional density and lower 

cost devices. These requirements are 

addressed with wafer level chip scale 

packaging. This in turn drives the need 

for full functional test at probe since 

traditional package and final test is 

eliminated from the manufacturing 

process. The physical constraints introduced 

by multi-site wafer level chip 

scale testing has presented challenges 

to traditional techniques used for 

interfacing the test system to the 

wafer prober. Innovative solutions that 

focus on reducing error sources and 

simplify tolerance loops can reliably 

and economically meet today’s challenges 

at the performance levels 

required to test today’s and tomorrow’s 

complex semiconductor devices. 


John Whittaker, Interface Products 

Marketing Manager, Global Services 

Organization at Teradyne. The 20-year 

veteran of the ATE industry has a 

background in memory and digital 

test, statistical analysis software, and 

is currently focused on SOC signal 

delivery. Mr. Whittaker graduated 

from Worcester Polytechnic Institute 

with a B.S.E.E. Teradyne, Inc., 600 

Riverpark Drive, North Reading, MA, 

01864, email: john.whittaker@teradyne.com. 

Other contributors to the article 

include Roger Burns, previously 

Marketing Applications Manager, 

Teradyne; Dan Watson, Mechanical 

Engineer, Global Services Organization, 

Teradyne. He has created innovative 

mechanical, electrical, and signal 

delivery interface solutions for many 

of Teradyne’s semiconductor testing 

products; Kirk Pitta, Applications 

Engineer, Global Services Organization, 

Test Cell Group at Teradyne. 

He has worked in design engineering, 

Japan field applications and factory 

applications roles for the Test Cell 

Group. Mr. Pitta holds a B.S. in 

Mechanical Engineering and a M.S. in 

Mechanical Engineering from 

Northeastern University. 


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Always Thinking


CONNECTORS ON PCBs 

RF/Microwave Connectors 

on Printed Circuit Boards 

By Gary Breed 


When mounting 

This month’s tutorial takes a 

an RF/microwave 

or high 

look at the practical matter 

of characterizing, then speed digital connector to 

installing, an RF connector a printed circuit board, 

on a printed circuit board the transition from the 

connector body and inner 

conductor pin to the printed traces is often the 

source of excessive mismatch. The discontinuity 

in size, shape and surrounding conductors 

results in an area with a characteristic 

impedance that can be much different (usually 

lower) that the system impedance of 50 

ohms (RF/microwave) or 75 ohms (data or 

video). 

An additional challenge is the transition 

from the round coaxial structure of cables and 

their connectors, to the planar stripline or 

microstrip structure of signal paths on a p.c. 

board. The connector shown in Figure 1 

demonstrates one approach to solving the 

problem. The connector body is designed to 

minimize the VSWR “bump” caused by the 

change from coaxial to planar transmission 

lines, but the pin that is soldered to the board 

has as added vertical thickness, and almost 

always will require a solder pad that is wider 

than a stripline with the desired characteristic 

impedance. 

Reference [1] offers a good description of 

the problem and typical solutions. Although 

the author covers the issue from the perspective 

of 75 ohm BNC connectors, the information 

applies to 50 ohm systems and other connectors, 

as well. As shown in Figures 2 and 3 

on the next page, one solution is to modify the 

ground metal layer under, and adjacent to, the 

connector. Wider spacing between the signal 

conductor and the ground/shield conductors 

Figure 1 · Connectors must provide a transition 

from a round coaxial transmission line 

to the planar microstrip or stripline structure 

of a p.c. board. 

increases the characteristic impedance in the 

area where the required solder pad is much 

wider than a normal 75-ohm microstrip line. 

Figure 2 illustrates the problem by showing 

the relative widths of the solder pad and 

microstrip lines on the top metal layer. Figure 

3 shows how the top metal and the metal of 

the next lower layer are modified to create a 

region with higher characteristic impedance. 

An alternate solution is to mechanically 

machine the p.c board to create an air space 

adjacent to the solder pad. This lowers the 

effective dielectric constant of this part of the 

board, which will increase the characteristic 

impedance without changing the pad and 

trace widths. 

Top-mounted connectors present a different 

set of structural variations that affect the 

impedance match between the connector and 

the p.c. board traces. This type of mounting 

offers greater mechanical strength than edgemounting, 

and is the only option for installing 

connectors in locations other than at the edge 

of a board. 


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CONNECTORS ON PCBs 

Figure 2 · Cross-section of a p.c. board “landing pad” 

area for an edge-mounted BNC connector, with no 

compensation for impedance mispatch (adapted from 

Ref. [1]. 

Figure 3 · Cross-section of a p.c. board “landing pad” 

area for an edge-mounted BNC connector, with the 

ground metallization modified to provide an improved 

match to a 75 ohm (adapted from Ref. [1]. 

Surface-mount connectors will 

perform similarly to edge-mounted 

connectors, with round-to-planar 

transitions and impedance variations 

due to solder pad size. However, 

through-hole mounted connectors 

must have vias to provide both signal 

and ground connections. As shown in 

Figure 4, the length of the via has an 

inductance, and the gap between the 

via and intervening metal layers has 

a capacitance. The average values 

will determine the characteristic 

impedance of the via “tube,” but the 

layered structure means that the 

impedance will vary along the length 

of the via. 

If the space between the layers is 

small relative to the wavelength of 

the highest frequency desired signals, 

the variation will have little 

effect on performance. But as fre- 

Top View 

Capacitance 

between via 

wall and each 

layer’s metal 

Cross-section View 

Figure 4 · Thru-hole, top-mounted connectors have an impedance that is 

affected by vias, mid layers and metal layers of the p.c. board. 

C 

C 

C 

C 

L 

C 

C 

C 

C 

Inductance 

due to length 

and diameter 

of tubular via 

quency increases, the effects will 

become increasingly apparent as 

increased VSWR and its attendant 

loss, and time-domain reflections 

that can affect the modulated waveform 

of RF signals, or the waveform 

shape (and eye closure) of high speed 

digital signals. 

At 2.45 GHz, with typical FR-4 

material dielectric constant of 

approximately 4.4, the thickness of a 

p.c. board is in the range of 1/17 

wavelength. At this frequency, problems 

would not be significant. 

However, a common rule of thumb is 

that wavelength-related problems 

will arise when dimensions are in the 

range of λ/10. As the operating frequency 

rises above 2.45 GHz, designers 

should be prepared to implement 

compensating techniques to avoid 

performance issues with throughhole 

connectors. 

Of course, the magnitude of the 

problems will vary with the connector 

type and mounting method as 

well. Well designed and precision 

manufactured surface-mount connectors 

are available with performance 

specified into the tens of GHz. 

Summary 

At high frequencies and fast edge 

rates, the interface between an 

RF/microwave or high speed digital 

connector and the printed circuit 

board can be the most critical location 

in the signal path. Designers 

must be aware of the potential problems 

that can arise, and be prepared 

to use appropriate techniques to prevent 

their occurrence. 

References 

1. T-K Chin, National Semiconductor 

Corp., “Optimizing BNC PCB 

Footprint Designs for Digital Video 

Equipment,” available at: www. 

samtec.com/technicallibrary/ 

white_papers.aspx 

2. “PCB Design Guide,” Trompeter 

Electronics, (available from several 

sources—do an Internet search by 

title + Trompeter) 

3. S. McMorrow, J. Bell, J. Ferry, “A 

Solution for the Design, Simulation 

and Validation of Board-to-Board 

Interconnects,” High Frequency Electronics, 

Jan. 2005. 


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124 

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® 

U.S. Patents 

7739260, 7761442 

ISO 9001 ISO 14001 AS 9100 

® 




476 Rev E


NEW LITERATURE 

Full-Line Product Catalog 


has unveiled its latest corporate 

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Envelope Tracking Interface 

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The OpenET Alliance, the not-forprofit 

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industry collaboration. Envelope 

Tracking is the most effective 

wide-band power optimization 

technology for the RF front end of 

3G and 4G handsets. The release 

64 High Frequency Electronics 

of this API will simplify collaboration 

among semiconductor vendors, 

OEMs and EDA providers 

through the complete development 

lifecycle of Envelope Tracking solutions 

for 3G and 4G handsets, from 

early design and prototyping 

through to mass production. The 

API document builds on the widely 

adopted OpenET hardware interface 

specifications for terminals. It 

defines an implementation-independent 

software interface 

between the high level calibration, 

configuration and control functionality 

required for Envelope 

Tracking and the low level 

transceiver and modulator hardware 

blocks. The new API is freely 

available to all members of the 

OpenET Alliance. Membership is 

available on the OpenET website. 

OpenET Alliance 

www.open-et.org 

Application Note on 

Validation of LTE Devices 

Agilent’s Power of X application 

notes provide insight into solving 

tough measurement problems in a 

unique way for both the design and 

manufacturing environments. The 

new 5990-8898EN, “Solutions for 

Validation of LTE Devices–Testing 

MIMO Over-the-Air Using the 

Two-Stage Method” offers insights 

into cost-effective ways to validate 

LTE devices during development. 

Agilent’s X Series products help 

engineers bring innovative, higherperforming 

products to emerging 

markets around the globe. Copies 

of the application notes are available 

at the company web site. 

There is no cost, but registration is 

required. 


www.agilent.com/find/powerofx 

CD Collection of Measurement 

Webinars 

Keithley Instruments Inc. offers a 

new CD, “Characterizing Nanomaterials 

and Devices with 

Precision and Confidence,” containing 

the following webinars on 

low level measurement techniques 

for characterizing nano materials: 

· How to Get the Most from Your 

Low Current Measurement 

Instruments 

· How to Make Electrical 

Resistivity Measurements of Bulk 

Materials: Conductors, Insulators, 

and Semiconductors 

· Hall Effect Measurements Fundamentals 

· Give Your Microscope a Hand: 

Characterization of Nano 

Structures 

· Understanding Electrical 

Characterization of Printed and 

Organic Electronics and Materials 

· How to Avoid Self-Heating Effects 

on Nanoscale Devices 

· Advanced Particle Beam Methods 

for Nano-characterization and 

Analysis 

· Electronic Properties of Zinc- 

Blende Wurtzite Biphasic Gallium 

Nitride Nanowires and NanoFETs 

· In-situ Correlation of Mechanical 

Properties, Deformation Behavior, 

and Electrical Characteristics of 

Materials Using Conductive 

Nanoindentation 

· Measurement Needs in Nano- 

Architectonics 

The CD is available online at the 

Keithley web site. 

Keithley Instruments Inc. 

www.keithley.com

Ultra Low Noise Amplifiers (LNAs) 

Select LNAs Available from Stock for Prototype or High-Volume Production 

■ Excellent Noise Figure, as Low as 0.50 dB 

■ Unconditional Stablity Matching Circuits 

■ Temperature-Stable Performance 

■ Low Cost, Small Form Factor Packaging 

■ Narrow and Broadband Options 

■ High Linearity and Adjustable Gain Designs 

 

Part Number 

New Products 

Application 

Frequency 

Range 

(MHz) 

Test 


(MHz) 

Gain 

(dB) 

NF 

(dB) 

OIP3 

(dBm) 

OP 1 dB 

(dBm) 

V DD 

(V) 

(Operating 

Range) 

I DD 

(mA) 

(Operating 

Range) 

Package 

(mm) 

SKY67101-396LF 

Cellular 

Infrastructure 

400–1200 900 17.5 0.57 34 19 4 

(3.3–5.0) 

54 

(20–90) 

DFN 8L 

2 x 2 x 0.75 

SKY67100-396LF 

Cellular 


1200–2300 1950 17.5 0.7 34 18.5 4 

(3.3–5.0) 

55 

(20–90) 

DFN 8L 

2 x 2 x 0.75 

SKY67102-396LF 

Cellular 


2000–3000 2600 17.2 0.8 34 15 4 

(3.3–5.0) 

50 

(20–90) 

DFN 8L 

2 x 2 x 0.75 

SKY67001-396LF 

Cellular 


700–1000 900 17.5 0.6 40.5 21 5 

(3.3–5.0) 

100 

(50–120) 

DFN 8L 

2 x 2 x 0.75 

SKY67002-396LF 

Cellular 


1600–2100 1950 17.5 0.65 39.5 20 5 

(3.3–5.0) 

95 

(50–120) 

DFN 8L 

2 x 2 x 0.75 

SKY67105-306LF 

Cellular 


600–1100 850 37 0.7 41 26 5 

(3.5–5.0) 

140 

(120–155) 

QFN 16L 

4 x 4 x 0.90 

SKY67106-306LF 

Cellular 


1500–3000 1950 35 0.65 37 24 5 

(3.5–5.0) 

100 

(80–125) 

QFN 16L 

4 x 4 x 0.90 

SKY67014-396LF General Purpose 1500–3000 2450 13 0.95 26 15 3.3 

(1.8–5.0) 

15 

(5–30) 

DFN 8L 

2 x 2 x 0.75 

SKY65047-360LF 

GPS and 

ISM Band 

400–3000 1575 16.6 0.8 19.5 0 3.3 

(2.7–3.8) 

7 

(6.5–7.5) 

DFN 8L 

2 x 2 x 0.90 

SKY65050-372LF 

Broadband Low 

Noise FET 

450–6000 2400 15.5 0.65 23.5 10.5 3 

(2.7–3.8) 

20 

(5–55) 

SC-70 4L 

2.2 x 1.35 x 1.1 

SKY65404-31 

5.8 GHz WLAN 

and ISM Band 

4900–5900 5800 13 1.2 20 9 3.3 

(2.8–5.0) 

11 

(10–15) 

DFN 6L 

1.5 x 1.5 x 0.45 

SKY65405-21 

2.4 GHz WLAN 

and ISM Band 

2400–2500 2450 15 1.1 24 15 3.3 

(2.8–5.0) 

12 

(10–16) 

DFN 6L 

1.5 x 1.5 x 0.45 

Skyworks Green products are compliant to all applicable materials legislation and are halogen-free. For additional information, refer to Skyworks Definition of Green, document number SQ04-0074. 

Samples and Evaluation Boards Available at www.skyworksinc.com


NEW LITERATURE 

Wireless Backhaul 

Application Profile 

Anatech Electronics announces the 

availability of an application profile 

that details the vital role filters 

play in backhaul of wireless systems 

from cell sites to fiber nodes 

or carrier’s central location. 

Providing backhaul for third-and 

fourth-generation wireless systems 

has become one of the greatest 

issues facing wireless carriers as 

data rates dramatically increase as 

a result of high-speed wireless 

access methods such as HSPA+, 

LTE, and WiMAX. Microwave 

point-to-point links are proving to 

be a cost-effective solution. As 

always, interference is always an 

issue, and cavity filters can play a 

vital role in eliminating it in both 

new and existing installations. 

“The Importance of Filters in 

Point-to-Point Microwave Cellular 

Backhaul Networks” provides useful 

information for anyone 

involved in the installation and 

maintenance of these systems. It is 

available online as a PDF file. 

Anatech Electronics 

www.anatechelectronics.com 

and, www.amcrf.com 

New Power Source Web Site 

Versatile Power, Inc. has 

announced their new, expanded 

Website. The new Website provides 

ease of use for visitors wanting to 

learn about the Company’s broad 

offerings of custom design and 

manufacturing services for medical, 

semiconductor, ultrasonic, 

lighting, government lab, 

aerospace, military and industrial 

applications. For customers seeking 

responsive, breakthrough 

designs for applications of RF, DC, 

ultrasonics and lasers, Versatile 

Power’s new Website offers multiple 

quick links including: power 

supply and controller design solutions, 

highly successful case histories, 

management team biographies, 

leading-edge electronic subsystem 

disciplines, and the highest 

standards of quality control procedures 

including ISO 9001-2000 

and 13485-2003. 

Versatile Power, Inc. 

www.versatilepower.com 

Global BTS Antenna Report 

The global BTS antenna market 

declined by 16.3 % in 2010, according 

to the latest report from EJL 

Wireless Research titled “Global 

BTS Antenna Market Analysis and 

Forecast, 2010-2015 3rd Edition.” 

The market continues to shift 

away from single band sectorized 

panel antennas to multi band 

antennas. As a result, multi-band 

antennas reached nearly 28% of 

the overall mix, compared with 

10% in 2009. Multi-band BTS 

antennas grew 128% year over 

year and are expected to increase 

by another 50% through 2013. 

Information for purchase of the full 

report is available online. 

EJL Wireless Research 

www.ejlwireless.com 

Laboratory 

(RF)MicroProbe 

Station 

Extremely Low Cost 

< $10,000 US 

DC/RF/Microwave Test 

A ultra compact, manually operated probe station for engineers, 

scientists and students. Measure Microwave, RF and IV parameters of 

Semiconductor Devices. Characterize MEMS, wireless, photonic and 

nanoelectronic components and assemblies. 

• Benchtop Size(1ft 2 ) • 2” Vacuum chuck with pump• 1” X-Y-Ø stage with z-lift• 

•2 ea. 0.5” X-Y-Z probe positioners, includes 2 ea. 18 GHz probes & DC needles• 

•10X/30X Stereo Zoom Trinocular Microscope • Flourescent Illuminator • 

•Compatible with additional Magnetic Mount Positioners(optional)• 

•Compatible with industry standard microwave probes(optional)• 

•Cost effective for research projects• 

J micro Technology 

J microTechnology 

3744 NW Bluegrass Pl 

Portland, OR 97229 

(503) 614-9509 

(503) 531-9325 [FAX] 

www.jmicrotechnology.com 

Research Performance / Student Price 

66 High Frequency Electronics 

ProbePoint CPW-μStrip 

Adapter Substrates 

Adapter Substrates 

•Precision CPW to μStrip Adapter Substrates• 

•Companion Calibration Substrates and Standards• 

•Standard & custom Carriers• 

•Accurate Electrical Data to Frequencies >50 GHz• 

• 5,10,& 15 mil thickness• 

•Compatible with 40GHz+ probes• 

•Standard and Custom Calibration Standards• 

J micro Technology 

FET 

Probe Tip 

J microTechnology 

3744 NW Bluegrass Pl 

Portland, OR 97229 

(503) 614-9509 

(503) 531-9325 [FAX] 

www.jmicrotechnology.com 

Test Tooling for the Untestable 

Get info at www.HFelink.com 

Manual 

Probe 

Station 

Very Low Cost 

High Function 

6” or 8” Chuck 

A full featured, modestly priced, manually operated probe station 

developed for engineers and scientists. 

Measure Microwave, RF and DC parameters of Semiconductor Devices, 

Packages and Assemblies with NIST traceability . 

• Benchtop Size(


High Frequency Electronics magazine 

An effective advertising medium to reach design engineers 

· Respected technical content 

· Professionally edited and presented material 

· Business and technology news 

· Conference and short course calendar 

· New product announcements 

· Online Edition (PDF) identical to print edition 


Use online ads for a combined online-print presence 

· Subscriber services — subscriptions & renewals 

· Complete archives of all past technical articles, reports, 

tutorials, editorials 

· Advertiser information and ad material specifications 

· HFeLink quick access to industry web sites 

· Ready to add new capabilities 

Special Services 

Use our expertise in print and electronic media 

· Article reprints, catalogs, brochures 

· Mail list rental 

· Trade show promotions & literature distribution 

· Newsletter and promotional e-mails 

· Other needs? Just ask! 

Our Advertising Pros: 

ADVERTISING SALES — EAST COAST 

Gary Rhodes 

Tel: 631-274-9530, Fax: 631-667-2871 

grhodes@highfrequencyelectronics.com 

ADVERTISING SALES — WEST 

Tim Burkhard 

Tel: 707-544-9977, Fax: 707-544-9375 


ADVERTISING SALES — CENTRAL 

Keith Neighbour 

Tel: 773-275-4020, Fax: 773-275-3438 

keith@highfrequencyelectronics.com 

PUBLISHER — OTHER REGIONS & INTERNATIONAL 

Scott Spencer 

Tel: 603-472-8261, Fax: 603-471-0716 

scott@highfrequencyelectronics.com


NEW PRODUCTS 

Diversity Switches 

Skyworks has introduced two double-pole, 

double-throw (DPDT) 

diversity switches in industry 

standard packaging and footprint. 

The SKY13355-374LF is a lowpower 

variant switch designed for 

2.4 and 6.0 GHz, dual-band wireless 

LAN applications. Switching is 

controlled by two voltage inputs 

(V1 and V2). Depending on the 

logic voltage level applied to the 

control pins, the ANT1 and ANT2 

pins connect to one of two switched 

RF outputs (RX or TX) through a 

low insertion loss path while maintaining 

a high isolation path to the 

alternate port. The SKY13381- 

374LF is a higher P 1dB 

version for 

higher linearity applications (in 

the same pinout). The switches are 

ideal for wireless routers, printer 

modules, high power access points, 

and WLAN customer premise and 

infrastructure equipment given 

their pin-to-pin compatibility with 

high- and low-power devices. 

Skyworks Solutions, Inc. 

www.skyworksinc.com 

Fixed Frequency Synthesizer 

Z-Communications, Inc. announces 

a new RoHS compliant fixed frequency 

synthesizer model 

SFS1900A-LF in L-band. This is a 

single frequency synthesizer that 

operates at 1900 MHz. It features 

a typical phase noise of –98 dBc/Hz 

at 10 kHz offset and typical sideband 

spurs of –70 dBc. The 

SFS1900A-LF is designed to deliver 

a typical output power of 0 dBm 

Integer-N Synthesizers 

Linear Technology announces the 

LTC6946, the first device in a family 

of high performance integer-N frequency 

synthesizers with integrated 

VCO, delivering –226 dBc/Hz normalized 

closed-loop in-band phase 

noise, superior –274 dBc/Hz normalized 

in-band 1/f noise, and –103 dBc 

spurious output. In a typical 

900 MHz application, these performance attributes help to achieve a 

closed-loop phase noise of –100 dBc/Hz at 1 kHz offset. The device is 

available in three frequency options: the LTC6946-1 tunes from 2.240 to 

3.740 GHz; the LTC6946-2 from 3.080 to 4.910 GHz; and the LTC6946-3 

covers 3.840 to 5.790 GHz. In addition, each part has an on-chip output 

divider that is programmable from 1 through 6 to extend frequency coverage 

to as low as 373 MHz. This family of devices integrates a low noise 

5.7 GHz phase-locked loop (PLL), which includes a reference divider, 

phase-frequency detector (PFD) with phase-locked indicator, ultralow 

noise charge pump, and integer feedback divider to attain very low noise 

PLL operation. The PLL circuit is tightly coupled to a low noise VCO as 

well as internal self-calibration to ensure optimum VCO resonator tuning 

for best phase noise performance. The VCO requires no external components. 

The on-chip SPI compatible bidirectional serial port allows frequency 

tuning and control, and read back of register and loop status 

information. 

Linear Technology 


with a VCO voltage supply of 5 Vdc 

while drawing 25 mA (typical) and 

a phase locked loop voltage of 3.3 

Vdc while drawing 10 mA (typical) 

over the temperature range of –40º 

to 85ºC. It features typical 2nd harmonic 

suppression of –20 dBc and 

comes in Z-Comm’s industry standard 

PLL-V12N package measuring 

0.60 × 0.60 × 0.13 in. It is available 

in tape and reel packaging for 

production requirements 

Z-Communications, Inc. 

www.zcomm.com 

TO-8 VCO 

Crystek’s CVCOT8BE-0800-1600 

TO-8 VCO (voltage controlled oscillator) 

operates from 800 to 1600 

MHz and provides high-performance 

frequency control in harsh, 

demanding environments. These 

VCOs feature a typical phase noise 

of –92 dBc/Hz at 10 kHz offset. 

Tuning sensitivity is rated at 79 

MHz/V. Pulling and Pushing are 

minimized to 20.0 MHz and 4.0 

MHz/V, respectively; second harmonic 

suppression is –10 dBc typical. 

The CVCOT8BE line features 

a full-functioning VCO in a rugged, 

hermetically sealed TO-8 package 

to protect the VCO from moisture, 

contaminants and other elements. 

The metal-can construction features 

gold plated pins with no 

internal wire bonds for enhanced 

signal integrity. 

Crystek Corporation 

www.crystek.com 

RF Downconverter 

SignalCore has just announced the 

release of a broadband RF downconverter. 

With frequency range of 

20 MHz to 1.3 GHz, this downconverter 

is available in three form 

factors—USB, PXI, and a core 

module for OEM use and customized 

system integration. It uses 


INCREDIBLE 

HXG AMPLIFIERS 

IP3 +46 dBm! 

P1dB +23 dBm 5V @ 146 mA 

 

Mini-Circuits System In Package 

50 in/out...no matching required 

Outstanding IP3, at low DC power. Mini-Circuits HXG 

amplifiers feature an eye-popping IP3 of +46 dBm, at only 

730 mW DC power. A typical gain of 15 dB, output power of 

23 dBm, and an IP3/P1dB ratio of 23 dB make them very useful 

for output stage amplifiers. All this, and surprisingly low noise 

figures (2.4 dB) extend their usefulness to receiver front-end 

circuitry! All in all, the HXG family delivers incredible performance 

with less heat dissipation, for greater reliability and a longer life. 

MSiP brings it all together. Our exclusive Mini-Circuits System 

in Package techniques utilize load-pull technology and careful 

impedance matching to reach new levels of performance 

0.25 x 0.27 x 0.09" 

within a tiny 6.4 x 6.9 mm footprint. Input and output ports 

matched to 50 eliminate the need for external components 

and additional PCB space! Bottom-line, you get outstanding 

performance, with built-in savings that really add up. 

Our first two HXG models are optimized for low ACPR at 

cellular frequencies of 700-900 MHz and 1.7-2.2 GHz. They’re 

also ideal for applications in high-EMI environments and instrumentation, 

where low distortion is essential. HXG performance 

is only available at Mini-Circuits, and our new models are ready 

to ship today, so act now and see what they can do for you! 

Model Freq Gain P1dB NF IP3 Price 

(GHz) (typ) ( typ) (typ ) (typ ) (qty. 1000) 

HXG-122+ 0.5-1.2 15 dB 23 dBm 2.2 47 $ 2.75 

HXG-242+ 0.7-2.4 15 dB 23 dBm 2.4 46 $ 2.75 

See minicircuits.com for specifications, performance data, and surprisingly low prices! 


$ 

2 75 

from ea.(qty.1000) 

® 

U.S. Patents 

7739260, 7761442 

ISO 9001 ISO 14001 AS 9100 

® 




492 rev. A


NEW PRODUCTS 

fast VCO tuning, exhibits low 

phase noise, and has wide dynamic 

range. SignalCore’s USB-controlled 

SC5301A RF downconverter 

comes in a compact 1U form factor 

that is convenient for benchtop 

use, or can be rack-mounted with 

one of SignalCore’s standard 

mounting kits. 

SignalCore 

www.signalcore.com 

GaAs MMIC SPDT Switches 

Renesas Electronics and California 

Eastern Laboratories (CEL) are 

now shipping two new high power 

handling GaAs MMIC SPDT 

switches, the UPG2415T6X and 

UPG2415TK. Both switches have 

4-6 dB higher power handling 

capability compared to standard 

Wi-Fi Switch ICs and are ideal for 

access points and applications 

requiring higher linearity, such as 

Video and Media Streaming over 

Wireless. The UPG2415T6X and 

UPG2415TK provide designers 

with a combination of bandwidth 

to 6 GHz, low insertion loss, high 

isolation, high power handling 

capability and compact packaging. 

Available now from CEL. Pricing 

for the UPG2415T6X is $0.39; pricing 

for the UPG2415TK is $0.38; 

both at 100K pcs. 

California Eastern Laboratories 

www.cel.com 

Signal Analyzers 

Agilent Technologies Inc. introduced 

two solutions for analysis 

and generation of wide bandwidth 

signals. The solutions include a 

160-MHz analysis bandwidth 

option for the high-performance 

PXA signal analyzer and Signal 

Studio software for 802.11ac signal 

creation. Wider bandwidth signal 

analysis, up to 160 MHz, is necessary 

to cover all of the bandwidths 

supported by 802.11ac. Agilent’s 

PXA signal analyzer with 160- 

MHz bandwidth addresses this 

need, as well as any other application 

that requires engineers to 

analyze wider bandwidth signals. 

A critical step in testing any 

802.11 device is to generate standard-compliant 

802.11ac test signals. 

Agilent’s Signal Studio for 

WLAN software aids this task by 

enabling the creation of 802.11ac 

waveforms with BCC or LDPC 

channel coding, all MCS codes, and 

single- or multi-user MIMO up to 

four streams. 


www.agilent.com 

Push-Pull Wideband Amp 

The ZHL-132LM-75+ by Mini- 

Circuits is a push-pull amplifier 

featuring low second-and thirdorder 

distortion products across its 

40-1300 MHz bandwidth. Designed 

for a 6V/256 mA typ. power supply, 

with F connectors in/out, it’s a 

high-value, low-cost solution providing 

a 14-dB gain for CATV, 

instrumentation, and many other 

applications at VHF, UHF, and 

lower L-band frequencies. The 

rugged, aluminum alloy case measures 

3.75 × 2.0 × 0.80” high. 

Mini-Circuits 

www.minicircuits.com 

8-Way Splitter 


Inc. introduced an 8-way active 

splitter for CATV applications. 

Featuring a default-on loopthrough 

path, the MAAM-010237 

allows for access to the cable signal 

even when the CPE box is powered 

down. The MAAM-010237 is a 

highly linear 8-way active splitter 

with low distortion and low noise 

figure. Designed for operation from 

50 to 1100 MHz, the MAAM- 

010237 is packaged in a RoHS 

compliant leadless 4 mm PQFN 

package. The 8-way splitter is fabricated 

using M/A-COM Tech’s E/D 

pHEMT process. Production quantities 

and samples are available 

from stock. 


www.macomtech.com 

HCMOS Oscillators 

Fox Electronics now offers the F300 

series of HCMOS oscillators. The 1- 

volt oscillators incorporate a standby 

function that reduces the oscillator’s 

current consumption to 5 

micro amps for more efficient power 

usage. Available in a compact 3.2 × 

2.5 mm package, the small form factor 

F300 series includes models 

with stabilities ranging from ±20 to 

±100 ppm. The new oscillators offer 

a low current draw of 2.5 mA across 

the 1.8 to 32.0 MHz frequency 

range and 3.5 mA from 32.1 to 50.0 

MHz. Fox’s new series of RoHScompliant 

oscillators are ideal for 

use in environments with minimal 

air circulation, such as compact consumer 

electronics and weatherproof 

enclosures. Portable and battery-powered 

devices, including 

satellite and terrestrial radio; 

WiMax, 802.11 and Bluetooth wireless; 

wired and optical networks for 

voice, data and Internet as well as 

automotive and test equipment; 

remote sensing equipment; and 

GPS technology are also ideal applications 

for the F300 oscillators. 

Fox Electronics 

www.foxonline.com 


TE Connectivity 

RF COAXIAL SOLUTIONS 

TE Connectivity offers the broadest range of RF Coaxial 

Interconnect products in the industry today. Our RF Coax portfolio 

is built on our strong heritage of the industry’s leading brand names 

such as AMP, M/A-COM, Microdot, and Tyco Electronics, as well as 

product lines formerly known as Omni-Spectra and Adams Russell. 

For more than 25 years, Microwave Components has been delivering 

these quality products and superior technical support to the industry with 

an extensive inventory of commercial and Mil Approved products. 

Call us today and put our experience to work for you... 

Product Feature 

OSP & OSSP Blind Mate 

Connectors 

Phone: (888) 591-4455 or (772) 286-4455 Fax: (772) 286-4496 

E-mail: admin@microwavecomponentsinc.com 

Web Site: www.microwavecomponentsinc.com 

AMP, Microdot, Tyco Electronics, TE Connectivity, 

TE Connectivity (logo) and TE (logo) are Trademarks 

AS 9120 

ISO 9001:2000 

CERTIFIED


NEW PRODUCTS 

allow the HMC829LP6GE to generate 

frequencies from 45 to 1050 

MHz, 1400 to 2100 MHz, and 2800 

to 4200 MHz. The HMC829LP6GE 

is ideal for very high data rate 

radios, DDS replacement, phased 

array applications, CATV equipment 

and cellular/4G/WiMax 

infrastructure applications. 

Hittite Microwave Corporation 

www.hittite.com 

version 8.0 for ADS customers 

introduces forty-six (46) new Global 

Models for passive RLC’s, and eighteen 

(18) new non-linear models for 

diodes, switches, amplifiers, and 

transistors. Designers can download 

the free model library, 

Modelithics SELECT from the 

Company website. 

Modelithics, Inc. 

www.modelithics.com 

RF Power Capacitors 

AVX Corporation has expanded its 

HQ Series MLC surface mount RF 

power capacitors to include P90 

dielectric versions for high power 

high frequency applications, such 

as medical and industrial electronics. 

The HQ Series MLC with the 

P90 dielectric material features an 

ultra-low equivalent series resistance 

(ESR) and dissipation factor 

at high frequencies. The HQ Series 

capacitor with P90 dielectric is 

now available in E case sizes. The 

HQ Series power capacitors are 

designed for 300 to 7,200V applications 

and feature a dielectric 

strength of 120% of rated WVDC. 

The devices can handle the high 

power and high voltage levels of 

RF power amplifiers, inductive 

heating, high magnetic field environments 

(MRI coils), and medical 

and industrial electronics. 

AVX Corporation 

www.avx.com 

Fractional-N PLL 

Hittite Microwave Corporation has 

introduced the HMC829LP6GE, a 

low noise, wide band, Fractional-N 

phase locked loop (PLL) that features 

an integrated voltage controlled 

oscillator (VCO) with a fundamental 

frequency of 2800 to 

4200 MHz, and an integrated VCO 

output divider (divide by 

1/2/4/6.../60/62). These features 

EM Design Software 

Cobham Technical Services has 

announced a new release of the 

Concerto electromagnetic design 

software for RF and microwave 

applications from its Vector Fields 

Software product line. The latest 

version—Concerto v7.5R1—incorporates 

numerous enhancements 

to accelerate every aspect of 

design, simulation, analysis and 

optimization. Many of the 

enhancements in this release center 

on the 3D geometric Modeler 

that forms an integral part of all 

Concerto configurations. This has 

new meshing options for the finite 

element (FE) Eigenvalue solver, 

and the Modeller now provides 

access to a range of additional features 

in Concerto’s finite difference 

time domain (FDTD) simulation 

engine. 

Cobham Technical Services 

www.cobham.com/technicalservices 

Model Libraries 

Modelithics, Inc. has released an 

enhanced version of their linear 

and non-linear system level model 

libraries for RF, microwave and millimeter-wave 

device and components. 

The Modelithics COM- 

PLETE Library version 8.0 for 

Agilent Advanced Design System 

(ADS) customers is now fully compatible 

with ADS 2011. Modelithics’ 

Hybrid Coupler 

Florida RF Labs has expanded the 

HybriX ® coupler product line with 

the introduction of a new X-band 

hybrid coupler, HPX2F. With operating 

frequency of 8 to 12 GHz, 

HPX2F is designed for X-band 

applications including satellite, 

radar, point-to-point radio, and 

telemetry. The multi-layered PTFE 

construction of HPX2F is thermally 

stable and compatible with common 

PWB materials. Optimal circuit 

performance is easily achievable 

when using HPX2F with our 

Diamond Rf Resistives X-band 

terminations. As with other Hybrix 

couplers, HPX2F is available in 

both RoHS-compliant and tin-lead 

plating. HPX2F can be ordered 

with a space-level qualification 

test package that includes a true 

multipaction test performed at 

atmospheric pressure of 10 -5 torr 

or lower. HPX2F is delivered in 

tape and reel packaging for ease of 

use in pick-and-place assembly. 

Florida RF Labs & EMC Technology 

www.rflabs.com 

Mid-Range Signal Generator 

Rohde & Schwarz has enhanced its 

analog R&S SMB100A mid-range 

signal generator by adding new 

frequency options. The R&S SMB- 


TINY 

Wideband 

Transformers 

TOP HAT 

TM 

NC 

0.08" x 0.05" 

TC 

0.15"x0.15" 

0.15-6200 MHz RoHS 

Rugged, repeatable performance. 

At Mini-Circuits, we’re passionate about transformers. We even 

make own transmission line wire under tight manufacturing 

control, and utilize all-welded connections to maximize 

performance, reliability, and repeatability. And for signals up 

to 6 GHz, our rugged LTCC ceramic models feature wraparound 

terminations for your visual solder inspection, and 

they are even offered in packages as small as 0805! 

Continued innovation: Top Hat. 

A Mini-Circuits exclusive, this new feature is now available on 

every open-core transformer we sell. Top Hat speeds 

customer pick-and-place throughput in four distinct ways: 

(1) faster set-up times, (2) fewer missed components, 

¢ 

as low as99 each (qty. 1000) 

compliant. 

(3) better placement accuracy and consistency, 

and (4) high-visibility markings for quicker visual 

identification and inspection. 

More models, to meet more needs 

Mini-Circuits has a variety of over 200 SMT models in 

stock. So for RF or microwave baluns and transformers, 

with or without center taps or DC isolation, you can 

probably find what you need at minicircuits.com. Enter 

your requirements, and Yoni2, our patented search 

engine, can identify a match in seconds. And new custom 

designs are just a phone call away, with surprisingly 

quick turnaround times gained from over 40 years of 

manufacturing experience! 

See minicircuits.com for technical specifications, performance data, pricing, and real-time, in-stock availability! 

Mini-Circuits...we’re redefining what Value is all about! 

® 

U.S. Patents 

7739260, 7761442 

ISO 9001 ISO 14001 AS 9100 

® 




377 rev X


NEW PRODUCTS 

B120/B120L and R&S SMB- 

B140/B140L options (L versions 

without step attenuator) enable 

the generator to cover the frequency 

range from 100 kHz to 20 and 40 

GHz, respectively. The R&S 

SMB100A can now handle everything 

from analog RF to microwave 

applications. In the new frequency 

ranges, the R&S SMB100A offers a 

wide dynamic range of –120 dBm 

to +14 dBm as standard. New high 

power options—the R&S SMB-B31 

(for the 20 GHz model) and the 

R&S SMB-B32 (for the 40 GHz 

model)—make it possible to 

achieve an output power of max. 

+25 dBm. The new options allow 

users to skip the practice of looping 

in an external amplifier to achieve 

higher output power. Both options 

are available now. 

Rohde & Schwarz 

www.rohde-schwarz.com 

Downconverters 

NXP Semiconductors N.V. introduced 

the TFF101xHN, a family of 

integrated downconverters for use 

in low noise block (LNB) 10.7-GHz 

to 12.75-GHz Ku band satellite 

receiver systems. Designed for 

downlink signal reception for TV 

satellite dishes, NXP’s new family of 

DVB-S compliant downconverters 

consume 50% less current (52 mA) 

than other integrated solutions. The 

TFF101xHN family comes in a leadless 

16-pin package with a conversion 

gain ranging from 37 to 45 dB. 

They also offer integrated phase 

noise of 1.5 degrees RMS and a low 

noise figure of 7 dB. 

NXP Semiconductors N.V. 

www.nxp.com 

Low Noise Amplifiers 

NuWaves Engineering has expanded 

their series of High Intercept 

Low Noise Amplifiers (HILNA) 

with the introduction of the HILNA 

3G. The HILNATM 3G covers the 

broad frequency range from 1 to 3 

GHz with a gain of 50 dB and is 

even smaller than its predecessors 

boasting a total of 3.3 cubic inches 

and weighing only 3 oz. It is ideal 

for system integration where footprint, 

high gain and broadband 

operation are determining factors. 

NuWaves Engineering 

www.nuwaves-ltd.com 

Variable Gain Amplifier 

Avago Technologies announced a 

high-linearity variable gain amplifier 

(VGA) module for base transceiver 

station (BTS) applications. The 

new small-footprint ALM-81224 

VGA module replaces existing discrete 

solutions, providing significant 

board space savings and shortening 

design cycle time. Operating 

in a broad frequency band from 

1450 to 2750 MHz, the module 

addresses cellular BTS automatic 

gain control (AGC) and temperature 

compensation circuitry applications. 

Available in a compact 6.0 × 

6.0 × 1.0 mm package, the module 

offers low current consumption of 

383 mA. The module’s input is fullymatched 

to 50 ohms and output 

match can be tuned for optimal performance 

at a particular frequency 

band within the operation range, 

minimizing the need for external 

matching components and making 

the solution easy to use. 

Avago Technologies 

www.avagotech.com 

Data Modules 

Laird Technologies, Inc. announced 

the release of its new BTM 

440/441/442/443 Bluetooth ® 

Enhanced Data modules. Meeting 

full FCC, CE and Bluetooth SIG 

approvals, the new modules comply 

with the Bluetooth 2.1 standard. 

They are also available in 

either AT command or Multipoint 

API modes by default. The 

enhanced Multipoint mode supports 

up to seven simultaneously 

connected slave devices; making 

the modules an ideal embedded 

solution for more than just pointto-point 

Bluetooth connections. 

Simple to configure and set up, the 

BTM440/441/442/443 series offers 

multiple advanced profiles on a 

single module. 

Laird Technologies, Inc. 

www.lairdtech.com 

BERT Software Packages 

Anritsu Company introduces two 

software packages for its MP2100A 

BERTWave series of BERT that 

create a single-instrument solution 

that cuts the cost of testing active 

optical cables (AOC) and direct 

attach cables (DAC) in half. With 

the software installed, the 

MP2100A BERTWave provides 

developers of communications 

equipment, servers, computers, 

electronic components and cables 

used in digital transmission systems 

with an all-in-one solution 

that supports jitter decomposition 

analysis, S21 transmission characteristics, 

and waveform simulation. 

The Jitter Analysis Software can 

separately measure each type of 

jitter, while the Transmission 

Analysis Software supports analysis 

of S21 transmission characteristics 

and waveform simulation. 

Installing both software packages 

in the MP2100A adds high-speed 

post-simulation waveform analysis 

to the standard BER, Eye Pattern, 

and Eye Mask measurements. 

Anritsu Company 

www.us.anritsu.com 


PRODUCT HIGHLIGHTS 

...featuring advertisers in High Frequency Electronics 

Surface Mount RF Transformer 

Mini-Circuits announces the 

TCM401WX+, a 50 ohm surface mount RF 

transformer. Operating temperature is 

–20°C to 85°C, RF power 0.25 W and DC 

current 30 mA. This transformer features 

wide bandwidth (3 to 800 MHz), good 

return loss, plastic base with solder plated 

leads, and is aqueous washable. 

Applications include CATV, VHF/UFH, balanced 

amplifier, and impedance matching. 

Priced $1.99 each in quantities of 20. 


Low-Noise Medium PA 

MITEQ’s new Model JS3-18004000-40-15P 

is a state-of-the-art low-noise medium 

power amplifier with only 4 dB maximum 

noise figure and +15 dBm P 1dB . This model 

has a gain of 32 dB minimum in a small 

hermetically sealed package with field 

replaceable K-connectors. MIL-883 screening 

is also available. Different options such 

as gain, noise figure and power output are 

also available. 

www.miteq.com 

Adjustable Delay Line 

RLC Electronics’ manually adjustable 

delay line (phase shifter) offers continuous 

adjustment of electrical delay over the frequency 

range of DC-40 GHz. Adjustment is 

through a multiturn, locking shaft. Low 

insertion loss (2.5 dB max) and VSWR are 

maintained throughout the adjustment 

range. Impedance is 50 ohms, and power 

rating is 5 watts average. The unit comes 

with a choice of male or female 2.92 mm 

connectors and operates in a temperature 

range of –55 to +85 deg C. See Company 

website for pricing information. 

www.rlcelectronics.com 

Switching Regulator 

Linear Technology Corporation announces 

the LT3641, a dual channel, current mode 

step-down switching regulator with a 

power-on reset and watchdog timer. Its 4V 

to 42V input voltage range with 55V transient 

capability makes it ideal for load 

dump and cold crank conditions. The 

LT3641 uses a unique dual channel design 

with a high input voltage nonsynchronous 

channel, delivering up to 1.1 A of continuous 

output current. 


Coaxial Power Splitter/Combiner 

Mini-Circuits’ model ZX10-2-183+ is a 

coaxial 2-way-0° power splitter/combiner. 

Features include very wideband (1500 to 

18000 MHz), low insertion loss (0.8 dB 

typ.), good isolation (22 dB typ.), and up to 

5 W power input as splitter. Applications 

include PCS/DCS, defense and federal communications 

and instrumentation. 


Simulation Software Update 

ACS has recently released a new version of 

its LINC2 Pro RF and microwave circuit 

design software suite. Version 2.72 release 

L adds a new PIN diode model with forward 

and reverse (ON and OFF) characteristics 

modeled. Equations can be formulated 

that provide simulation of the ON resistance 

versus bias current, allowing for tuning 

of the PIN diode ON resistance in real 

time (within the graph window) as a function 

of applied bias voltage and current. 

www.appliedmicrowave.com 

Coaxial Band Stop Filter 

The ZX75BS-140+ from Mini-Circuits is a 

band stop filter built in a rugged and compact 

connectorized package. This filter 

offers good rejection in stopband (127.25 to 

152.75 MHz). It has repeatable performance 

across lots and consistent performance 

across temperature. Useful in 

instrumentation system for industrial 

applications. 


TWT RF Amplifier 

A new 4 to 8.5 GHz, 30 watt amplifier has 

been introduced by Dudley Lab. This 

amplifier is an all new unit built by Dudley 

Lab and fitted with a Siemens Tube and 

TWT power supply. The amplifier is provided 

in a rack mounted enclosure. 

Primary power requirement is 100 to 

240 VAC, 50/60 Hz. 

www.dudleylab.com 

PWM Generator 

Linear Technology Corporation introduces 

the LTC2991, an 8-channel I²C temperature, 

voltage and current monitor for 3V 

and 5V systems. The LTC2991 is a highly 

integrated monitoring solution that incorporates 

a 14-bit ADC, 10ppm/°C voltage 

reference and I²C digital interface to provide 

submillivolt voltage resolution and 1% 

current measurement, as well as ±0.7°C 

remote accuracy and ±1°C internal accuracy, 

when making temperature measurements. 

www.linear.com

Directional/Bi-Directional 

COUPLERS 

5 kHz to 12 GHz up to 250W 

Looking for couplers or power taps? Mini-Circuits has 

236 models in stock, and we’re adding even more! Our 

versatile, low-cost solutions include surface-mount 

models down to 1 MHz, and highly evolved LTCC 

designs as small as 0.12 x 0.06", with minimal insertion 

loss and high directivity. Other SMT models are designed 

for up to 100W RF power, and selected core-and-wire 

models feature our exclusive Top Hat, for faster 

pick-and-place throughput. 

$ 

1 

69 

from 

ea. (qty. 1000) 

At the other end of the scale, our new connectorized 

air-line couplers can handle up to 250W and frequencies 

as high as 12 GHz, with low insertion loss (0.2 dB @ 9 

GHz, 1 dB @ 12 GHz) and exceptional coupling flatness! 

All of our couplers are RoHS compliant. So if you need 

a 50 or 75 , directional or bi-directional, DC pass or 

DC block coupler, for military, industrial, or commercial 

applications, you can probably find it at minicircuits.com, 

and have it shipped today! 

See minicircuits.com for specifications, performance data, and surprisingly low prices! 


® 

U.S. Patents 

7739260, 7761442 

ISO 9001 ISO 14001 AS 9100 

® 




495 rev org

“Take a Besser course.” 

For over 25 years our name has been 

practically synonymous with RF and Wireless training. 

With over 100 courses on topics covering the spectrum of radio and communications system design, we are 

a single source solution for all of your training needs. Whether you are just entering the RF/Wireless field 

or need to learn the latest advanced techniques, rely on Besser Associates – the most trusted brand for 

your essential skills development. 

Our instructors are recruited from industry, 

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Not only do they have experience, but they also have the ability to convey complex concepts in an understandable 

manner. Many of our instructors have authored texts on their subjects. Others have received 

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are avoided in favor of practical exampls and “tricks of the trade” that help you get to work as quickly and 

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At Besser Associates, you’re not just a student – you are a customer. 

Your feedback and satisfaction with our product are of the ultimate importance to us. Your evaluations at 

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We offer on-site courses internationally, at a schedule to suit your needs. We offer courses at public locations 

throughout the U.S. Some courses are also available via web-conferencing - no travel needed. Contact 

our office for more information. 

 

® 


ADVERTISER INDEX 

Company ...........................................................................Page 

ACS .......................................................................................................56 

Aethercomm..........................................................................................37 

Anaren...................................................................................................41 

AR Modular RF ....................................................................................27 

American Technical Ceramics .............................................................33 

AWR ......................................................................................................23 

Besser Associates .................................................................................78 

Carlisle..................................................................................................53 

Coilcraft ................................................................................................11 

C.W. Swift & Associates ..............................................................Cover 2 

Delta......................................................................................................32 

Dudley Lab ...........................................................................................75 

Dynawave..............................................................................................19 

Emerson Network Power .......................................................................4 

Florida RF Labs....................................................................................35 

IW Microwave.......................................................................................57 

J microTechnology................................................................................66 

Linear Technology ................................................................................13 

Linear Technology ................................................................................15 

Luff Research........................................................................................75 

Megaphase ............................................................................................61 

Micro Lambda Wireless .......................................................................21 

Microwave Components .......................................................................71 

Mini-Circuits...........................................................................................2 

Mini-Circuits.........................................................................................25 









MITEQ ....................................................................................................1 

MITEQ ..................................................................................................42 

MITEQ .........................................................................................Cover 4 

Molex ............................................................................................Cover 3 

Relcomm Technologies .........................................................................18 

Renaissance Electronics Corp/HXI .......................................................9 

RLC Electronics....................................................................................29 

Rogers Corporation ..............................................................................49 

Samtec...................................................................................................17 

San-tron ................................................................................................59 

Sector Microwave .................................................................................75 

SGMC Microwave.................................................................................31 

Skyworks Solutions..............................................................................65 

SW Tech ................................................................................................30 

Teledyne Cougar.....................................................................................7 

Teledyne Storm Products.....................................................................39 

Tru Corporation....................................................................................45 

Wenteq Microwave Corp ......................................................................75 

■ FIND OUR ADVERTISERS’ WEB SITES USING HFELINK 

1. Go to our company information Web site: 

www.HFeLink.com, or 

2. From www.highfrequencyelectronics.com, click on the HFeLink 

reminder on the home page 

3. Companies in our current issue are listed, or you can choose 

one of our recent issues 

4. Or ... view our Online Edition and simply click on any ad! 

ADVERTISERS — REACH ACTIVE AND INTERESTED READERS! 

Magazine print advertising 

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special marketing services 

Contact our experienced ad professionals today! 

ADVERTISING SALES — EAST 

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Tel: 631-274-9530 

Fax: 631-667-2871 

grhodes@highfrequencyelectronics.com 

ADVERTISING SALES — WEST 

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Tel: 707-544-9977 

Fax: 707-544-9375 


ADVERTISING SALES — CENTRAL 

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Tel: 773-275-4020 

Fax: 773-275-3438 

keith@highfrequencyelectronics.com 

ADVERTISING SALES — MARKETPLACE 

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Tel: 201-666-6698 

Fax: 201-666-6698 

joanne@highfrequencyelectronics.com 

PUBLISHER — OTHER REGIONS & INTERNATIONAL 

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Tel: 603-472-8261 

Fax: 603-471-0716 

scott@highfrequencyelectronics.com 

Advertising and media information is available 

online at www.highfrequencyelectronics.com 

High Frequency Electronics (USPS 024-316) is published monthly by Summit Technical Media, LLC, 3 Hawk Dr., Bedford, NH 03110. 

Vol. 10 No. 10 October 2011. Periodicals Postage Paid at Manchester, NH and at additional mailing offices. 

POSTMASTER: Send address corrections to High Frequency Electronics, PO Box 10621, Bedford, NH 03110-0621. 

Subscriptions are free to qualified technical and management personnel involved in the design, manufacture and distribution of electronic equipment 

and systems at high frequencies. Copyright © 2011, Summit Technical Media, LLC 

October 2011 79

DESIGN NOTES 

Reader Feedback about PA Feedback 

In the last issue, we published a request for information 

on negative feedback in power amplifiers. In 

addition to forwarding the comments we received to the 

requester, we’ll share them with everyone. 

Gary, 

Have Mike take a look at Solid State Design by W. 

Hayward and D. DeMaw, ARRL 1977, pp 188-190. 

This is for bipolar amps with transformer output 

and resistive feedback, with graphs and instructions to 

make some sense of the trade-offs. 

I do not have a reference handy for the Norton lossless 

feedback amplifiers. 

Tom Munson (WF7LMZ) 

Peoria, AZ 

Gary, 

Here are some references from my library regarding 

negative feedback and related circuit design. 

Several specifically address low frequency design, but 

the principles and methods are applicable to RF 

design as well. 

Dave Bowker (K1FK) 

Fort Kent, ME 

1. Langford-Smith, Radiotron Designer’s Handbook, 

4th edition, 1953, chapter 7, Negative Feedback, 

www.tubebooks.org/Books/RDH4.pdf 

2. “Harmonic Distortion and Negative Feedback in 

Audio-Frequency Amplifiers,” BBC Engineering 

Training Dept., 1950. www.tubebooks.org/Books/ 

bbc_feedback.pdf 

3. Pappenfus, Bruene, Schoenike, Single Sideband 

Principals and Circuits, McGraw-Hill, 1964, Chapter 

13, Distortion Reduction. Available from most libraries 

participating in inter-library loan service. 

4. Landee, Davis, Albrecht, Electronic Designers 

Handbook, McGraw-Hill, 1957, Chapter 18, Principals 

of Feedback. Available from most public and institutional 

libraries participating in inter-library loan service. 

5. Editors & Engineers, The Radio Handbook, most 

editions after 15th edition have a chapter or sections 

devoted to RF Feedback; www.tubebooks.org/Books/ 

orr_radio.pdf 

6. Gray, Graham, Radio Transmitters, McGraw- 

Hill, 1961, Chapter 6, Section 6-12, Negative 

Feedback; www.tubebooks.org/Books/radtrns.pdf 

7. Reference Data for Radio Engineers, 3rd edition, 

Federal Telephone and Radio Corp, 1949, Chapter 5, 

Fundamentals of Networks: Chapter 13. 4th edition 

atwww.tubebooks.org/Books/itt_ref_4.pdf 

8. Krauss, Bostian, Raab, Solid State Radio 

Engineering, John Wiley & Sons, 1980, Chapter 12. 

Available from most libraries participating in interlibrary 

loan service. 

9. Seely, Electron-Tube Circuits, McGraw-Hill, 

1958, Chapter 5, Feedback in Amplifiers; www.tubebooks.org/Books/seely.pdf 


The choice is clear 

for all your RF needs. 

Custom solutions and 

standard products from 

a single source. 

With decades of experience in the 

interconnect industry, we know 

what’s important to engineers. 

That’s why Molex manufactures 

the world’s broadest line of radio 

frequency connectors, cable 

assemblies and custom products. 

Our RF solutions can be optimized 

to minimize signal loss over a 

wide range of frequencies in a 

broad spectrum of sizes and styles 

of connectors. Plus, our serviceoriented 

team can turn around 

drawings in 48 hours and deliver 

custom products in less than eight 

weeks –– so you can get your 

products to market faster. 

For the industry’s largest array of 

product options backed by reliable 

service, turn to Molex –– your 

clear choice for RF interconnect 

products and solutions. 

www.molex.com/product/rf.html 


RF/LO Conversion LO-to-RF 

Model Frequency Loss Image Rejection Isolation 

Number (GHz) (dB) Max. (dB) Min. (dB) Min. 

IMAGE REJECTION MIXERS 

IRM0204(*)C2(**) 2 - 4 7.5 18 20 

IRM0408(*)C2(**) 4 - 8 8 18 20 

IRM0812(*)C2(**) 8 - 12 8 18 20 

IRM1218(*)C2(**) 12 - 18 10 18 20 

IRM0208(*)C2(**) 2 - 8 9 18 18 

IRM0618(*)C2(**) 6 - 18 10 18 18 

IR1826NI7(**) 18 - 26 10.5 18 20 

IR2640NI7(**) 26 - 40 12 18 20 

Model 

RF/LO 


Conversion 

Loss 

Balance 

Phase (±Deg.) Amplitude (±dB) 

LO-to-RF 

Isolation 

Number (GHz) (dB) Max. Typ./Max. Typ./Max. (dB) Min. 

I/Q DEMODULATORS 

IRM0204(*)C2Q 2 - 4 10.5 7.5/10 1.0/1.5 20 

IRM0408(*)C2Q 4 - 8 11 7.5/10 1.0/1.5 20 

IRM0812(*)C2Q 8 - 12 11 5/7.5 .75/1.0 20 

IRM1218(*)C2Q 12 - 18 13 10/15 1.0/1.5 20 

IRM0208(*)C2Q 2 - 8 12 7.5/10 1.0/1.5 18 

IRM0618(*)C2Q 6 - 18 13 10/15 1.0/1.5 18 

IR1826NI7Q 18 - 26 13.5 10/15 1.0/1.5 20 

IR2640NI7Q 26 - 40 15 10/15 1.0/1.5 20 

RF Conversion Carrier Carrier Suppression 

Model Frequency Loss Suppression Carrier - Fundamental IF 

Number (GHz) (dB) Max. (dBc) Min. (dBc) Min. 

IF DRIVEN MODULATORS 

SSM0204(*)C2MD(**) 2 - 4 9 20 20 

SSM0408(*)C2MD(**) 4 - 8 9 20 18 

SSM0812(*)C2MD(**) 8 - 12 9 20 20 

SSM1218(*)C2MD(**) 12 - 18 10 20 18 

SSM0208(*)C2MD(**) 2 - 8 9 20 18 

SSM0618(*)C2MD(**) 6 - 18 12 20 18 

For Carrier Driven Modulators, please contact MITEQ. 

MODEL NUMBER OPTION TABLE 

(**) IF FREQUENCY 

Add Letter OPTION (MHz) 

A 20 - 40 

B 40 - 80 

(*) LO/IF P1 dB C.P. 

Add Letter Power Range (dBm) (Typ.) 

L 10 - 13 dBm +6 

M 13 - 16 dBm +10 

H 17 - 20 dBm +15 

C 100 - 200 

Q 

DC - 500 (I/Q)

Implementing Modulation Functions in Microwave Frequency ...

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