RF & Microwave Industry News

A CAD-oriented Approach to Design of Load Impedance and Input Matching in Active Transmitting Antennas

This article discusses a general computer-aided design (CAD) approach to obtain the optimal fundamental load impedance and design the input matching circuits for an active integrated antenna of the transmitting type. A case study of a design for 1.6 GH...
An active integrated antenna (AIA) may be defined as a system in which an active device, usually a transistor, is closely integrated within an antenna, using a minimum of intervening circuitry. In recent years, AIAs have been considered a useful approach for improving performance and reducing size in front-end...
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De-embedding Using a Vector Network Analyzer Including Calibration and Measurement Techniques

The inclusion of adapters and test fixtures in a measurement setup is often necessary even if the consequence is less accuracy. De-embedding the device characteristics has been traditionally the most effective method of minimizing the negative effects. However, the process of de-embedding has been a laborious, expensive procedure restricted...
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The Importance of Sweep Rate in DC IV Measurements

The importance of taking due care in setting up IV measurement sweep rate is explored for the case of a GaAs MESFET and a silicon MOSFET. A numerical metric, called the normalized difference unit (NDU), is shown to be useful in determining appropriate ...
The DC IV characterization of a device is important in predicting RF operation. DC IV results predict the quiescent bias and low frequency IV characteristics for a device, while in some cases they can be corrected to represent RF characteristics at a given quiescent bias point. 1,2 In addition,...
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Transient Simulations at RF Frequencies

Harmonic balance simulation is a fast and effective means for accurately predicting the steady-state performance of RF, microwave and millimeter-wave circuits. Transient simulation is also important for predicting the time-domain behavior of many of these circuits, especially when they include oscillators, frequency dividers and mixed-signal functions. Several SPICE-based circuit...
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Alliance Extends Semiconductor R&D Activities

The Crolles2 Alliance partners, Freescale Semiconductor, Philips and STMicroelectronics, have extended the scope of their joint semiconductor research and development activities to include R&D related to wafer testing and packaging, in addition to the original development of sub 100 nm CMOS process technologies. This agreement reflects the special needs...
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