Semiconductors / Integrated Circuits

RSS

Double-balanced mixers are used extensively in transmitters and receivers. For frequencies below 5 GHz, the designs are normally realized using ferrite-based transformers, because they are very compact and their technology is mature. As the operating frequency increases, distributed element baluns become smaller in size and more attractive. Semiconductor-based mixers...

The quadrature demodulator is used in either heterodyne or homodyne receivers. In commercial communication receivers, the local oscillator frequency ranges from a few kilohertz to a few gigahertz. It is usual to test the individual part with a single tone to avoid the complexity of the baseband waveform. The...

There are several reasons for the wide use of printed transmission lines. They are simple to produce, they operate over a wide bandwidth, and have small weight and dimensions. The earliest form of printed transmission lines was the stripline ( Figure 1a ). 1,2 The printed stripline consists of...

A new surface-mount technology (SMT)-packaged power amplifier has been introduced for wireless communications applications, including millimeter-wave point-to-point radio, local multipoint distribution services (LMDS), satellite communications (SATCOM) and very small aperture terminal (VSAT) use. The model XP1000P1 GaAs MMIC surface-mount power amplifier is a two-stage amplifier optimized for linear output...

To meet the rapidly increasing demand for advanced microwave components and antennas in wireless terrestrial and satellite-based communications, accurate and efficient CAD tools are critical. Due to efforts made during the 1990s - the decade of global 3D electromagnetic (EM) field solvers - the task of accurate analysis of...

With the steady improvements in tracking radar technologies over the past twenty years, the diameter requirements for antennas has been reduced to match the improvements in transmitter power and receiver sensitivity. This has led to a need for shorter feeds for use in Cassegrain configurations. Antenna feeds have recently...

By using impedance or admittance inverters, microwave bandpass filters can be designed more conveniently with only one kind of resonator. Theoretically, the inverters have to be frequency independent. However, this is not true for practical cases. One of the most serious degradations in frequency response of a bandpass filter...

Today's investment in and commitment to meaningful, commercially viable research will determine the shape and prosperity of tomorrow's microwave industry. Following its introduction in 2001 the second Microwave Journal guide to European research projects highlights the studies being undertaken by academic and commercial establishments to develop the innovations that...

Voltage-controlled surface acoustic wave (SAW) oscillators (VCSO) have been used for many years in both commercial and military applications. The low phase noise allows frequency multiplication to higher frequencies for use as sources, such as local oscillators in radar and other microwave systems. The excellent tuning linearity provides outstanding...

As the complexity of wireless systems grows and requirements become more demanding, the task facing analog/RF engineers is not getting any easier. In today's rapid-paced working environment, time-to-market demands accurate and fast results from device simulations. To meet these demands for the effective management and analysis of design data...