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Accurate, nonlinear, active device models are critical to achieving design success for circuits such as power amplifiers, oscillators and mixers, using computer-aided engineering (CAE) software such as Agilent Technologies' Advanced Design System (ADS™), Applied Wave Research's Microwave Office™, Eagleware's Genesys™ or Ansoft's Serenade™. Prior work has made it clear...

The rapidly increasing use of differential RF and microwave circuits has created many new measurement challenges. In S-parameter measurements, for example, transmission phase accuracy could often be ignored with little impact on specification-critical measurements. This is no longer true in the measurement of differential circuits, since seemingly small phase...

Coplanar waveguide probes, also referred to as coplanar probes, are the method of choice for launching RF signals on and off a wafer. This article explains their construction, RF characteristics and proper usage. Before the advent of coplanar probes, finding the RF behavior of a die on a wafer...

Typical oscillator designs use a common-base or common-collector circuit for generating a negative resistance at one port, which is usually terminated with a parallel or series LC-resonant circuit. The main problems in this design are the bandwidth of the negative resistance, which cannot be easily extended over one frequency...

For about half a century the suppression effects of bandpass hard limiters on various combinations of signals and interference have attracted widespread interest. 1-4 Certain "rules of thumb" have accreted around a variety of theoretical results. The purpose of this article is to revisit issues of interpretation and to...

Frequency synthesizers are used in a variety of communications and timing systems. Phase-locked loops (PLL) have been the "workhorse" of the majority of traditional synthesizers and clock generation circuits. However, there are other types of synthesis blocks available such as direct digital synthesizers (DDS), mixers, frequency doublers and dividers...

When HFSS™ was introduced in February 1990, it created a new era in microwave design. Prior to this event, microwave design was limited to simple analyses and cut-and-try methods. With HFSS, engineers could conveniently build, analyze and refine three-dimensional (3D) microwave prototypes using their computers. For the first time,...

All 15 modules of the GENESYS RF/microwave design software suite have recently been enhanced. For 17 years, Eagleware has worked with thousands of customers worldwide to continuously upgrade its suite of synthesis, simulation and design environment tools. Major enhancements in the current release include new models, an antenna pattern...

In today's fast paced semiconductor industry making accurate and reliable measurements at microwave frequencies is critical to successful product development operations. Microwave measurements enable engineers to characterize both the linear and nonlinear behavior of devices, providing critical performance information. Precise probe contact is a necessity to obtain accurate test...

Due to the fast growing demand for broadband wireless communications, the operating frequency is moving toward the 5 GHz U-NII band. With a maximum data rate of 54 Mbps, the IEEE 802.11a wireless LAN (WLAN) standard specifies a 300 MHz allocation of spectrum in the 5 GHz range that...