Its wonderful to see the progress made by the III-V technology companies in providing the foundry services and products for really high performance products and MMICs. When I started in GaAs the maximum wafer size for a GaAs wafer was about the size of my thumbnail. Today there are Si-GaAs wafers 12 inches across! Design tools for simulation and characterization have also come a long way. Before these developments we were designing MICs and there were none or very few design tools. We matched the input and out reflection coefficients using tiny gold disks of various radii to achieve the optimum matching. I remember getting 1 Watt out of a GaAs FET. It was unknown during those days. It took a thermal bonder, much sweat ( and tears) and precise bondwire matching and the rest of the work to achieve this. Today I work with ADS and similar tools to seriously reduce risk before layout and post layout of the MMICs. MMIC packages have come a long way too. During the days I was learning MMIC design, no packages were available. The die was mounted directly on the Alumina substrate. Now we can get touchstone files for packages and along with the s – parameters of the device itself, a reasonable match can be done a priori. Devices such as pHEMTs were not available then. They are available now. By the way we used TWT’s to test the devices. These were the test boxes provided by HP to test those high frequencies ( mostly X Band) we were designing in. So with the foundry services, the CAD tools, the package data and test equipment available today, MMIC development is much less of a risk today than it used to be. Good job and kudos to all the companies who have made it possible. By the way the accompanying image of the Smith Chart is a reflection ( no pun intended) of the workhorse tool of those early days of MMIC design. By Ain Rehman, Signal Processing Group Inc.


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Delivery lead time is 3 days. Return within 30 days for a full refund. Price is $15.00 for one unit and $12.00 per unit in volumes of 100. For higher volumes than 100 please contact Signal Processing Group Inc. at email: spg@signalpro.biz or call 602-626-0272 for fastest service.
The input interface.
The frequency divider has a differential analog interface. The following parameters apply:
The minimum frequency that can be input is 500 Mhz and the maximum frequency is 6.0 Ghz.
The RF input level is 5 dBm to – 5 dBm. For lower frequencies make sure that the slew rate is
greater than 560 V/us. The input is biased by two 500 Ohm resistors connected to a 1.6V DC bias.
Therefore AC coupling is used at the input. These are two 100pF capacitors.
The output interface.
The output is single ended. The output driver is capable of sourcing and sinking 24 mA. The
equivalent output impedance is 50 Ohm. To avoid reflections it is recommended that the divider
work into a 50 Ohm load.
General operation.
The inputs are applied to the input SMA I/O. The product will work with both a differential input as
well as a single ended input. However, a differential input works best. The division ratio is applied
to the N1 and N2 control inputs as follows:
N2 N1 Division ratio
0 0 8
0 1 16
1 0 32
1 1 64
The logic levels are:
Logic level Voltage
1 1.4V minimum
0 0.6V maximum
The supply voltage interface.
The operating supply voltage is 3.3V typical. The quiescent (DC) operating supply current is 2 mA.
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RF Switch typical features
Supply voltage = Vcc = 0/+5 Vdc
Operatng temperature = TA = -50° C to 125 Deg C
Operating impedance = 50 Ohm
Input power for 1 dB
compression ( 5.0V system) = 37 dBm ( f = 0.5 to 3 Ghz)
Input third order Intercept = 64 dBm ( 0 to 5.0V system, f = 0.5 to 3 Ghz)
Operating frequency range = DC to 3 Ghz.
Insertion loss DC to 3 Ghz = 0.8 dB
Isolation DC to 3 Ghz = 14 dB minimum
Return loss DC to 3 Ghz = 20 dB
50% contl to 10/90 %
( ON/OFF) = 120 ns
Summary Specifications
Gain, Operating: 19.5 dB
Operating frequency range: 1.0 – 2700 Mhz
OIP3: (Pout = 19.0 dBm), -8.5 dBm
P1dB: 4.6 dBm
N.F: 4.2 dB
Supply voltage Operating: 3.3 – 5.5 Volts
Price: single unit $7.50, 100 units : $5:50.
Free delivery, shipping lead time 2 days.
30 day return policy, buyer ships.
Supply current Supply = 5.0V, 23.0 mA
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