RF Design Tips, Tricks & Tutorials

ADS 30-Second Demos

Joe Civello — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 19:37:12 +0000

Watch these videos to learn about popular improvements made in ADS to increase productivity.

Rate each video and include your email address to enter a prize promotion to win one $100 US VISA gift card.

Watch all 10 demos to increase your chances of winning.

http://www.agilent.com/find/eesof-ads-30-second-demos

ADS Smith Chart Utility

Joe Civello — Fri, 11 Nov 2011 19:00:21 +0000

SURE2010: Witricity: Cutting the Cord

Joe Civello — Fri, 11 Nov 2011 18:57:22 +0000

“An Eye Is Born” by EyeKnowHow

Joe Civello — Fri, 11 Nov 2011 18:55:39 +0000

Introduction to Optimization in ADS

Joe Civello — Fri, 11 Nov 2011 18:54:15 +0000

Design of E-band MMIC Amplifiers from ARMMS Conference

Joe Civello — Mon, 18 Apr 2011 23:21:44 +0000

The Design of E-band MMIC Amplifiers, which addressed the fact that the worldwide availability of a large amount of spectrum at 71 to 76 GHz and 81 to 86 GHz (E-band) for high data-rate wireless links has led to substantial interest. The design of electronic equipment at such high frequencies is challenging. Devlin’s presentation addressed the design and implementation of E-band MMIC amplifiers. He considered process selection, design challenges and practical approaches and presented the measured and modelled performance of a single-stage E-band gain block.

http://www.mwjournal.com/Journal/Print.asp?Id=AR_9008

Reconfigurable GaAs MMIC Power Amplifier Design Methodology Using a Tunable Interstage Network from Microwave Journal

Joe Civello — Mon, 18 Apr 2011 23:19:55 +0000

A tunable matching network (MN) integrated into the interstage of a two-stage power amplifier (PA) to provide the capability for center frequency tuning is described. The tunable and second amplifier stages. This enables the amplifier to reach a high Q-factor, thus resulting in a narrow bandwidth. The M-probe method is used to analyze the amount of mismatch loss in the interstage to compensate for roll-off and equalize the gain between tuning states. The power amplifier and tunable interstage network, which were fabricated on three GaAs MMIC die, was chosen to realize a prototype. The reconfigurable amplifier offers the advantage of center frequency tuning from 1.37 to 1.95 GHz or 35 percent tuning bandwidth in four switched bands, which covers standards for analog and digital cellular telephony. The maximum measured output power and OIP3 are 16.62 and 28.25 dBm, respectively.

http://www.mwjournal-digital.com/mwjournal/201104?sub_id=A3wqcNcvzMAX&u1=1451H0916134E3V#pg78

Momentum Papers on Google Scholar

Joe Civello — Thu, 29 Apr 2010 20:12:05 +0000

One visitor to the this site pointed out that there are hundreds of published papers, citations and references to Momentum on Google Scholar. Maybe you can find an application similar to yours.

Using EM to Design DGS Structures

Joe Civello — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 17:08:01 +0000

A Defective Ground Structure (DGS) is an intentionally designed defect on a ground plan, which creates additional effective inductance and capacitance. This technique can be used to design microstrip lines with desired characteristics such as higher impedance, band rejection and slow-wave characteristics, while significantly reducing the footprint of the microstrip structure. DGS structures are used in RF/microwave components (filters, dividers, amplifiers and high-speed digital designs.

However, designing DGS structures can be tricky. Design tools typically don’t include closed-form DGS circuit models, so EM simulation is required to analyze and optimize these structures to meet the design goals.

Both time-domain and frequency-domain EM simulation can be used to simulate DGS structures. Time-domain techniques, such as Finite Difference Time Domain (FDTD), can provide insightful TDR results. Frequency-domain techniques, such as Finite Element Method (FEM), can very quickly find the resonant frequencies. Both techniques provide very accurate results compared to measurements.

Read the full details in our presentation EM Insights Series – Episode 12 – Simulation of Defected Ground Structures

See the full series at EM Insights Series

Free DVD: MMIC Design Seminar

Joe Civello — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 19:41:15 +0000

The art of designing MMICs can be achieved with a good design methodology and environment. This MMIC Seminar, available on the web and orderable on DVD, has been designed to provide a complete set of technical material that helps achieve fast and accurate MMIC design.

The technical material included in these seminar style materials will help guide you through the critical steps designers need to carry out in order to achieve the fastest time-to-market at the lowest cost. The steps will help you create robust MMIC designs with first-pass success and high yield, while minimizing development and production costs.

Through the use of the video demonstrations, slide presentations, ADS project files, and Hands-On workshop materials included in this front-to-back MMIC design flow seminar, you will learn the important methodology of:

MMIC Design-for-Manufacturing (DFM) for optimizing yield and minimizing cost.
Efficient and accurate MMIC layout using a judicious combination of auto and manual design synchronization coupled with DRC and full 3D EM verification.
Co-simulating MMIC circuits within a system to verify compliance with wireless system standards for first-pass acceptance by your end customers