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Nonlinear circuit stability under large‐signal pumping: Three‐port μ stability factor versus conversion matrix system identification—application to a millimeter‐wave band MMIC up‐converter
Author(s) -
Detratti M.,
Aja B.,
de la Fuente Ma. L.,
Sancho S.,
Pascual J. P.
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
international journal of rf and microwave computer‐aided engineering
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.335
H-Index - 39
eISSN - 1099-047X
pISSN - 1096-4290
DOI - 10.1002/mmce.20481
Subject(s) - monolithic microwave integrated circuit , local oscillator , intermodulation , port (circuit theory) , electronic engineering , microwave , electronic circuit , engineering , nonlinear system , electrical engineering , voltage controlled oscillator , radio frequency , control theory (sociology) , voltage , physics , telecommunications , computer science , amplifier , cmos , control (management) , quantum mechanics , artificial intelligence
This article presents and discusses a method to determine stability in nonlinear three‐port circuits based on a generalized three‐port μ stability factor applied to linearized S parameters under large‐signal pumping. A comparison with an extension of the conversion matrix–based, system pole–zero identification used to analyze circuit stability is also presented. The relationship between the two techniques has been verified by means of an ideal two‐port nonlinear circuit, and then, it has been applied in the design of a three‐port millimeter‐wave Monolithic Microwave Integrated Circuit (MMIC) up‐converter. The circuit has been fabricated in a commercial GaAs process. On‐wafer measurements showed an average conversion loss about 3.5 dB in a RF bandwidth between 40.4 and 41.5 GHz with local oscillator (LO) frequency fixed at 42.5 GHz. A RF/LO isolation better than 25 dB was measured in the whole band, also showing outstanding intermodulation performance. With the proposed approach, the appearance of spurious oscillations was prevented. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J RF and Microwave CAE, 2010.