Congreso: 7th European Microwave Integrated Circuit Conference, Ámsterdam, Holanda  29-30 Oct. 2012

Autores: Ana Peláez Pérez; Mónica Fernández Barciela; Paul J. Tasker; Jose Ignacio Alonso Montes

Recently, X-parameters have been introduced to model device non-linear behavior. In addition to providing a
measurement-based tool to numerically predict non-linear inband device behavior in CAD, they can also provide the designer of non-linear circuits the ability to improve the knowledge of the out-of-band device behavior. Exploiting this crucial design aspect, this work presents a novel measurement setup which enables small-signal X-parameters measurements, of non-linear devices driven by a large-signal tone at a pump frequency fc, in order to predict out-of-band performance at the perturbation frequency, fx, far removed from the pump frequency fc. The proposed measurement setup is made up of a Non-linear Vector Network Analyzer PNA-X and a passive tuner in order to
enable load-pull characterization at the pump frequency fc. The developed architecture has been tested for a SiGe HBT, by sweeping the large-signal tone frequency over a narrow bandwidth around 5 GHz and for a broadband low perturbation frequency swept from 200 MHz to 1 GHz in steps of 200 MHz. The usefulness of the obtained small-signal X-parameters for the analysis of small-signal/large-signal nonlinear interactions, such as parametric oscillations, is shown.