Singel State Transistor
Singel State Transistor
Singel State Transistor
Abstract
A new, simple S-parameter extraction method of RF transistor and amplifier is proposed
and demonstrated. The method is based on one-step layout and fabrication of a single
reference PCB and the complicated extra calibration kit is not needed. It is shown that
the S-parameters of the transistor can be accurately extracted by using the measurement
results of the reference board with the transistor and the equivalent circuits of the input
and the output stage. More importantly, it is also shown that the measurement results of
the reference board without the transistor can be replaced by full software-based
equivalent circuit modeling.
I. Introduction
Vendors distributing commercial RF amplifiers and transistors do not usually open
the information about the internal design structure and the package. Since the evaluation
board including matching circuits is presented only at the same bias and frequency given
in the datasheet, the given information does not help RF engineers design the systems at
different biases or frequencies. In other words, totally new parameters such as the S-
parameters, the noise figure, and other nonlinear parameters, under the changed
condition, should be extracted and used in design.
Various methods to extract the S-parameters have been introduced [1-3]. However, it
is hard for field engineers to use those methods, since they are composed of the
combinations of complex equations and the extra calibration kit such as TRL or SOLT.
These calibration kits are accurate but very hard to use.
We propose and demonstrate a simple PCB-based technique for the extraction of the
S-parameters of an unknown transistor amplifier. A simple PCB layout for the transistor
is made. Two PCBs with the same layout are fabricated. One is used as a reference
board with a 100 Ω resistor mounted on the position of the transistor. The other is the
board with the transistor. The former is used to verify if the equivalent circuit model of
the input and the output stage is accurate, and the later is used for extraction of the S-
parameters of a transistor. The extracted S-parameters are shown to predict the
performance of a two-stage amplifier circuit consisting of two transistors. One important
thing is that the measured results of the reference board with a 100 Ω resistor match
with the results calculated from the model parameters of the transmission line and
1
passive components [5]. This suggests that the measurement of the reference board with
a100 Ω resistor can be skipped and complete software-based board analysis can be used
in the parameter extraction.
2
Secondly, a 2-stage amplifier is designed again by using the extracted S-parameters of
the transistor. Figure 7 shows that the measured results are in agreement with the
calculated results within maximum 2 dB for all the S-parameters.
A similar parameter extraction is performed for the commercial amplifier (AH1) [6]
to demonstrate that our method can be applied quite generally. Matching is performed at
the frequency of 1.55 GHz. At this frequency, matching circuit is not described in the
datasheet. Figure 8 shows that the measured S-parameters of the circuit are again in
agreement with the calculated results except a little shift of the matching frequency.
IV. Conclusions
We have proposed and demonstrated a new, simple S-parameter extraction method of
RF transistor amplifier. The method is based on one-step layout and fabrication of a
single reference PCB and no complicated extra calibration kit is needed. The S-
parameters of the transistor have been shown to be accurately extracted by using the
measurement results of the reference board with the transistor and the equivalent circuits
of the input and the output stage. More importantly, it has been also shown that the
measured results of the reference board without the transistor can be replaced by full
software-based equivalent circuit modeling.
Acknowledgement
This work is supported by the Brain Korea 21 project in 2004.
References
[1] Hanjin Cho, Dorothea E. Burk, “A three-step method for the de-embedding of high-
frequency S-parameter measurements”, IEEE Transactions on Electron
Devices, Vol. 38 , pp. 1371 - 1375 , 1991.
[2] E. P. Vandamme, D.M.M.-P Schreurs, C. Van Dinther, “Improved three-step de-
embedding method to accurately account for the influence of pad parasitics in
silicon on-wafer RF test-structures”, IEEE Transactions on Electron Devices, Vol.
48, pp.737 – 742, 2001.
[3] F.M. Ghannouchi, A. Brodeur, F. Beauregard, “A de-embedding technique for
reflection-based S-parameters measurements of microwave devices”, Conference on
Precision Electromagnetic Measurements, Digest, pp.119 – 120, 1994.
[4] Agilent, Inc., ATF-34143. [Online], Available: “http://www.semiconductor.agilent.
com/spg/doc/wirelessDesignTools/atf34143.zap”
[5] S-parameters of the passive components are provided by Murata, Inc., [Online],
Available: http://www.murata.com/designlib/mcsil.html
[6] WJ Communications, [Online], Available: http://www.wj.com/rf_com/ponents/
amplifiers/AH1.asp
3
Input stage output stage
Transistor
4
MLOC MLOC MLOC MLOC
TL14 TL15 TL16 TL17
RF in To gate
1 2 1 2
Re f Re f
MLIN
TL11
1 2 1 2
Re f Ref
MLIN
TL12
S2P S2P
SNP3 SNP11
Port
P3
Vgg
: simulated results
× : measured results
(a) |S| = 1 (b)
S(3,3)
S(1,1)
S(4,3)
S(2,1)
Figure 4 (a) Return loss (S11) and (b) transmission loss (S21) of the reference board of
Fig. 1 when a 100 Ω resistor is mounted on the pads for the transistor.
5
: The proposed method
× : ADS model
(a) |S| = 1 (b)
S22
S(4,4)
S(3,3)
S(2,2)
S(1,1)
S(4,3)
S(2,1)
-10
-8
-6
-4
-2
0
2
4
6
8
10
S11
Figure 5 (a) Smith chart of S11 and S22, (b) Polar plot of S21
: simulated results
× : measured results
(a) 0 (b) 0
-5 -10
dB(S(3,3))
dB(S(1,1))
dB(S(4,4))
dB(S(2,2))
-10 -20
-15 -30
-20 -40
-25 -50
0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5 3.0 0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5 3.0
freq, GHz freq, GHz
(c) 20
(d) 0
-10
10
dB(S(3,4))
dB(S(1,2))
-20
dB(S(4,3))
dB(S(2,1))
0 -30
-40
-10
-50
-20 -60
0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5 3.0 0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5 3.0
freq, GHz freq, GHz
Figure 6 S-parameters of a single stage amplifier fabricated using the ATF-34143: (a)
6
: simulated results
× : measured results
(a) 0
(b) 0
-5 -5
dB(S(3,3))
dB(S(1,1))
dB(S(4,4))
dB(S(2,2))
-10 -10
-15 -15
-20 -20
-25 -25
0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5 3.0 0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5 3.0
freq, GHz freq, GHz
(c) 30 (d) -20
20 -40
dB(S(4,3))
dB(S(2,1))
dB(S(3,4))
dB(S(1,2))
10
-60
0
-10 -80
-20 -100
0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5 3.0 0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5 3.0
freq, GHz freq, GHz
Figure 7 S-parameters of a two-stage amplifier fabricated using the ATF-34143: (a) S11,
dB(S(4,4))
dB(S(2,2))
-15
-20 -20
-25
-30
-30
-40 -35
0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5 3.0 0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5 3.0
freq, GHz freq, GHz
(c)15 (d)-20
10 -25
dB(S(4,3))
dB(S(2,1))
dB(S(3,4))
dB(S(1,2))
5 -30
0 -35
-5 -40
0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5 3.0 0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5 3.0
freq, GHz freq, GHz
Figure 8 S-parameters of an amplifier fabricated using AH1: (a) S11, (b) S22, (c) S21, and
(d) S12