FULL RF SIGNAL

This white paper is an executive

summary of a webcast of CHAINS FROM
0 Hz TO 110 GHz
the same title released on
November 16, 2015, sponsored
by Analog Devices and Avnet.

Introduction
Since the acquisition of Hittite Microwave in 2014, Analog Devices, Inc. (ADI) has expanded its RF capabilities in
the full signal chain, including companion products, in the full bandwidth from 0 Hz to 110 GHz. ADI is now #1
in RF semiconductors worldwide, and remains #1 in analog-to-digital converters (ADCs) and digital-to-analog
converters (DACs), as well as #1 in linear semiconductor components. This white paper provides examples of
the wider frequency spectrum covered by ADI, and explains that true dc is important. Off signal chain perfor-
mance is also critical, and this paper shows how low noise, high stability control, and power components are
important to overall RF signal performance.
ADI solutions range from industrial to communications infrastructure, all the way to automotive. In the industrial
space, they include test and measurement, aerospace, and defense. In communications infrastructure, our so-
lutions include cellular infrastructure (smartphones and the infrastructure behind them), microwave, broadband,
and fiber optic networks. And in automotive, ADI’s portfolio includes advanced driver assistance systems such
as radar and other types of equipment.
The frequency spectrum ADI now covers ranges all the way from 0 Hz to 110 GHz, with a wide variety of
applications ranging from CATV and magnetic resonance imaging, all the way up to scientific imaging and mea-
surement. And in between is everything from satellite radio and military countermeasures, to industrial imaging
and telematics—a massive spectrum—and all the solutions required for this to address the megatrend of
ubiquitous connectivity, also known as the Internet of Things (IoT).

Complete Signal Chain Solutions

ADI provides reference designs that integrate standard ICs. Systems-in-package (SIP) integration takes standard
components and packages them, fully tested and verified, as a complete subsystem solution. In system on-chip
technology, the silicon die itself is the integration platform. ADI also makes available connectorized modules, which
are very important in high frequency applications.
ADI components span from sensors to amplifiers and LNAs, all the way through signal conditioning technology,
as well as ADCs, digital signal processing devices, DACs, power amplifiers, and output products.
Figure 1 shows a generic RF
signal chain. In the upper left RF Switches ADC
Frequency
corner are the LNA, the RF LNA Conversion
Drivers ADC

switches, and RF attenuators

going into frequency conversion, RF Attenuators
which could be upconversion or Timing
downconversion, depending upon Management
what’s required. The chain then
PA
goes to the ADC drivers and the
ADC for conversion to bits—the
Frequency
RF to bits. In the middle are the Conversion
DAC

frequency generation blocks,

which can be driven from a
variety of sources and distributed Figure 1. A generic RF signal chain.
around the system with timing
management. The timing management frequency generation blocks would be shared with the output side or
the transmit side of the generic signal chain. On the output side, the DAC goes into an amplifier for the mixer,
which is frequency conversion, and filters and switches out. The key point to note here is that ADI’s signal chain
coverage has increased from only about 20% to almost 100%, making ADI #1 in this space.

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 2 Full RF Signal Chains from 0 Hz to 110 GHz

An Expanded Portfolio
ADI has a greatly expanded portfolio of components and solutions. These include, but are not limited to:
XX Switches that are smaller, with lower insertion loss XX IF amplifiers that are lower power
and higher isolation XX RF gain blocks
XX LNAs that are lower power, lower noise frequency, XX Digital step and fixed attenuators
and have better gain balance
XX Phase-locked loops (PLLs)
XX Passive mixers and filters
XX Wideband and narrow-band voltage controlled
XX Passive mixer local oscillator (LO) drivers and oscillators (VCOs)
postamplifiers
XX Doublers and triplers
Test equipment is a key growth area for ADI, including backhaul test equipment and the cellular standards—2G, 3G, 4G,
and the upcoming 5G. There is a lot of work being done in R&D and prototyping in 5G development. Next is the IoT and
multistandard radio test. On the same system, there can be many different radio standards to test. There is also Wi-Fi or
WiGig 40 GHz short range communications test for that type of system. And lastly, there is automotive radar, which is heading
up towards 77 GHz. The IoT is suggesting a very large—tens of billions of units—market that needs to be low cost with better
and wider bandwidth test capabilities. That’s one of the most stringent, high volume test needs in the marketplace. They are
all extremely aggressive in terms of performance.
A smartphone is an example of a piece of equipment that requires testing to multiple standards such as: Bluetooth,® cellular
2G/3G/4G LTE, Wi-Fi, and GPS variants.
There are a multitude of standards that would be applied across the electronic test and measurement spectrum, ranging
from precision and audio testing at a very low frequency, to land mobile radio, which would have lower frequencies for longer
transmission distances; to digital broadcast analyzers, handset test equipment, microwave point-to-point test equipment,
automotive collision avoidance test equipment, and 5G research.
For all of these spectrums or bands, for the components that go into these systems, the components themselves have to be
tested at these high frequencies, the modules they go into have to be tested, the completed printed circuit boards have to be
tested, and the systems themselves have to be tested, and that occurs at various stages of life. At the beginning, those stages
could be at R&D in the lab. There is compliance testing of all this equipment, then there’s the production test, and then the
final factory test. There are many different stages of testing for all of these bands, so there is a wide variety of different needs
and applications across a very wide spectrum of frequencies.

Enabling Innovation in Electronic Testing

All of these new applications are generating a number of different needs and trends in the marketplace. Unlimited appetite for
data is driving new communications standards (higher frequencies, wider bandwidths, Wi-Fi, and cellular networks). Emerging
markets and ubiquitous data collection require lower cost of tests. If there are tens of billions of units out there all communi-
cating, things cannot be tested the way they have been up until now. There has to be a real increase in performance with a
resulting decrease in cost.
These innovative solutions are requiring higher frequencies and wider bandwidth testing. How do we test a device that has
multiple radios on board that’s shipping in very large volumes where we have to do multiple types of tests on it? Test times
have to be reduced, and we need to be able to ensure that when a test is done, it doesn’t have to be repeated—the test is
highly accurate and repeatable. This also drives the need for reconfigurable hardware platforms. The same platform must be
used as a general foundation for testing all of these radio standards and devices.
RF and microwave solutions ADI has and will have in the future provide wideband RF and microwave performance all the way
from the antenna (sensor) to the processor or the cloud, perhaps. This will drive scalable performance and power for all the
different types of testing, to support different classes of instruments. ADI also has achieved higher integration using smaller
solutions with higher performance. Being able to have the same equipment test multiple standards will result in smaller
equipment.

Signal Chain Equipment Examples

Some of the high speed and RF electronic test and measurement products ADI offers includes oscilloscopes, RF power meters,
vector signal analyzers (VSAs), network analyzers, signal and spectrum analyzers, signal generators, scanners/receivers,
RF sources, EMI test receivers, broadband amplifiers, electromagnetic susceptibility (EMS) test systems, cable and antenna
analyzers, and simulators for Bluetooth, WLANs, and cellular.

Vector Signal Analyzer

A vector signal analyzer is an instrument that measures the magnitude and phase of the measured signal at a single fre-
quency within the range of the instrument. That can be delivered in various forms graphically and across various connections
to measure things like code domain power, error vector magnitude, and spectral flatness. There are a variety of measurements
that can be obtained from this basic instrument. ADI’s strengths are in ADC drivers and ADCs, direct digital synthesis, and
clock generation chips. ADI’s PLLs and VCOs dominate RF instrumentation, and ADI switches are everywhere.
 Visit analog.com 3

The vector signal analyzer, previously known as a spectrum analyzer, measures and displays amplitude vs. frequency
(frequency domain), but it can often have time domain information. It’s becoming very versatile in terms of what it can
display. Its input frequency range can be from 9 kHz to 6 GHz and beyond. The next higher bandwidths are typically 13 GHz
and 26.5 GHz, and up to 77 GHz. So upconversion and downconversion can be tested using lower frequency components
and systems.
Prior to the acquisition, ADI had only about 20% of the RF signal chain. Now, the company has added a variety of functions
such as passive mixers, RF switches, narrow-band and wideband VCOs, and tunable filters. Nearly every RF component has
been improved in some way. See the Vector Signal Analyzer Signal Chain.

Synthesizer
A synthesizer is an instrument to generate reference or comparison signals to test various types of equipment. ADI’s portfolio
of high speed and RF components includes passive mixers, VCOs, tunable filters, switches, and so on. It’s about creating
signals of all kinds, and this type of block can be a standalone type of equipment or a block within another type of equipment
such as a signal analyzer or a network analyzer. The synthesizer is the next block as the frequency generator or modulation
component. See the Synthesizer Signal Chain.

Oscilloscope
The last block is the oscilloscope, which is one of the most useful types of electronic test and measurement equipment. It
provides analysis and display of a signal such as amplitude, frequency, rise time, time interval, and distortion. ADI components
at play here include ADCs to get to bits that can then be processed for display or analysis. Things like digital signal processing,
filters, voltage gain amplifiers (VGAs), and PLLs/VCOs are necessary to drive the timing for the oscilloscope that would be set
on the front panel. See the Oscilloscope Signal Chain.

RF and Microwave Control Products

RF switches and attenuators is an important class of components used in every piece of RF equipment. Through the acquisi-
tion, ADI has a very wide portfolio of these components for simple switching purposes, and also for digital attenuation for
digitally controlling attenuation. This includes switches for controlling input and output, for transmit and receive, and switches
for selecting various filters.

40 40

35
35
0.1 dB Compression Point
Input Compression (dBm)

Input Compression (dBm)

1.0 dB Compression Point 30

30
1.0 dB Compression Point

0.1 dB Compression Point 25

25
20

20
15

15 10
0.01 0.10 1 0.01 0.10 1 10 100 1000
Frequency in Log Scale (GHz) Frequency (MHz)

Figure 2. Comparison of a typical GaAs switch on the left vs. a silicon switch.

Figure 2 shows an example of Gallium Arsenide (GaAs) vs. silicon switches. On the left is a GaAs switch; on the right is a
silicon switch. The important difference is that the silicon switch goes all the way down to 9 KHz, which is of vital importance
to test and measurement applications that require the amp to go down to dc or very low frequency to be able to capture
baseband type signals and antialiasing.
But it’s not just about the RF. There is a wide variety of converters:
XX AD9625 12-bit, 2.6 GSPS/2.5 GSPS/2.0 GSPS, XX AD9690 14-bit, 500 MSPS/1 GSPS JESD204B,
analog-to-digital converter analog-to-digital converter
XX AD9691 14-bit, 1.25 GSPS JESD204B, XX AD9152 dual, 16-bit, 2.25 GSPS, TxDAC+®
dual analog-to-digital converter digital-to-analog converter
XX AD9684 14-bit, 500 MSPS LVDS, XX AD9154 quad, 16-bit, 2.4 GSPS, TxDAC+
dual analog-to-digital converter digital-to-analog converter
Good RF Needs Good Power
ADI now has the world’s lowest noise LDOs. The low noise, high PSRR Author/Presenter
power supply rejection ratio LDOs are necessary for good frequency Mel Conway is the product manager for
generation. ADCs are used for measuring the signal, but RF DACs also instrumentation, high speed and RF, and
are used for generating and synthesizing RF and high frequency signals; precision at Analog Devices. Mel has been
Figure 3 shows the various components that might be used. On the left- with Analog Devices for 15 years, and his
hand side are the ADCs powering the various rails using very clean power, experience includes mixed-signal and digital
using switching supplies to generate different types of rails, and on the design, software engineering, applications
right-hand side, a typical application using an RF DAC, again using the engineering, and marketing. He has designed
negative LDOs for the lowest noise and therefore the highest accuracy and products for the industrial, instrumentation,
the most stable outputs for the DAC for RF. energy, and consumer segments.

AD9680 +6 VIN +5.0 V

14-Bit, 1000 MSPS ADM7150 PLL
JESD204B, Dual Analog- LDO ADF4355-2
to-Digital Converter
3.3 V ADM7171
Input 2.5 V: AVDD2 +1.8 V
LDO ADM7150
LDO
ADM7160 1.8 V: SPIVDD
LDO AD9129
RF DAC
ADP2164 1.7 V 1.25 V: AVDD1
Buck ADP1741
Regulator LDO 1.25 V: AVDD1_SR
−1.5 V

ADP1741 1.25 V: DVDD

LDO 1.25 V: DRVDD −6 V ADP7183
ADP5073
ADP2370 3.8 V −VE LDO
5 V/12 V ADM7160
Buck 3.3 V: AVDD3
Input LDO
Regulator

Figure 3. Clean power for converters results in clean signals. On the left-hand side are the ADCs powering the various rails using very clean power.

More than Silicon

ADI is more than just silicon. The company is proud to be able to help engineers and designers in the development of RF
systems, including free design tools; rapid prototyping platforms based on FPGAs from partners; Circuits from the Lab®
reference designs that comprise layouts and designs; and EngineerZone® technical forums.
An analog Design tool called ADIsimRF™ is an RF signal chain calculator that can calculate cascaded gain, noise figure, IP3,
and more. Up to 20 different stages can be inserted, removed, or temporarily muted as required.

Conclusion
This paper has discussed the broad spectrum that ADI now covers—up to 100% of very high performance and complex types
of equipment. One very important point is that ADI has components to fit nearly all of the function gaps on a signal chain. ADI
is now #1 in RF semiconductors, can now capture up to 100% of RF signal chains, covers the complete frequency range from
0 Hz to 110 GHz, has more than 1000 RF and microwave parts, and maintains leadership as #1 in converters and linear.

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