Device offers industry-leading combination of low LO drive, low power consumption and wideband RF operation from 400 to 3500 MHz
Agilent Technologies has today introduced a high linearity, low LO (local oscillator) power E-pHEMT (enhancement mode pseudomorphic high electron mobility transistor) MMIC (microwave monolithic integrated circuit) mixer designed to meet the critical performance requirements of BTS (3G base station) radio cards and other point-to-point and point-to-multipoint microwave radio link applications.
The IAM-92516, from Agilent’s Semiconductor Products Group, combines high linearity with the industry’s lowest LO drive requirement, low power consumption and widest operating frequency range. It operates with RF and LO frequency inputs from 400 to 3500 MHz. IF output extends from DC to 300 MHz.
In addition to being used as a frequency up/down converter, this device can also serve as a high-performance modulator for microwave transmitters, a demodulator for receivers and a general-purpose resistive FET mixer for other high linearity applications.
The IAM-92516 operates from a single 3.3 VDC to 5 VDC supply, consuming only 26 mA typical at 5 volts. It provides greater than 27 dBm third-order input intercept point (IP3), 9 dBm output power, 1 dB gain compression, 6 dB conversion loss and 12.5 dB noise figure (all typical). LO to IF, LO to RF and RF to IF isolation are each greater than 30 dB. In a typical application (1.91 GHz input frequency, 1.7 GHz local oscillator and output of 210 MHz), the mixer can handle an RF input as high as 10 dBm without distortion, with a LO power input of only -3 dBm.
The IAM-92516 is supplied in a 3.0 x 3.0 x 0.75 mm lead-free and halogen-free 16-pin LPCC (leadless plastic chip carrier). The LO port is matched to 50 ohms and can be driven differentially or single-ended; the IF port is matched to 200 ohms and fully differential. The RF port requires an external matching network for optimum input return loss and IP3 performance.