Millimeter Signal Measurements: Techniques, Solutions and Best Practices

New Network Analyzer platform Millimeter Signal Measurements: Techniques, Solutions and Best Practices Phase Noise measurements update 1

N522XA PNA Series Network Analyzer Introducing Highest Performance Microwave PNA Network Analyzers 2

N5227A 67GHz PNA-X Network Analyzer Highest performance Widest range of applications Extendable to 110 GHz + 3

PNA Series The industry s highest performing network analyzer, offering many advanced measurement applications N5221A 10 MHz to 13.5 GHz N5222A 10 MHz to 26.5 GHz N5224A 10 MHz to 43.5 GHz N5225A 10 MHz to 50 GHz N5227A 10 MHz to 67 GHz 4

PNA Series Five frequency models: 13.5/26.5/43.5/50/67 GHz Two and four ports High-power internal sources Best linear receivers Most accurate S-parameter measurements Advanced application options Page 5

N5227A 67GHz PNA Network Analyzer Unsurpassed 67 GHz performance specifications: 110 db system dynamic range +11 dbm output power -100 dbm noise floor +11 dbm receiver 0.1 db compression point* 0.002 db trace noise @1kHz IF bandwidth Performance enables 16 port, 67 GHz Signal Integrity Solution Provides highest accuracy device characterization from very low to high power 6

PNA-X Series Agilent s most advanced and flexible network analyzer, providing complete linear and nonlinear component characterization in a single instrument with a single set of connections N5241A 10 MHz to 13.5 GHz N5242A 10 MHz to 26.5 GHz N5244A 10 MHz to 43.5 GHz N5245A 10 MHz to 50 GHz N5247A 10 MHz to 67 GHz 7

P N A S E R I E S N 5 2 2 X A B A S E D ON T H E P N A - X, R E P L A C I N G T H E L E G A C Y P N A E 8 3 6 X C New PNA Series PNA-X Series + - + - R1 R1 R3 R4 R2 A C D B A R3 C R4 D R2 B 8

Agilent PNA Series Markets and Applications Passive and active devices (filters, duplexers, amplifiers, frequency converters, etc.) New PNA Series is ideal engine for: Millimeter-wave, up to 1.05 THz Material measurements Signal integrity Multiport VNA 9

A GILENT P N A S E R I E S WAgilent IDE R A NPNA G E OF Series A P P L I CMarkets A T I O N O Pand T I O NApplications S Scalar mixer cal Legacy PNA (E836xC) Gain compression Gain Frequency Compression Point Pin New PNA (N522xA) Active load-pull/ phase control NVNA/X-Parameter PNA-X (N524xA) Vector mixer cal IMD/spectrum True-mode Single-connection multiple-measurements Mixer with embedded LO Pulsed-RF Noise figure Low-noise receiver for NF 10

A G I L E N T P N A S E R I E S H I G H E S T P E R F O R M A N C E V N A E X A M P L E S W I T H N 5 2 2 2 A 2 6. 5 G H Z 4 - P O R T P N A ) +20 dbm -120 dbm High source output power High receiver sensitivity IFBW 1 MHz 100 khz 1 khz Extremely low trace noise 0.01 db/ Accurately measure filter out-of-band response Enables fast and repeatable filter passband measurements BPF fc: 10.24 GHz -135 dbm 11

A GILENT P N A S E R I E S S YSTEM D Y N A M I C A G I L E N T P N A S E R I E S S Y S T E M D Y N A M I C R A N G E R(EX A NA MG PE L E( S EX W IAT MH PN L5E 2S 2 2W A I T2H 6. N5 5G2 H2 Z 2 A 4 - P2 O6 R. T 5 PG NHA Z ) 4 - P O R T P N A ) IF bandwidth 100 khz 1 khz 10 Hz -130 db -150 db Note: 20 times point averaging applied 12

PNA Series 13

PNA Series Innovative Applications 14

PNA Series Innovative Applications Simple, fast, and accurate Pulsed-RF measurements 15

Pulsed-RF measurements 16

Pulsed-RF measurements 17

PNA Series Innovative Applications Fast, accurate Gain Compression versus frequency measurements of amplifiers and converters 18

PNA Series Innovative Applications Fast and accurate noise figure measurements 19

PNA Series Innovative Applications Accurate characterization of Mixers and Converters 20

PNA Series Innovative Applications Measuring Converters with Embedded LOs 21

A G I L E N T P N A S E R I E S S Y S T E M D Y N A M I C R A N G E (EX A M P L E S W I T H N 5 2 2 2 A 2 6. 5 G H Z 4 - P O R T P N A ) S-parameters Pout, Gain compression AM to PM conversion Gain compression vs. frequency Pulsed-RF measurements with internal pulse gen/mod. Page 22

A G I L E N T P N A S E R I E S S Y S T E M D Y N A M I C R A N G E (EX A M P L E S W I T H N 5 2 2 2 A 2 6. 5 G H Z 4 - P O R T P N A ) Conversion gain, Delay (SMC) Gain compression vs. frequency RF, IF & LO match RF to IF, LO to RF/IF leak Page 23

Advanced calibration tools 24

PNA Series Innovative Applications Extending the PNA to Millimeter-wave Frequencies Two- and four-port banded solutions Terahertz solutions without a test set Two- and four-port broadband, singlesweep solutions (10 MHz to 110 GHz) 25

Four-port system architecture 26

PNA-X Based 110 GHz Block Diagram 27

Broadband Amplifier Single Sweep Solution 10 MHz to 110 GHz calibrated S-parameters Accurate source power from 10 MHz to 110 GHz Gain compression with 48 db power sweep range at 98 GHz Output spectrum with 77 GHz input signal 28

PNA Series Innovative Applications Millimeter-wave applications Pulse profile at 77 GHz using the internal pulsed source and IF gates of the PNA. Example gain compression measurement of a 75 to 110 GHz packaged PHEMT transistor amplifier. 29

APPLICATIONS Gain Compression Mixer Measurement Pulse Measurement Differential Measurements Antenna Materials Measurements On wafer measurements Input Power vs. Freq Input Match vs. Freq Conversion Loss vs. Freq 30

Mixer Measurements Page 31 31

Fundamental Mixer Measurement IF Output 1 GHz RF Input 75 110 GHz DUT LO Input 74-109 GHz 32

Harmonic Mixer Measurements NOTE: For Harmonic Mixer Measurements a two or 4 port Millimeter wave controller may be used In addition and external source or the second source of the PNA-X may be used for the LO IF Output 12.5 GHz 18.33 GHz RF Input 75-110 GHz DUT Harmonic Mixer. IF = 1/6 * RF LO= 1/8 * RF LO Input 9.35 GHz - 13.75 GHz 33

Harmonic Mixer Measurement IF OUT 99 MHz LO IN 9-13 GHz RF IN 75-110 GHz DUT 34

Upconverter Example LO INPUT 9-13 GHz RF IN 1 GHz RF OUT 73-108 GHz 35

Output Power Amplifier S Parameters & Compression Measurements Input Power 36

Compression: Setup 37

Compression: Measurement Calibrate S-Parameters Source Power Receiver power Stimulus Sweep source power Measure S-Parameters Absolute power Compression S-Parameters vs. Freq Power & Compression vs. Power in 38

Gain Compression Calibrate S-Parameters Source Power Receiver power Stimulus Sweep source power Measure S-Parameters Absolute power Compression 39

Differential Measurements 40

True-mode differential measurements 41

Differential Amplifier Measurement 42

Differential: Measurement Test Device: Magic Tee Delta Port (+) Port (-) Port Sigma Port Gain: "Delta in" to "Common-mode out" Gain: "Sigma in" to "Common-mode out" Sigma (+) Delta (-) Sigma (+) Delta (-) Gain: "Delta in" to "Differential out" Gain: "Sigma in" to "Differential out" 43

Pulse Measurements Page 44 44

Pulse: Setup 45

Pulse: Techniques 46

Pulse: Measurement Calibrate S-Parameters Source Power Receiver power Stimulus Pulse generation RF Pulse modulation Swept frequency or power Measure S-Parameters Absolute power Pulse waveform 100us pulse power waveform at 98GHz Page 47 47

Antenna Measurements 48

Antenna: Setup for local 49

Antenna: Setup for remote PNA-X N5261A 50

Antenna: Measurement Calibrate 1-port S-parameters Transmission Stimulus Sweep antenna position Measure Antenna match Antenna pattern 51

On-Wafer Measurements 52

WinCal XE Automated 4-Port 53

Waveguide Calibration 54

1-Port: Waveguide Calibration Methods Short -> Offset-Short -> Load (SOSL) Short -> Offset-Short -> Load -> Offset-load (SOSOL) 2-Port: Thru -> Reflect -> Line (TRL) Thru -> Reflect -> Match (TRM) Line -> Reflect -> Line (LRL) ------- Easy to Implement Often Recommended Short -> Offset-short -> Load -> Thru (SOSLT) Short -> Offset-short -> Load -> Offset-load -> Thru (SOSOLT) 55

LRL Cal Standards Characteristics Reflect: reflection coefficient magnitude need not be known must be the same on each port reflection coefficient must be known within 1/4 wavelength LINE 1: S12 and S21 defined same as Line 2 S11 and S22 defined to be zero LINE 2: Z0 of the line establishes reference impedance, = LINE 1 insertion phase must not be equal to that of the Thru LINE Usable bandwidth for a single LINE 1/LINE 2 pair is <8:1 Bandwidth limited i.e. (stop freq)/(start freq) <8 S21 of line need not be known, BUT must have similar propagation properties as LINE 1 56

Assumptions The test ports have ideal aperture geometry. That they are perfectly aligned to the device-under-test (DUT). In the presence of waveguide aperture irregularities and misalignment, the validity of these assumptions breaks down as frequency increases. The source match of both lines are considered to be the same. For Calibration > 110 GHz LRL is the Calibration method is the best. 57

The Issue Reduced sizes D 2 D 3 D 6 D 5 D 4 D 1 WR-10 Waveguide Flange 75-110GHz W= 2.54mm H= 1.27mm R= 0.043mm max WR-05 Waveguide Flange 140-220GHz W=1.3mm H=0.648mm R= 0.043mm max ¼-offset shim = 3.1140 mm (10.391ps) Null shim = 2.5451 mm (8.492ps) ¼-offset shim = 2.9083 mm (9.704ps Null shim = 2.5425 mm (8.484ps) 58

The Issue - Common Waveguide Irregulaties Oversized apertures (typ. 30-40μm) Rounded corners & sidewalls Flange poor edge & surface finish Burrs 59

LRL Cal Standards Characteristics Reflect: reflection coefficient magnitude need not be known must be the same on each port reflection coefficient must be known within 1/4 wavelength LINE 1: S12 and S21 defined same as Line 2 S11 and S22 defined to be zero LINE 2: Z0 of the line establishes reference impedance, = LINE 1 insertion phase must not be equal to that of the Thru LINE Usable bandwidth for a single LINE 1/LINE 2 pair is <8:1 Bandwidth limited i.e. (stop freq)/(start freq) <8 S21 of line need not be known, BUT must have similar propagation properties as LINE 1 60

Electrical Evaluation Model for Validation 1 st order model of the WR5 and WR3 precision sections: Air block:- a x b = 1.2954mm x 0.6477mm for WR5 a x b = 0.8636mm x 0.4318mm for WR3 Wave Port excitations Length = 25.4mm for WR5 Length = 25.425mm for WR3 Gold block Conductivity=4.1e+7 S/m Assumed perfectly smooth 61

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Fully Calibrated with Excellent Stability Cal Kit WR- 1.5 500.0-750.0 GHz < 0.1 db drift over 16 Hrs Includes bot 1/8 and ¼ wave shims Precision sections Precision Loads Shorts Supports: TRL calibration Offset Short Calibrations using Agilent s proprietary Weighted least squares methods. Offset Load Calibration using Agilent s Loss term compensation. Enhanced offset Calibration using multiple lines. 63