RF Electronics Chapter 8: Amplifiers: Stability, Noise and Gain Page 290
2022, C. J. Kikkert, James Cook University, ISBN 978-0-6486803-9-0.
Figure 8.14 shows the performance data of the PMA5453 obtained from [2] and then
selecting View Data to download the pdf file containing tables of measured data.
Comparing figures 8.8 and 8.14 shows that the BGB707 has a flatter frequency response
to 1 GHz, but a slightly worse NF between 100 MHz and 1 GHz, than the PMA5453.
Figure 8.14 shows that the amplifier has a very good linearity with an output IP3 level
greater than 30 dBm (1W).
Figure 8.15 shows that the amplifier is unconditionally stable apart from the frequency
region from 12.5 GHz to 12.9 GHz. Figure 8.16 shows the corresponding stability factors.
For unconditional stability K>1, MU1>1 and MU2>1 and B>0. It can be seen that K,
MU1 and MU2 are >1 and B>0 for all measured frequencies, apart from a small dip in
MU1 at 12.5 to 12.9 GHz. As a result, the amplifier is unconditionally stable over its
normal operating range of 50 MHz to 6 GHz.
Figure 8.16. Stability factors for the PMA5453 MMIC
Figure 8.17. Tuning stability circle frequency to verify stability.
There reduced stability from 12.5 to 12.9 GHz, can be investigated further by plotting the
stability circles when tuning the operating frequency, as shown in figure 8.17. This shows
RF Electronics: Design and Simulation
290 www.cadence.com/go/awr
