1. RF Diodes 209 open circuit at DC and a short circuit at RF. Figure 6-16 shows a typical attenuator cir- cuit where the PIN diode is used either in series or shunt connection. Although in the following discussion we will use a DC bias, a low-frequency AC bias can also be employed. In this case the current through the diode consists of two components such that J = (dQ/dt) + QO/t, . The implication of this is deferred to the problem section. DO vs PIN Diode Ce (b) Shunt connection of PIN diode Figure 6-16 Attenuator circuit with biased PIN diode in series and shunt configurations. For positive DC bias voltage, the series connected PIN diode represents a low resistance to the RF signal. The shunt connected PIN diode, however, creates a short-cir- cuit condition, permitting only a negligibly small RF signal to appear at the output port.300 Chapter 6 + Active RF Components ‘The shunt connection acts like a high attenuation device with high insertion loss. The situation is reversed for negative bias condition where the scries connected PIN diode behaves like a capacitor with high impedance or high insertion loss, whereas the shunt connected diode with a high shunt impedance does not affect the RF signal appreciably. ‘An often used notation is the transducer loss 7L conveniently expressed in terms of the § parameter |S,,| so that with (4.52) TL = -20log|S>,| = -20log bad (6.51) The following example computes the transducer loss for a PIN diode in series configuration. EM Example 6-5: Computation of transducer loss of a PIN diode in series configuration for forward and reverse bias conditions Find the transducer loss of a forward and reverse biased PIN diode in series connection (Zz = Z, = Zy = 50 Q). Assume the junction resis- tance R, under forward bias ranges between 1 and 20 Q. Further- more, assume that the reverse bias operating conditions result in the junction capacitance being C, = 0.1, 0.3, 0.6, 1.3, and 2.5 pF, and the frequency range of interest extends from 10 MHz to 50 GHz. Solution: — Based on (6.51) and Figure 6-15, the transducer loss is found with the aid of the voltage divider rule to be , 100 R TLigewart = -20108( sae) = 20I0g(1 +7) and TL, reverse = — 20108) 100 an ___100__| = 101og[ 1 : (oar) ] 100 — j1/(@C;) 1000Cp Figure 6-17 plots the transducer Joss in dB under forward bias condition for the given range of junction resistances. In contrast, Figure 6-18 graphs the reverse bias condition where the PIN diode essentially has a purely capacitive response.