EE 3113

INTRODUCTION INTO RF
CIRCUIT DESIGN
Lecture Notes for A-term 1999
LECTURE 1
Prof. R. Ludwig
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Worcester Polytechnic Institute
Worcester, MA
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Copyright, 1998 © R. Ludwig
 EE 3113: Lecture 1
• Importance of RF circuit design
– wireless communications (explosive growth of
cell phones)
– global positioning systems (GPS)
– computer engineering (bus systems, CPU,
peripherals exceeding 600 MHz)

• Why this course???

– lumped circuit representation no longer applies!
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What do we mean by going from lumped to distributed theory?

• Example: INDUCTOR
High-frequency
Low-frequency
(lumped)

Z = R + jω L Z=?
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Current and voltage vary spatially over the component size
E (or V) and H (or I) fields
Upper MHz to GHz range

1
2
0.5

0 y
0
-1 -0.5
-0.5
0
0.5 -1
x 1

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 Frequency spectrum
• RadioFrequency (RF)
– TV, wireless phones, GPS
– 300 MHz … 3 GHz operational frequency
– 1 m … 10 cm wavelength in air
• MicroWave (MW)
– RADAR, remote sensing
– 8 GHz … 40 GHz operational frequency
– 3.75 cm …7.5 mm wavelength in air

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 Design Focus
Cell phone transceiver circuit

Typical frequency
range:
• 950 MHz
• 1.9 GHz

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 Implementation
• matching networks
• BJT/FET active devices
• biasing circuits

• printed circuit board

• mircostripline realization
• surface mount technology

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