Radio Frequency Metrics (1)

 Units for RF design: In RF (microwave) circuits, power is usually

used to describe signals, noise, or distortion with the typical unit of
measure being decibels above 1 milliwatt (dBm). Voltage and current
are expressed as peak, peak-to-peak, or root-mean-square (rms).
Power in dBm, PdBm, can be related to the power in watts, Pwatt, as

Assuming a sinusoidal voltage waveform, Pwatt is given by

where R is the resistance the voltage is across. Note also that vrms can
be related to the peak voltage vpp by

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 Radio Frequency Metrics (2)
Example (R=50 Ohm):

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 Radio Frequency Metrics (3)
 Distortion
Consider a nonlinear system, e.g. LNAs, mixers, described by the
following equation:
y (t )   0  1 x(t )   2 x 2 (t )   3 x 3 (t )

where y(t) and x(t) is the output and input of the system respectively.

Assume x(t) = Acos(ωt), then from equation we get:

  2 A2   3 3 A3    2 A2    3 A3 
y (t )    0     1 A   cos(t )    cos(2t )    cos(3t )
 2   4   2   4 
Note that the DC (fundamental) magnitude is affected by the even
(odd) harmonic components.
The term with the input frequency is called the fundamental and the
higher order terms the harmonics.

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 Radio Frequency Metrics (4)
Harmonic distortion factors (HDi) provide a measure for the distortion
introduced by each harmonic for a given input signal level (using a single
tone at a given frequency).

HDi is defined as the ratio of the output signal level of the ith harmonic
to that of the fundamental. The total harmonic distortion (THD) is the
geometric mean of the distortion factors.

3𝛼3 𝐴3
Assuming 𝛼1 A ≫ , the second harmonic distortion HD2, the third
4
harmonic distortion HD3 and the total harmonic distortion THD are defined
as:
 A  3 A2
HD 2  2 HD3 
21 41

THD   HD  HD +HD  
2 2 2 1/ 2
2 3 4

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 Radio Frequency Metrics (5)
The 1-dB compression point is defined as the point where the fundamental
gain deviates from the ideal small signal gain by 1 dB:
 3 3 A13 dB 
20 log  1 A1 dB    20 log 1 A1 dB   1  20 log  0.891251 A1 dB 
 4 
(Note that 20 log 0.89125= -1dB, |1-0.89125| = 0.10875)

4 1 1
 A 2
1 dB  0.10875 k
3 3 3

Definition of the 1-dB compression point

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 Radio Frequency Metrics (6)
Intermodulation distortion (IM):
Consider input signal of a nonlinear system as x(t) = Acos1t + Acos2t,
then output signal is given by
 9 3 A3   9 3 A3 
y (t )   0   2 A    1 A 
2
 cos 1t    1 A   cos 2t  
 4   4 
  2 A2    2 A2 
  cos  21t     cos  22t    2 A  cos 1  2  t  
2

 2   2 
 3 3 A3   3 3 A3 
  2 A  cos 1  2  t   
2
 cos  21  2  t     cos  22  1  t  
 4   4 
 3 3 A3   3 3 A3 
  cos  21  2  t     cos  22  1  t  
 4   4 
  3 A3    3 A3 
  cos  31t     cos  32t 
 4   4 
Third order input intercept point IIP3 is defined as the intercept point of the
fundamental component with the third order intermodulation component as
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 Radio Frequency Metrics (7)
3 3 AIIP
3
4 1
1 AIIP 3  3
 2
AIIP 3 
4 3 3
1/2
 4 1 
Therefore, the input IIP3 is: AIIP 3  
 3  3 
and the output IIP3: 1 AIIP 3

The third order intermodulation distortion IM3 is defined as:

3 3 2
IM 3  A  3HD3
4 1
2
AIIP
Note that 2
3
 9.195  AIIP 3 (dB)  A1dB (dB)  10
A1dB

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 Radio Frequency Metrics (8)

Schematic spectrum showing two signals with frequencies f1 and f2

and their intermodulation products.

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 Radio Frequency Metrics (9)

Third order intermodulation (IM3) components

corrupt the signal resulting in distortion

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 Radio Frequency Metrics (10)

Definition of the third order intercept point

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 Radio Frequency Metrics (11)
Dynamic range:
There are many definitions for the dynamic range. We define here spurious
free dynamic range (SFDR). The SFDR is the difference, in dB, between
the fundamental frequency and the highest spur, which could be an
intermodulation harmonic, in the bandwidth of interest.

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