High-frequency technology

Subject description

High-frequency semiconductor devices: diodes and transistors. Different semiconductors, band-gap and carrier mobility. Amplifier operating point, classes A,B,C. S-parameters. Amplifier stability. Amplifier thermal noise. Noise figure. Noise measurements. Amplifier saturation, definition of P1dB. Inter-modulation distortion, IMD intercept point. Non-linear high-frequency circuits: mixer and limiter. Lumped LC and cavity electrical filters. Piezoelectric mechanical resonators, quartz crystals and SAW devices. Electrical oscillators. Short-term and long-term stability. Oscillator phase noise. Frequency synthesizers. Phase-locked loops, loop stability and phase noise. Implementation of radio transmitters. Basic designs of radio receivers: homodyne, heterodyne and zero intermediate-frequency designs. Carrier and clock recovery in radio receivers.

The subject is taught in programs

Objectives and competences

Learning specific circuit components and systems for high frequencies. Learning specific methods of measurements, analysis and synthesis of high-frequency circuits. Learning fundamental system knowledge of radio communications.

Teaching and learning methods

Lectures to explain the theoretical background and laboratory experiments to practically confirm the theory in the spirit of team work.

Expected study results

After successful completion of the course, students should be able to:

– characterize the building blocks of radio transmitters and receivers

– find the sensitivity of a radio receiver and measure its noise figure

– measure the output power, efficiency and intermodulation distortion od a radio transmitters

– select appropriate filters in different technologies for radio equipment

– find the phase-noise performance of a radio-frequency oscillators

– design a radio-frequency synthesizer including a phase-locked loop

– select the most appropriate technology for a radio receiver

Basic sources and literature

  1. Priročnik za laboratorijske vaje: http://antena.fe.uni-lj.si/literatura/vt.pdf
  2. Kostevc, D., Poglavja iz mikrovalov, Založba FE in FRI, Ljubljana, 2005
  3. Vidmar, M., Radiokomunikacije, Založba FE in FRI, Ljubljana, 2005
  4. Vidmar, M., Laboratorijske vaje iz Radiokomunikacij, Založba FE in FRI, Ljubljana, 2000
  5. http://antena.fe.uni-lj.si/literatura/

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E:  dekanat@fe.uni-lj.si T:  01 4768 411