EE 614 — SOLID STATE MICROWAVE DEVICES AND THEIR APPLICATIONS

Course Offered in – 2018 – 2019 (Spring)

Course Instructor: Prof. Jayanta Mukherjee

Motivation for this course – This course deals with the theory and applications of microwave frequency band of electromagnetic spectrum. We will study basic passive (which do not produce any power themselves i.e. there is never any gain involved) used in microwave systems. These include impedance matching networks (using Smith Charts), couplers, attenuators, phase shifters power combiner/divider, amplifiers, oscillators, etc. Electromagnetic theory is combined with Network Theory. This course helps us to design electrical circuits using microstrip transmission lines and also classical lumped elements. Basic parameters used in designs of microwave systems (S parameters, ABCD, impedance issues etc.) are also discussed.

Prerequisites – This course doesn’t require any hard and fast prerequisites but EE301 knowledge is helpful for understanding the course content better. A basic EM waves course helps as it is highly dependent on concepts like transmission line and smith chart. The instructor recommends a basic circuit course and an introduction to network theory.

Course Content:

Basics of Transmission Lines: Strip Line, Coaxial Cable, Microstrip Line Design.
Coplanar Waveguides, Lossy Transmission Line Model, Impedance Matching using Smith Chart, Reflection and transmission coefficients, VSWR
ABCD, S, Y, Z parameters for various circuits
Amplifiers: Microwave semiconductor devices and models; Power gain equations,  stability, impedance matching using lumped elements and stubs, constant gain and noise figure circles, stability circles; Small signal, low noise, high-power and broadband amplifier designs; Power amplifier design & Linearization
Signal flow graphs
DC biasing
Class A,B, C amplifiers; Feedback amplifiers
Couplers; Power dividers
Amplifier tuning; Gain compression; Harmonics; Desensitization and Blocking; Cross modulation; Intermodulation
Oscillators: Feedback Oscillator system and Negative resistance oscillator

Lectures – Lectures were conducted with the aid of slides which were provided to students. The pace of the lectures were slow and the professor gave ample time to learn the concepts. The professor focused on the derivation of formulae. The lectures slides are concise and adequate for the examinations.

Assignments and Tutorials – Tutorials were conducted to discuss some problems. No assignments were given.

Exams – Exams comprised of 2 quizzes (10% each), midsem (30%), endsem (40%) and course project (10%). Exams were mostly based on tutorial discussions, slides and problems from a reference book.

Course Project – The problem statement was given right at the start giving ample time to think. It was to design a power amplifier using AFIC901N for a gain of at least 20 dB at 520 MHz with some more specifications. However, it used the software ADS for which the instructor could procure the license for only a month, in which the second week was midsem week resulting in not many students being able to finish it and relying on Antennae/VLSI lab. The students had to make a group of two to four and fabricate and solder a PCB of their and conduct tests on it. The design project helps the students to learn the practical difficulties which entails while designing a microwave circuit. The professor kept 5% weightage for the presentation and 5% for the report.

Difficulty – Easy

Grading – Lenient

Study Material and References – Lecture slides which were shared by instructors.

  1. Microwave Transistor Amplifier: Analysis and Design, Gonzalez Guillermo, Prentice Hall,1984.

  2. D.M. Pozar , Microwave Engineering, John Wiley & Sons, 2012.

  3. Microwave Circuit Analysis and Amplifier Design, Samuel, Y. Liao, Prentice Hall, 1987.

  4. High-Frequency Amplier, Ralph S. Carson, Wiley-Interscience 1982

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