Digital Waves [Microwave Bytes]

A recurring theme in this column has been what I perceive as the cultural differences between various branches of electronics, particularly those that are closely coupled to different frequency ranges. One of my main targets has been what I term the “analog” electronics community, where design activity largely involves the interconnection of op-amps. In this world, it seems that gain is cheap, and linearity is mainly an issue of how much feedback to use. Needless to say, as a gigahertz-frequency RF designer, one frequently has to field questions that essentially say, “why can´t you do things the way we do, it´s much better and easier than the dumb way you do it.”