Voltage-based wideband measurement of transmission characteristics using an integrated receiver IC

This paper presents wideband measurement of the transmission characteristics of a device-under-test (DUT) in the voltage domain using a receiver IC. Fabricated in 0.35μm 2P/4M RF CMOS, the receiver IC employs a broadband frequency response analysis methodology in order to measure the amplitude and phase of an RF excitation signal applied to the input port of the DUT and received at its output port. Utilizing three different test impedances as DUTs, the receiver IC can measure the transmission characteristics of each DUT, as quantified via its S₂₁ parameter, over a wide frequency range from 10MHz to 3GHz. The S₂₁ readings of the IC are also in excellent agreement with reference measurements conducted by a benchtop vector network analyzer (VNA). This work can ultimately enable the miniaturization of read-out electronics in sensing platforms that rely upon the measurement of transmission characteristics of a DUT.