company blog about Supply ADI RF Evaluation Board:RF Switch,RF Amplifier,RF Mixer,RF Attenuator

Supply ADI RF Evaluation Board:RF Switch,RF Amplifier,RF Mixer,RF Attenuator

Shenzhen Mingjiada Electronics Co., Ltd. specialises in the sale of electronic components, adhering to the development philosophy and mission of ‘quality first, reasonable pricing, timely delivery, customer-centric service, and customer loyalty.’ The company continuously improves product quality and service standards to provide high-quality electronic component supply services to an increasing number of customers.

Mingjiada Electronics' core competitiveness lies in:

Extensive inventory system: The company operates warehouses in Hong Kong, Shenzhen, and other locations, with over 2 million inventory SKUs

Strict quality control: All materials undergo rigorous quality inspections before being stocked, ensuring that only genuine products strictly compliant with original manufacturer technical standards are provided

Diversified product portfolio: Covering electronic components across multiple fields including 5G, new energy, IoT, vehicle networking, base station communications, artificial intelligence, and RF.

I. RF Switches: The “Precision Gateways” for Signal Routing

RF switches serve as critical control components within radio frequency chains, facilitating rapid signal switching and routing between diverse pathways. Their insertion loss, linearity, switching speed, and reliability directly impact signal integrity and system response efficiency. Leveraging advanced MEMS (Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems) technology, ADI has developed multiple high-performance RF switch evaluation boards, with the EVAL-CN0377-EB1Z evaluation board featuring the ADGM1304 chip being the most representative.

The ADGM1304 is a single-pole quad-throw (SP4T) MEMS RF switch operating from DC to 14 GHz. Configured back-to-back on the EVAL-CN0377-EB1Z board, it provides four independent switchable paths: two direct paths and two attenuation paths featuring 6 dB and 9 dB attenuators respectively, offering flexible signal routing options. Demonstrating best-in-class performance at 2.5 GHz, this switch exhibits low insertion loss down to 0.26 dB, minimising signal attenuation. With a third-order intercept point (IP3) of 69 dBm and excellent linearity, it effectively prevents signal distortion. Compared to traditional electromechanical relays, the ADGM1304 offers significant advantages: its compact physical dimensions of 4mm × 5mm × 0.95mm substantially reduce PCB layout space; its switching speed of up to 30μs far surpasses the millisecond response times of electromechanical relays, eliminating measurement system delays; and its drive life of up to one billion cycles significantly enhances long-term system reliability.

Furthermore, the ADGM1304 supports true DC signal transmission without restricting low-frequency operation, enabling flexible DC bias voltage routing within RF test instruments. This makes it ideal for applications demanding exceptional signal routing flexibility and stability, such as test instrumentation and receiver front ends. The evaluation board incorporates Rosenberger RF edge-mount SMA connectors with a frequency range spanning DC to 18GHz. Combined with an optimised PCB laminate design (utilising Rogers RO4003C material), this further ensures robust signal transmission performance across the broad frequency band.

II. Radio Frequency Amplifiers: The “Power Engines” of Signal Gain

The core function of radio frequency amplifiers is to linearly amplify weak RF signals while minimising noise interference, thereby enhancing signal-to-noise ratio and transmission distance. They serve as the central gain elements within both RF receive and transmit chains. ADI offers multiple RF amplifier evaluation boards tailored to diverse frequency bands, power requirements, and gain specifications. The EVAL-ADL8101 series and AD8347-EVAL boards each possess distinct characteristics, catering to broadband and integrated application scenarios.

The EVAL-ADL8101 series comprises two variants: ADL8101-EVALZ and ADL8101-EVAL1Z. Both employ a 4-layer PCB design with a 0.254mm-thick Isola 370 HR copper-clad laminate substrate, achieving an overall thickness of 1.58mm. This configuration delivers excellent electrical performance and thermal conductivity. Both evaluation boards support a broad operating bandwidth from 10MHz to 22GHz. The ADL8101-EVAL1Z extends this to 10kHz, catering to low-frequency RF applications. The RF input/output ports feature 2.9mm female coaxial connectors, with RF traces employing a 50Ω grounded coplanar waveguide design to ensure characteristic impedance matching and minimise signal reflection. The boards incorporate dedicated GND, VDD, and Vbias test points for convenient power voltage adjustment and performance calibration. Multiple vias connect upper and lower ground planes, enhancing grounding and thermal performance to ensure stable operation across the wide temperature range of −55°C to +125°C. Optimised power decoupling capacitor placement, highly matched to the device characteristics, provides a stable power supply environment for the amplifier, mitigating power supply noise effects on amplification performance.

The AD8347-EVAL evaluation board focuses on integrated broadband applications. Its AD8347 chip is a single-chip quadrature demodulator integrating a 65dB linear AGC (Automatic Gain Control) amplifier, baseband level detector, and baseband output amplifier, delivering outstanding performance across the 800MHz to 2.7GHz frequency band. This amplifier achieves 3-degree quadrature phase accuracy with 0.3dB amplitude balance, a third-order intercept point (IIP3) of +12dB, and an 11dB noise figure. It delivers high gain while ensuring stable signal phase and amplitude, effectively suppressing distortion. The evaluation board supports single-supply operation from 2.7V to 5.5V with power-saving functionality. Packaged in a compact 28-pin TSSOP (4.4mm × 9.7mm), it is suitable for direct conversion radio systems in point-to-point and point-to-multipoint broadband wireless communications.

III. RF Mixers: The “Core Bridge” for Frequency Conversion

RF mixers serve as pivotal components for frequency conversion. By multiplying the input RF signal with a local oscillator (LO) signal, they generate intermediate frequency (IF) or baseband signals at frequencies higher or lower than the input. These units form the core of frequency synthesis and signal demodulation within RF transceiver systems. ADI's RF mixer evaluation boards feature high conversion efficiency, low distortion, and wideband coverage. Both the AD8347-EVAL evaluation board and the mixer unit within the ADRV9009 series evaluation board demonstrate outstanding performance.

The mixer unit on the AD8347-EVAL evaluation board is manufactured using advanced bipolar technology, supporting an RF input range from 800 MHz to 2.7 GHz with a demodulation bandwidth of 50 MHz. Its low LO drive requirement of just 10 dBm significantly reduces system power consumption and design complexity. The mixer's in-phase (I) and quadrature (Q) outputs are routed off-chip for external filtering. Following adjustment of the DC common-mode level via an output amplifier, these signals enable direct interfacing with dual-channel I/Q ADCs, streamlining system integration. The mixer's high phase accuracy and amplitude balance deliver outstanding performance in quadrature demodulation applications, effectively restoring original signal information. This makes it ideal for scenarios demanding exceptional frequency conversion precision, such as broadband wireless communications and radar reception.

The ADRV9009-W/PCBZ evaluation board integrates this high-performance mixer unit. As a complete RF transceiver evaluation board, it offers a wide tuning range from 75MHz to 6GHz, featuring dual receivers, dual transmitters, and an observation receiver within a TDD (Time Division Duplex) architecture. The on-board mixer unit is highly integrated with other components. Coupled with efficient power management and clock solutions, it enables rapid frequency conversion and signal processing, making it suitable for system-level solution validation and waveform debugging. ADI provides complete HDL code, drivers, and application software, supporting engineers in precisely controlling mixer performance to accelerate the prototyping process.

IV. RF Attenuators: Precision Valves for Signal Conditioning

RF attenuators are employed to controllably reduce RF signal power, serving key functions such as protecting downstream sensitive circuits, expanding system dynamic range, and adjusting signal amplitude to match subsequent component input requirements. They find widespread application in test instrumentation, receiver front ends, and RF transmit chain calibration scenarios. ADI's RF attenuator evaluation boards predominantly feature integrated designs, combining RF switches to achieve switchable attenuation functionality. The EVAL-CN0377-EB1Z evaluation board exemplifies this approach.

The EVAL-CN0377-EB1Z evaluation board incorporates two surface-mount RF attenuators manufactured by EMC Technology: the TS0606F (6dB) and TS0609F (9dB). Both support an operating frequency range from DC to 10GHz with a peak power handling capability of 2W (33dBm), catering to attenuation requirements for wideband, medium-to-high power signals. The attenuators operate in tandem with the ADGM1304 MEMS switch, enabling flexible switching between 0dB (pass-through), 6dB, and 9dB attenuation modes through path selection. This accommodates varying power adjustment requirements. The evaluation board's PCB design employs the same stackup scheme as the EVAL-ADGM1304-EBZ, ensuring signal transmission matching between attenuators and switches while minimising insertion loss and signal reflection.

The core advantage of this attenuator unit lies in its high integration with the MEMS switch. Leveraging the switch's ultra-low insertion loss, high linearity, and rapid switching characteristics, it achieves precise attenuation while minimising impact on signal integrity. Furthermore, the attenuator supports DC signal transmission, complementing the switch functionality. This enables the evaluation board to adapt to diverse applications spanning low to high frequencies, making it particularly suitable for dynamic signal power adjustment requirements in RF test instrumentation.