MRFIC2101
8
MOTOROLA RF DEVICE DATA
APPLICATIONS INFORMATION
DESIGN PHILOSOPHY
The MRFIC2101 was designed as a linear upconverter for
U.S. and Japan digital cellular radios. However, it is versatile
enough to be used in other applications such as analog
cellular, GSM, CDMA and the 900 MHz ISM band.
The mixer is double-balanced to minimize spurious and LO
emission. An external balun is required on the mixer RF output
to maximize linearity and maintain good balance. An
inexpensive and easy to implement balun is described below
in the theory of operation. The IF and LO ports do not require
baluns. The LO split is achieved on-chip with a buffer amplifier
which also reduces the LO power requirement. The IF port
can be driven differentially or single-ended with a decoupling
capacitor on the unused IF input. Baseband signals can be
applied directly to the IF inputs and the device becomes a
complete low–power transmitter.
To maximize efficiency in various systems, the exciter bias
current is externally adjustable. The bias current can also be
ramped to reduce spectral splatter.
To minimize current drain in TDD/TDMA systems, the
MRFIC2101 has separate TTL/CMOS compatible enable pins
for the mixer and the exciter.
THEORY OF OPERATION
Matching the LO port to 50 ohms can be done several
ways. The recommended approach is a series inductor as
close to the IC as possible. The inductor value is small enough
(~8 – 15 nH depending on LO frequency and distance from
the IC) to be printed on the board. A DC block is required
and should not be placed between the inductor and IC since
the added electrical length will cause a poor match.
The IF ports are approximately 250 ohms resistive in
parallel with 5.0 pF of capacitance. Matching directly into this
impedance is not recommended. Series 82 nH chip inductors
should first be placed as close to both IF ports as possible.
This presents a high impedance to the IF ports at the LO
frequency which substantially reduces the LO leakage out
of the RF port. The resulting impedance then may be
matched to the desired characteristic impedance. DC
blocking capacitors are also required.
Both RF ports are approximately 25 ohms resistive in
series with 1.5 pF of capacitance (or the parallel equivalent,
380 ohms in parallel with 1.9 pF). Best linearity is achieved
by loading each port with 100 ohms resistive and resonating
the 1.9 pF. Ideally, a half wavelength transmission line could
be used to combine the two differential RF ports into one;
however, the size of such a line would be very large. Any
number of balun type network can be employed so long as
the network presents 100 ohms to each port, resonates 1.9
pF capacitance at each port, and exhibits 180 degree phase
difference between the two ports. The network shown in
Figure 1 combines very well without a lot of added board
space or complexity. Essentially, a quarter wavelength of
transmission line (~1.5 inches of 50 ohms stripline in FR4)
is used with additional phase shift coming from capacitors
C12, C13 and C16. This network will operate anywhere from
800–1000 MHz by adjusting bias inductor L4 and C16 only.
The exciter input requires external matching and a DC
block. It is best matched to 50 ohms using a short 50 ohms
transmission line followed by a 5–10 pF shunt capacitor. The
exciter output is approximately 50 ohms resistive in parallel
with 4 pF of capacitance in the 800–1000 MHz range. It is
best matched to 50 ohms using a 6–10 nH bias inductor
placed as close to the IC as possible. The exciter is
conditionally stable. Placing a 100-300 ohm resistor in
parallel with the bias inductor, when driving large VSWR
loads, may be needed to keep the exciter stable.
Supply decoupling must be done as close to the IC as
possible. A 1000 pF capacitor is recommended. An
additional 100 pF capacitor and an RF choke are
recommended to keep the LO signal off the supply line.
Enabling/Disabling the MRFIC2101 can be done with the
separate TTL/CMOS compatible enable pins for the mixer
and exciter. The trip point is between 1 and 2 volts.
EVALUATION BOARDS
Evaluation boards are available for RF Monolithic Inte-
grated Circuits by adding a “TF” suffix to the device type.
For a complete list of currently available boards and ones
in development for newly introduced product, please con-
tact your local Motorola Distributor or Sales Office.