Microwave Circuit Design Accel-RF engineers have many years of experience designing RF and Microwave Circuits, including: power amplifiers, variable-gain amplifiers (VGAs), voltage-controlled oscillators (VCOs), mixers, filters, etc... In fact, we employ a number of our own custom module designs, such as our linearized VGAs, to enhance the performance of our test systems. We offer our expertise as a value-added service to help our customers effectively utilize our systems, particularly in regards to matching circuit designs, critical for obtaining accurate life test results.
Matching Circuit Designs The AARTS systems are used to test reliability of many types of circuits. MMICs are generally internally matched to 50 ohms; however, discrete devices often are not. In order to properly test non-matched devices such as GaN power transistors, external matching circuits are required to obtain the desired RF performance. The standard RF fixtures are designed to heat only the device, and not the matching elements themselves (which often contain capacitors and resistors as part of their design). In order to keep those elements away from the heat source they must be place some distance from the device itself. That can become very problematic, particularly for any type of broadband performance. Accel-RF has been designing matching circuits for life testing applications for many years, and has developed a methodology that has proven effective for providing both optimal output performance (such as maximizing Pout or PAE), while also guaranteeing unconditional stability over all operating conditions. The Figure below illustrates a typical set of matching circuits designed for a 10-GHz application. See the application note below for more details documenting our proven approach.
 RF Matching Circuit Methodology App Note
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