APPLICATION NOTE

No. 1021

Empirically Determining the VCO Inductor

Many engineers are not familiar with the analytical techniques of using coaxial resonators in VCO circuits. Typically, the designer needs the equivalent of a high-Q inductor to resonate with his varactor, and an excellent choice is a ceramic coax line with a SRF approximately 15% higher than the VCOs center frequency (Fo). If a circuit simulation isn't used to determine the exact input impedance of the coax line that the active circuit wants to see, a few resonator samples could be ordered with SRFs somewhat higher than Fo. This wait-and-try cycle can be slashed by using conventional 50-ohm coax that's readily available, such as .085" semi-rigid cable. This interim measure won't give the great Q, temperature performance, or even the same tuning slope as the ceramic resonator, but it will nail down the impedance at Fo, and it will provide a very good estimate for specifying the ceramic coax prototype. Figure 1 shows a typical VCO schematic. The temporary 50ohm coax lines center conductor is connected to the junction of the 3.3 pF capacitors, and the shield at the same end of the coax is connected to a good RF ground point. Grounding the shield along its entire length is optional, and if the far end is left free, the line length can be progressively snipped off at the open end until the circuit oscillates at 900 MHz. How long should the coax be? Start with a half wavelength ( g /2), at 900 MHz, in the coax dielectric. Then as the open-ended line is trimmed shorter than a half-wave, its presents an equivalent inductance at the active circuit end. Suppose the coax dielectric constant (r) is 2.01, then a half wave at 900 MHz is a length of coax:
Equation 1

g =
This technique works for circuit topologies where one end of the VCO circuit inductor is at RF ground, but not necessarily d-c ground. This is because the ceramic coax line is preferably mounted on the circuit board with its outer metallization at RF ground. Otherwise, the outer conductor will be RF hot, and could radiate to nearby circuits, defeating the desirable self-shielding nature of the coax resonator. It may not be obvious, but the coax line can be either short or open-circuited at one end, and with the correct length, will still present an inductive reactance at the active circuit end. This allows a short piece of 50-ohm coax to work nicely in the breadboard circuit, but remember to provide a complete d-c path for the varactor bias. An example will illustrate the technique.

1 1,803 1 1,803 = 4.625 inches = 2 (900) 2.01 2F r o

Once the line is trimmed to run the VCO at 900 MHz, unsolder the 50-ohm coax and measure its impedance at the circuit connection end. A network analyzer will give the equivalent inductive reactance at 900 MHz. No analyzer available? Measure the trimmed coax jacket length (l) and approximate the equivalent reactance with:
Equation 2

6
ohms

Xeqv = -j

tan

Zo l g/2

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A subsidiary of Alpha Industries

6-87

APPLICATION NOTE

where the value of g was determined by Equation 1. Remember that the argument of the tangent is in radians. For example, suppose the 50-ohm (Zo) coax trimmed length is 3.137 inches, then Xeqv = j31.33 ohms, which is also equivalent to 5.54 nH at 900 MHz. This value can be used with TTIs CARD/COAX software in the inductor mode to specify a ceramic coax resonator. The software will include the effects of the ceramic resonator's tab inductance, giving choices of parts that will provide Xeqv. Choose the part which makes the ceramic coax line element SRF as high as possible above 900 MHz. In this case, the best choice for Xeqv = j28.75 ohms at 900MHz is TTIs part number SR8800LPQ1308BY, with SRF at 1308 MHz and an unloaded Qu of 308. Or, if better Qu is necessary, an alternate choice is SR8800SPQ1160BY, with SRF at 1160 MHz and Qu = 442.

VTUNE-0-7V 6.8 C8 R1 100K D1 SMV1104-34 TRANS-TECH SR8800SPQ1160BY TRL C2 3.3 C C3 3.3 C8 6.8 100 C7

+5V-10MA

R3 100 100 C5 R2 100 C4 D 10 ATF 21186 S J1 +10 dBm 875 MHz

R4 39

R5 200

Figure 1 Example 900 MHz VCO Schematic

6-88

Trans-Tech Phone: 301-695-9400 Fax: 301-695-7065 E-mail: transtech@alphaind.com www.alphaind.com

A subsidiary of Alpha Industries