Radio Frequency Circuits Javier Leonardo Araque Quijano

(2016488) 2015-3 jlaraqueq@unal.edu.co

Laboratory Practice N. 1 Edificio 453 - Of. 204
Ext.: 14083
Basic High Frequency Eects

Description
This practice will illustrate common high-frequency eects in passive circuit elements.

Materials
Note: For the circuit elements listed below, obtain at least two component values difering by a large factor when
applicable (ideally 1000x or greater).
1. Thin wires ( <1mm)

2. Lumped resistors (resistive film)

3. Aluminum electrolytic capacitors

4. Tantalum electrolytic capacitors

5. Silver mica capacitors

6. Ceramic capacitors
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7. Commercial lumped inductors
8. Breadboard for circuit mounting

1 Preliminary Considerations and Calculations

1. Estimate practical dimensions of a pair of thin wires that will demonstrate the stray capacitance/self-inductance
eect at frequencies around 10MHz; these are the dimensions you will use during the lab session.

2. Describe with some detail two methods used to measure impedance at high frequency.
3. Propose a method to measure component impedance in a broad band using an oscilloscope. Include any
schematic and formula required to clarify your method.
4. Propose a method to measure the quality factor of reactive elements using an oscilloscope. Include any schematic
and formula required to clarify your method.
5. Determine the specifications of the sources, meters, probes and the like that you will use in this laboratory
session, and discuss any relevant high frequency eects.

2 Procedure
In the tests below you must use a number of frequency samples in the band from few kHz up to tens of MHz.
1 http://www.tekcien.com/Pdf/SI10XX78f series.pdf

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2.1 Wires
Measure the input impedance of a pair of wires terminated in open circuit and having a fixed separation along their
length.

2.2 Breadboard
1. Measure the impedance between an adjacent pair of columns in the central portion of the breadboard.
2. Measure the impedance between the power/ground buses of the breadboard.

2.3 Resistors
1. Measure the voltage/current complex ratio of resistors and estimate the high-frequency model parameters.

2. Repeat the above with resistors having short leads.

2.4 Capacitors
Measure the capacitance value and the quality factor of the capacitors listed in the materials section.

2.5 Inductors
Measure the inductance value and the quality factor of the inductors listed in the materials section.

3 Final report
1. Describe the procedure followed for all the measurements, include schematics/photographs of all the circuits
considered.

2. Compare experimental results to your preliminary calculations (or the nominal component values if no prelim-
inary calculation was requested) and discuss/justify any relevant dierences found.

3. Estimate the values of the high frequency model of the components considered.
4. Discuss the implications of these results on the performance of high-frequency electronic circuits.

5. Propose one application of one or more of the high-frequency eects observed (include a schematic).

References
[1] R. Gilmore and L. Besser, Practical RF Circuit Design for Modern Wireless Systems, Volume I: Passive Circuits
and Systems. Artech House, 2003.

[2] J. Araque, Radio frequency circuits class notes, 2015. [Online]. Available:
https://sites.google.com/site/rfcircuits20153/home/Courseware