KEYNOTE: VNA-Based Mixer Measurements Revisited

Over the years, VNA-based mixer and frequency converter measurements have evolved to improve measurement uncertainties under a variety of scenarios and simplify setups in some cases (reducing time requirements and improving repeatability). The requirements may include a larger family of measurements including conversion gain compression, LO power and bias dependencies of conversion and isolation, and a more complete cataloguing of spurious behavior. The needs do, however, continue to increase, including further desired reductions in uncertainties (particularly at mm-wave frequencies), handling of more complicated conversion schemes (including multiple sweeping-multiple conversions), assessing the effect of detailed drive characteristics in differential converters, and the need for other measurements to improve nonlinear model development. Making things more interesting, the technologies increasingly being assessed are changing the parameter space that must be explored including very wide ranges of input, output, and LO power levels, the need for more multivariate characterization (e.g., multiple biases and multiple power dependencies) and higher levels of functional integration that might necessitate additional device controls as part of the measurement. This talk focuses on some measurement architectural and procedural changes that can help meet these tightening requirements including improvements to source control (amplitude and phase) and receiver linearity, configuration flexibility with N sources and M receiver frequencies, and calibration modifications.