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Analog Devices EVAL-ADRF5044 Evaluation Board | Featured Product Spotlight

December 18, 2018 by Mouser Electronics

The Analog Devices EVAL-ADRF5044 Evaluation Board features the ADRF5044, which is a single-pole, four-throw switch with low insertion loss and high isolation from 10MHz to 30GHz.

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Analog Devices EVAL-ADRF5044 Evaluation Board 

The Analog Devices EVAL-ADRF5044 Evaluation Board features the ADRF5044, which is a single-pole, four-throw switch with low insertion loss and high isolation from 10MHz to 30GHz. It’s an ideal switch for use in test instrumentation, microwave radios, and VSATs, military applications, and broadband telecom systems. 

The RF transmission lines on the eval board are designed using the coplanar waveguide model, with a 14mil trace width and 5mil ground clearance to achieve the desired 50Ω characteristic impedance, and these transmission lines connect the switch to 2.4mm solderless edge launch connectors.  The board also offers optimized RF and thermal grounding, with high-density placement of plated through vias around the transmission lines. A separate thru transmission line is available with unpopulated edge launch connector placements, and this can be used to calibrate for transmission line loss in the end-use environment.

The board offers 5 test points: VDD, VSS, ground reference, and V1 and V2 control lines.  100pF bypass capacitors are placed on VDD and VSS, with unpopulated positions available to place additional bypass capacitors if needed.  The board is a 4 layer PCB with 0.5oz copper layers. All RF and DC traces are routed on the top layer, with the inner and bottom layers providing a solid RF ground.  The top dielectric is an 8mil Rogers RO4003, which is used for its excellent high-frequency performance. The middle and bottom dielectric layers provide mechanical strength and give the board a total thickness of 62mils to accommodate the edge launch connectors.

The ADRF5044 itself has 50Ω internal terminations to prevent reflections on all unused RF paths.  An internal driver provides a simple control interface that is compatible with CMOS and LVTTL control signals.

The switch offers excellent RF performance and high input linearity, with 2.6dB typical insertion loss and 43dB isolation from 20GHz to 30GHz, 1dB input compression at 28dBm, and the third order intercept at 50dBm.  The switches are also rated to handle 24dBm on all paths and can hot switch at up to 21dBm. The ADRF5044 is packaged in a 24 terminal LGA. Another switch in the same family, the ADRF5045, offers similar performance from 9kHz to 30GHz and uses the same eval board design.  For more information on the ADRF5044 SP4T switch and its evaluation board, visit Mouser.com.

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