Understanding and maximising yield through design centering (microwave circuits)

The authors provides a tutorial overview for the application of design centering to microwave circuits and shows how the design centering methodology can be applied in the design of typical microwave circuits. A voltage divider circuit is utilized as an example to explain the concepts of design centering and to show how first estimates can often be misleading in applying statistical design information. This is followed by the practical design centering of a 4 GHz hybrid low-noise amplifier. Here, the dimensions of network matching elements on the hybrid are adjusted to compensate for the statistical variation of low-noise transistor parameters. For circuits in this class, it is shown that the manufacturing yield can be increased.<>