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difference between RFIC and RF/Microwave circuits - RF Cafe Forums
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Mike
Post subject: Question: difference between RFIC and RF/Microwave
circuits Posted: Tue Feb 07, 2006 12:18 pm
What is the difference
between RFIC and just plain RF/Microwave circuits? I know one is integrated
circuit and one is just more traditional using surface mount(microstrip)
etc. But my main question is in what applications do you need RFICs
and when do you design just RF circuits.
Thanks.
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guest
Post subject: RFPosted: Wed Feb 08, 2006 12:07
pm
RFIC -- active and passive devices integrated on chip -- hence
the name integrated circuit.
RF/Microwave -- USUALLY discrete
using transmission lines, discrete transistors.
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Honza
Post subject: Posted: Thu Feb 09, 2006 2:34 am
Captain
Joined: Tue Dec 13, 2005 2:42 am
Posts: 5
Location:
Czech Rep.
I feel no difference.
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nubbage
Post subject: Difference between RFIC and Microwave CircuitsPosted:
Thu Feb 23, 2006 8:15 am
General
Joined: Fri Feb
17, 2006 12:07 pm
Posts: 218
Location: London UK
Obviously
the size, but that comes about because of the high dielectric constant
used for RFICs. It means a wavelength in the material is physically
very short, so elements that should resonate can be tightly packed together
in an RFIC. The dielectric constant for typical microwave substrates
is 2.2 compared with 10 or 20 for RFICs.
The electric fields
are physically constrained by high e materials in RFICs, so circuit
element interaction is less of a problem, compared with Microwave stripline
circuits, in which layout is crucial to successful design.
nubbage
Posted 11/12/2012
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