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problem with PIN diode limiter - RF Cafe Forums
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KH
Post subject: problem with PIN diode limiter
Unread postPosted:
Tue Mar 15, 2005 11:39 pm
I have a passive limiter circuit made
from an antiparallel pair of PIN diodes connected between RF and AC
ground. (There is an adjustable DC voltage to set the threshold.) When
I ramp the RF input power from -5 dBm to +15 dBm, the output power tracked
the input power linearly. It seems to me that the limiting diodes are
not turning on themselves when the peak RF voltage is greater than 0.7V.
Does the PIN diode rectify the RF voltage when the frequency is
greater than 1/(2*pi*transit time)? The diodes had tau=200ns. And I
did my test at 500 MHz.
Thinking that maybe the PIN diodes didn't
rectify the signal at high frequencies, I replaced the PIN diode with
a Schottky antiparallel pair and the Schottky pair worked as expected
up to 1.8 GHz. Above 1.8 GHz, the insertion loss increased even when
the peak RF voltage was less the 0.2V.
What should I do to make
this limiter circuit work? My specs are 1 MHz - 6 GHz, less than 1 dB
insertion loss, and +12 dBm limit.
I thought about an active
limiter circuit using a coupler, schottky detector controlling a bias
circuit for a single shunt pin diode. I'm short on time and board space
to make anything elaborate.
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Guest
Post
subject: Re: problem with PIN diode limiter
Unread postPosted: Fri
Jun 03, 2005 12:41 am
KH wrote:
I have a passive limiter
circuit made from an antiparallel pair of PIN diodes connected between
RF and AC ground. (There is an adjustable DC voltage to set the threshold.)
When I ramp the RF input power from -5 dBm to +15 dBm, the output power
tracked the input power linearly. It seems to me that the limiting diodes
are not turning on themselves when the peak RF voltage is greater than
0.7V.
Does the PIN diode rectify the RF voltage when the frequency
is greater than 1/(2*pi*transit time)? The diodes had tau=200ns. And
I did my test at 500 MHz.
Thinking that maybe the PIN diodes
didn't rectify the signal at high frequencies, I replaced the PIN diode
with a Schottky antiparallel pair and the Schottky pair worked as expected
up to 1.8 GHz. Above 1.8 GHz, the insertion loss increased even when
the peak RF voltage was less the 0.2V.
What should I do to make
this limiter circuit work? My specs are 1 MHz - 6 GHz, less than 1 dB
insertion loss, and +12 dBm limit.
I thought about an active
limiter circuit using a coupler, schottky detector controlling a bias
circuit for a single shunt pin diode. I'm short on time and board space
to make anything elaborate.
Top
Guest
Post
subject:
Unread postPosted: Fri Jun 03, 2005 7:05 am
Do you
have return path to ground? The input power is rectified by the diodes,
but if there is no return path to ground the diodes cannot turn on (
no current).
Top
Guest
Post subject: PIN
diode limiter
Unread postPosted: Wed Jun 08, 2005 11:35 am
I'm puzzled.
You normally use PIN diodes to act as a variable
resistance, based on the DC current flowing through the diode.
When used as a limiter, the circuit depends on charge build-up in
the intrinsic layer, which lowers the resistance. It's not obvious that
you can change this behavior by adding DC bias. The limiting level is
usually much higher than 0.7V. In any case, adding DC bias would have
to be done separately for each diode, as that interferes with one diode
acting as the other diode's DC return.
For a good discussion
of the use of PIN diodes as a limiter, check out http://www.plextek.com/papers/pinlim.pdf
.
Good luck!
Posted
11/12/2012
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