volume | PIER Journals

Abstract

A new method for the theoretical analysis of the third-order intermodulation distortion (IM3) in barium strontium titanate (BST) thin film interdigital capacitors (IDCs) on r-plane sapphire substrates is presented. Two circuit topologies-the dual and series dual BST varactor circuit-are proposed and their theoretical models along with simulated and measured results are presented. Low IM₃ is demonstrated and experimentally verified. By proper selective biasing, very low nulls are observed in both dual and series dual BST varactor circuit topologies which indicate minimum distortion. The measured first nulls are achieved at ±13 V and ± 20 V for the dual and series dual topologies respectively. These results demonstrate the potential of incorporating these highly linear BST varactors in silicon on sapphire (SoS) applications.

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Dr. Muhammad Farid Abdul Khalid

Dr. Ernest A. Fardin

Prof. James R. Scott

Dr. Anthony S. Holland

Prof. Kamran Ghorbani