LTC5583
20
5583fa
APPLICATIONS INFORMATION
The LTC5583 differential inputs can also be driven from a
fully balanced source as shown in Figure 5. When the two
input sources are single-ended, conversion to differential
signals can improve channel-to-channel isolation to obtain
accurate outputs from the dual channels, particularly at
very high frequencies (i.e. 3.6GHz and above). This can
be achieved using a 1:1 balun to match the chip’s internal
400Ω input impedance to the 50Ω source by adding a
62Ω resistor (R1) at the differential inputs as shown in
Figure 5. Since there is no voltage conversion gain from
impedance transformation in this case, the sensitivity of
the detector is similar to the one using single-ended inputs
as shown in Figure 4.
If better sensitivity is needed, a 1:4 balun can be used
and R1 should be increased to 400Ω correspondingly to
match 200Ω input impedance to the 50Ω source. This
impedance transformation results in 6dB voltage gain,
thus 6dB improvement in sensitivity is obtained while
the overall dynamic range remains the same. At high
frequency, additional LC elements may be needed for
input impedance matching due to the parasitics of the
transformer and PCB traces.
Alternatively, a narrowband LC matching network can
be used for the conversion of a single-ended signal to a
balanced signal. Such a matching network is shown in
Figure 6. By this means, the sensitivity and overall linear
dynamic range of the detector can be similar to the one
using a 1:4 RF input balun, as described above.
For a 50Ω input termination, the approximate RF input
power range of the LTC5583 is from –58dBm to 4dBm,
even with high crest factor signals such as a 4-carrier W-
CDMA waveform, but the minimum detectable RF power
level varies as the input RF frequency increases. The linear
dynamic range can also be shifted to tailor to a particular
application. By simply inserting an attenuator in front of
the RF input, the power range is shifted higher by the
amount of the attenuation.
The sensitivity of LTC5583 is dictated by the broadband
input noise power, which also determines the output DC
offset voltage. When the inputs are terminated differently,
the DC output voltage may vary slightly. When the input
noise power is minimized, the DC offset voltage is also
reduced to a minimum, and the sensitivity and dynamic
range are improved accordingly.
External Filtering Capacitors at FLTA and FLTB Pins
These pins are internally biased at VCC – 0.43V via a 1.2k
resistor from the VCCA and VCCB voltage supply. To ensure
stable operation of the LTC5583, an external capacitor
with a value of 8nF or higher is required to connect the
FLTA pin to VCCA, and the FLTB pin to VCCB, respectively.
Do not connect these filter capacitors to ground or any
other low voltage reference to prevent an abnormal start-
up condition.
The value of these two filtering capacitors has a dominant
effect on the output transient response. The lower the
capacitance, the faster the output rise and fall times. For
signals with AM content such as W-CDMA, ripple can be
observed when the loop bandwidth set by the filtering
capacitors is close to the modulation bandwidth of the
signal.
In general, the LTC5583 output ripple remains relatively
constant regardless of the RF input power level for a fixed
filtering capacitor and modulation format of the RF signal.
Typically, this capacitor must be selected to average out
the ripple to achieve the desired accuracy of RF power
measurement.