The ADL8142-EVALZ consists of a 4-layer printed circuit board (PCB) fabricated from 8 mil thick, Rogers 4003C and Isola 370HR, copper clad, forming a nominal thickness of 62 mils. The RFIN and RFOUT ports on the ADL8142-EVALZ are populated with 2.92 mm, female coaxial connectors, and the corresponding RF traces have a 50 Ω characteristic impedance. The ADL8142-EVALZ is populated with components suitable for use over the entire −40°C to +85°C operating temperature range of the ADL8142. To calibrate board trace losses, a through calibration path is provided between the J1 and J2 connectors. J1 and J2 must be populated with RF connectors to use the through calibration path. Refer to Table 1 and Figure 3 in the user guide for the through calibration path performance.
Access the ADL8142-EVALZ ground path and VDD pin through the surface-mount technology (SMT) test point connectors, GND and VDD. A supplementary test point for VBIAS is included for simple access on the RBIAS pin (see Figure 5 for the test point assembly).
The RF traces on the ADL8142-EVALZ are 50 Ω, grounded, coplanar waveguide. The package ground leads and the exposed pad connect directly to the ground plane. Multiple vias connect the top and bottom ground planes with particular focus on the area directly beneath the ground paddle to provide adequate electrical conduction and thermal conduction to the heat sink.
The power supply decoupling capacitors on the ADL8142-EVALZ represent the configuration used to characterize and qualify the device.
For full details on the ADL8142, see the ADL8142 data sheet, which must be consulted in conjunction with the user guide when using the ADL8142-EVALZ.
