Papers for

rf circuit designers

Papers whose findings have a practical use for this group, as judged from the abstract. Open a paper to read what it means in practice.

Inductor coupled mixers analyzed with exact mathematical functions

The Analytical Investigation of Inductor-Coupled Mixers

Abstract: Inductor- and transformer-coupled balanced mixers are usually analyzed with switching approximations, conversion matrices, harmonic balance, or circuit simulation. This paper instead derives their loaded quasistatic equations from the device laws, keeping the transformer ratios, reflected load, bias, and the connections that set the IF common mode. The functions needed to solve these equations are surprisingly varied. A Shockley single-balanced pair is solved by the principal Lambert function $W_0$ under a quantified one-diode-dominance condition. The double-balanced ring has a unique loaded solution that reduces to an exact inverse-hyperbolic-tangent form only for an open IF port. Vacuum diodes and triodes lead to Cardano cubics and structured sextics, whereas depletion JFET/MESFET crossbars need only square roots. Bilateral MOS channels give piecewise quadratics in strong inversion, or a Ferrari quartic when the IF winding floats. In weak inversion they give an exact $W_0$, the real $r$-Lambert function, or the inverse of $\sinh x+ρx$, depending on topology and IF connection. In matched BJT and HBT Gilbert cells, equal emitter resistors turn the hyperbolic-tangent current steering into an exact $r$-Lambert function. Fourier projection brings in Beta/Gamma, modified Bessel, and complete elliptic functions. We checked the equations against 37 LTspice simulations using seven independent Python programs. In the 12 primary comparisons, which implement the assumed device laws exactly, every RMS waveform error was below 0.017% of the analytical RMS value; built-in and vendor device models were examined separately. Two design examples show how the closed forms size a thermionic IF load and a Gilbert-cell tail current without parameter sweeps.

Sat 24 OctHardware Architecture
The gist
Mixers are important electronic components used to combine or convert signals, often found in radios and communication devices. This paper studies how inductor- and transformer-coupled mixers behave using exact mathematical equations instead of rough approximations or simulations. The authors found that different mixer designs correspond to special mathematical functions, allowing precise predictions of their performance. They verified their results with simulations and provide formulas that can help design these mixers without trial-and-error.
Open → 2610.33424v1

Simulator guided generation improves em and rf circuit design quality

K-TRAIL: Simulator-Guided Generative Design of EM/RF Circuits

Abstract: Inverse design of RF and electromagnetic (EM) circuits is challenging because the relationship between circuit layout and electrical response is non-unique, and full-wave simulation is computationally expensive. This paper presents K-TRAIL, a simulator-guided generative framework for automated EM/RF circuit synthesis. K-TRAIL combines diffusion-based layout generation with derivative-free ensemble Kalman guidance, allowing feedback from a black-box EM simulator to refine candidate layouts during generation without requiring adjoint sensitivities or differentiable solver models. The framework supports both synthesis from prescribed S-parameter responses and synthesis directly from RF performance constraints. Experiments on multi-layer RFIC structures show that simulator-guided generation improves agreement with target responses and can identify structurally distinct layouts that satisfy circuit-level design requirements. The proposed approach provides a practical path toward generative, verification-aware RF circuit design while retaining the flexibility to explore diverse layout topologies.

Sat 19 SeptMachine Learning
The gist
Designing electromagnetic and radio frequency circuits is tricky because many different layouts can produce the same electrical behavior, and checking each design with detailed simulations takes a lot of computing time. The authors created K-TRAIL, a method that generates circuit layouts and uses feedback from simulations to improve these designs without needing complex math from the simulators. This approach helps find different designs that meet performance goals and speeds up the design process. Their tests show that this method makes generated layouts match desired circuit behaviors better and can discover new useful designs.
Open → 2609.23183v1