Case Study: Marki Microwave achieves balanced gain, output power, and bandwidth in mmWave driver amplifiers with Keysight PathWave ADS and RFPro

mmWave RF Driver Amplifiers with Better Engineered Tradeoffs

Marki Microwave, an industry leader in high‑frequency RF mixers and filters, faced customer demand for optimized LO driver performance tightly paired with their mixers. Their challenge was to create a stable two‑stage mmWave amplifier in an unfamiliar advanced semiconductor process with many behavioral unknowns and to develop a fast, accurate characterization workflow to reduce costly re‑spins. Marki worked in Keysight’s PathWave ADS environment and sought tools to model parasitics, bias, packaging, and stability for mmWave driver designs.

Using Keysight PathWave ADS and PathWave RFPro together with EEHEMT transistor models and Winslow probe stability analysis, Marki implemented a measurement‑informed circuit/EM co‑simulation workflow and refined PDK models to capture non‑linearities and packaging effects. The result was the ADM‑8007PSM (2–40 GHz) achieving its gain and output‑power targets (+23 dBm flat, low noise with ~1 dBm drive) and nearly meeting bandwidth goals, with fabricated parts matching simulation on the first pass—reducing prototype spins, improving design productivity, and enabling broader product offerings.

Marki Microwave

Doug Jorgesen

Vice President of Systems and Applications