Issue link: https://resources.mouser.com/i/1541351
| 8 BMB RF Interconnects mouser.com/amphenol-sv-microwave-bmb-rf-interconnects bodies and legacy designation methods are used for some types of RF components, such as RF coaxial connectors and cabling types still being labeled by legacy US Department of Defense standards. RF Components: Fabrication and Nomenclature Further confounding RF component nomenclature is that many passive RF components can be fabricated using purely physical structures in tandem using common RF circuit fabrication technologies, such as printed circuit boards (PCBs), low-temperature co-fired ceramic (LTCC) and high-temperature co-fired ceramic (HTCC), semiconductor processes, 3D printing (e.g., ceramics, dielectrics, conductive materials, composite materials), custom laminates, and even proprietary microfabrication methods. For example, an RF circuit may include filters, delay lines (phase delays), power dividers and combiners, transformers, transmission lines, waveguides, and couplers—all fabricated on single or multiple layers of PCB laminates using stacked conductor and dielectric layers. RF Interconnects RF interconnects, such as transmission lines and waveguides, are too often considered separately from RF components, as they are the medium that carries the RF energy between RF components and are not generally used to perform RF circuit functions. However, in physical RF systems, the RF interconnect exhibits behavior that significantly affects the RF signals and the energy that passes through them, potentially allowing external interference to enter the signal paths. The impact of RF interconnects is also a function of frequency, and signal integrity concerns at higher frequencies necessitate deep consideration of circuit interconnect dynamics. RF technologies require substantial consideration of the error and variability in all components and interconnections through which the information and carrier signals pass. This is often referred to as a signal chain. Each component of a signal chain introduces some non-linearities, noise (amplitude inaccuracy and noise content), and phase noise (frequency inaccuracy and frequency content). Each component and interconnection point in a signal chain also allows noise and interference to be injected at that ingress point. Where noise, interference, and distortion are injected within an RF signal chain dictates the significance of the nonidealities in the performance of the RF circuit. For instance, unwanted signals injected after a low-noise amplifier (LNA) do not get amplified as much as those injected before the LNA. They may have only a minor effect on the signal quality and the receiver circuitry processing the signal if the desired signal gain remains significantly stronger than the unwanted signals. However, if unwanted signals are injected before an LNA or power amplifier (PA), they will be amplified by the same gain factor as the desired signal. This can degrade RF signal processing and, in