Microwave Engineering Europe April 2000 Cover story In this issue of Microwave Engineering Europe we have a special feature on noise figure measurement ahead of our first Web Seminar, cosponsored by MEE and Agilent, on May 24th. See page 11 for more information. Another dimension This issue of Microwave Engineering Europe sees us developing further our interactive version of the journal with an online seminar to follow up the printed material in the magazine. The topic is noise figure measurement and we have been working closely with Agilent Technologies, the test and measurement company formerly known as Hewlett Packard, to bring the material together. As mobile phones have added a new dimension to voice communications, and will in future to data, the Web makes it possible to provide you with a journal that has another communication dimension too: it can talk back That's exactly what it will do on Wednesday May 24th if you join us for the seminar, not just letting you read a paper or even just listen to a presentation, but actually answering your follow up questions. It's free to take part and Agilent is promising to pull together some of the foremost experts in noise figure measurement to make it worthwhile. The seminar timing is no accident. It coincides with the company's introduction of a new instrument family for noise figure measurement. You can read more about the seminar on page 11 and register to take part at our usual web address, www.mwee.com . That same address will also let you apply for a free copy of Microwave Engineering Europe, including your annual subscription renewal, and provides our fully searchable database of manufacturers, distributors and representatives for all manner of microwave and RF products. It also now has a dedicated microwave and RF bookshop and we would like to hear from you if there are other features that you would like to see us add. But don't worry, we'll still be sending paper copies of MEE and organising live workshops, conferences and exhibitions too. Back to live interaction, we have recently managed to pull together the views of some very senior figures in the semiconductor industry who have been willing to share their views on the future of our industry and the kind of semiconductor devices we can expect to be using. In this issue, we talk with senior executives from Texas Instruments' European operation, including the President, Dave Richardson and key professionals in components for base stations and cellular handsets. It's now almost a decade since TI turned away from GaAs and appeared to abandon RF circuits, but that appearance has now itself been abandoned and we can reveal that TI is planning to introduce a direct conversion transceiver chip early next year. The occasion for the TI interviews was the unveiling of the company's plans to produce GHz digital signal processing chips next year. Rather like the TV chat show and film or book plugging circuit, senior executives have a tendency to be let out to meet the technical press when a new product is on the cards! Paul Jackson

Contents Comment In focus Two new instruments for noise figure test; Workshops keep pace with 3G progress Focus on MMICs and RFICs Bluetooth RF chips bite into baseband; Cellular silicon sets sights on system-on-chip Noise figure measurement success lies in the details Noise figure is one of the fundamental parameters of RF engineering. As a preview to next months online seminar on Noise Figure Measurement (see page 11) Vinod Malkanifrom Agilent Technologies' Power and Noise Division has prepared this tutorial paper. Interview: Texas Instruments on its strategy for a wireless future Texas Instruments may have left GaAs behind almost a decade ago, but wireless communications is now a major focus for the company. We spoke to W. David Richardson, President TI Europe, Jean-Franıois Fau, Director, European Wireless Communications Business Unit in TI's semiconductor group and Jean-Pierre Demange, TI's Wireless Infrastructure Director to find out just how much the next generation of GHz DSP devices will change the shape of receiver technology and to see how the company was building a presence in radio. A RFIC using a Silicon on Insulator (SOI) CMOS technology A product platform has been developed on a 0.8µm SOI CMOS process for use in BTS applications. In this paper, which was presented at the New technologies for RF Circuits workshop in Bracknell last month, Paul Schwab, Andrew Freeston, Ken Buer, Dan Kagey and Brian Groft describe the product platform, report the RF and digital performance of one product, and detail the unique performance characteristics of the SOI technology presence in radio. Basic guidelines to design RF CMOS cells for Wireless receivers This paper, by Javier Hernındez de Miguel, Roc Berenguer and Guillermo Bistue, of INCIDE, describes the basic RF CMOS blocks for a receiver front-end architecture. Two different architectures are analysed: the architecture consisting of LNA, mixer and VCO is intended for heterodyne and homodyne receivers. A LNA, amplifier chain and subsampling circuit compose the second architecture intended for a direct digitization receiver. The advantages and drawbacks of the CMOS technology for each component are summarised. Sommaire d'articles Zusammenfassung der Artikel New Products and Data Calendar Classified Catalogue Update & Appointments