Customer Reviews

Microwave Transistor Amplifiers: Analysis and Design (2nd Edition)

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I am a Principal RF Engineer/ Program Manager, with a graduate degree in the field of RF / Microwave and more than a decade of experience working with it.

There are some books which are classics, pozar for basic microwave, Gerd Kaiser for basic optic fibers, balanis and K D Prasad for antennas, matthaei- young-jones for filters, Steve cripps for Power amplifiers and Guilermo Gonzales for low noise amplifiers.

This book treats the whole concept of desinging low noise amplifiers in a very comprehensive manner. It starts off by describing and establishing a understanding of the basics, such as S parameters, smith charts,etc. It doesnt assume anything, but strives to teach right from the begining. So it is a great reference book.

Then it progessively teaches you the various steps of amplifier design, right from determining the stability considerations, design as per gain, VSWR, noise figure etc. Each successive design is more complex than the previous, and it is a wonderful experience reading and understanding each and every minute detail about tansistors, matching networks, dc bias, etc. It deals with practical transistors and components as used in the industry and it gives thorough equations and design tips for a step by step procedure towards design amelioration.

The way you trade off the noise figure for VSWR and gain is a tricky business for LNA's. The way this book describes the method to do so on the smith chart with the Gain, VSWR and Noise figure circles is easy to understand and great to implement.

It has become a trend these days to blindly use simulation softwares. After reading this book, you will no longer be dependent on the trial and error method of microwave circuit design. But you will be able to move with confidence towards cutting down design time, NRE, and your designs will be more robust and repeatable.

I carry this one book with me whenever going on a technical meeting or conference. Be it a meeting with regards to antennas, or filters or any other microwave component or systems design issue. This book is so beautifully written you will find use for it as a reference even in these other fields.

The power amplifier section is not written too well, and the author merely touches on balanced amplifiers, push pull amplifiers, etc. The chapter about oscillators is good. But this book is primarily for those who wish to learn and establish expertise on Low Noise Amplifiers.

I would thoroughly recommend this book for graduate level school work, for beginners and experienced industry professionals and for hobbyists interested in learning about LNA design and creation.

Regards,
KL

One phrase that some use to describe this text, "Alot of smith-charts."

The mass behind this book starts at the absolute foundations of RF circuits. Reflections, scatter parameters, device modeling. Everything you started to touch that last term of electronic analysis is picked up here.

Once you've completed the refresher, you're strapped in to a seat with a good, consistant rhythm of material.

The material is quite overwhelming initially, but as long as you work through things in a linear manner you'll find the material quite simple.

Once you've completed with this text, it doubles as a great reference text for your future endevors when working with RF circuits.

I used this textbook when I took an undergraduate course in RF engineering. Currently, I am a graduate student in microwave engineering close to graduation. I have read many RF and EM books and by far this book is one of the best. Many textbooks provide lots of theories, equations and derivations, but few took the time to provide a lot of examples and for me examples is the easiest and fastest way to learn.

This text provides a GREAT amount of examples on how to build amplifiers with discrete components and show how to do it exactly in actual planar circuits (microstrip circuits.) From biasing, stability, simultaneous matching, to low noise amplifier design is covered. This book is also happen to be one of the few books that also include bilateral amplifier design techniques. Most other microwave amplifier books only consider unilateral techniques.

The last chapter is devoted to microwave frequency oscillator design technique including one and two port negative resistance and voltage controlled oscillator. Radio frequency oscillator design such as Colpitts, Hartley, and Clapp oscillator is also discussed.

I have used this for an Active class (at U-M) and found it very easy to comprehend the concepts presented. The book is not too meaty, but has plenty of detail to allow the user to follow derivations. Also covers advanced topics with some illustrative design examples. It is an excellent book that anyone doing LNAs, Oscillators or PAs needs to have to review.

This is a perfect book for power amplifier design.
I used this book when I was designing a class AB power amplifier in UHF band and I found it very helpfull. this book is among the few books that includs bilateral design techniques while most of the books only deals with simpler case of unilateral design.
It includes wide band and power amplifier design in a more practical way than the other books. I found the answer to my question about large signal impedance measurement methode in this book. It also includes plenty of equations concerning scattering parameters, reflection,transmission and other theoretical issues as well asoscillator design using DRO technique in last chapter.

I read the first edition, half the size, half the examples, and had to polish up on the calc. The second edition makes up for this and more. This is the definitive reference for all who are interested in microwave amplifier design with no previous experience. The Smith Chart approach follows the more academic derivations, which proves to be fast and easy. There is enough informatation to get one started on basic narrow band small signal gain, basic power configurations, and limited oscillator circuits. Buy this book before venturing on to more complex designs. You won't be disappointed.

I read most of this book for a graduate-level course in electrical engineering at the University of Central Florida in Orlando. While I learned a great deal, I found the instructors supplemental materials were necessary to being able to do most of the problems, particularly those having to do with lumped element and/or waveguide impedance matching. The examples in the book were, in some cases, wrong, according to my professor (Amir Mortazawi, now a researcher at UNC) who disagreed with the solutions presented in some cases. In other cases, the examples were highly illustrative and facilitated learning well. I did not purchase this text, but checked it out of the library and renewed it so I wouldn't have to pay $91 for it, and I'm glad I didn't. I actually noticed discrepancies between my version of the text (which was a second edition) and the same second edition others purchased in the area of end-of-chapter problems. Weird, hard-reading, inconsistent, I'm told the first-edition wasn't nearly as vague, and if so, I would gladly shell out the $90 or so it would cost to have one.

I recently took an RF course that was using this book. The examples that were provided were excellent. The theory that was presented wasn't hard to follow, and if the reader was motivated enough, they can test it out using a CAD program. I myself used ADS. This is a must have book if you're going into the RF profession.

I had this book because of the graduate course I took. Because the instructor followed the book so closely so I had the chance to thoroughly read through the book.

I was impressed with the examples the author gave in the book. They are all useful to show the readers how to design a microwave/RF amplification circuit through the gain circles, stability and noise circles.

Overall, I highly recommend this book for those people who design the wireless circuit at the board level.

I found this text to be indispensable enough to purchase it after having used the First Edition outside of class while obtaining my MSEE. It has been a constant companion throughout my professional career.

If I had to choose one text for the design and analysis of microwave amplifiers, this would definitely be the one. I especially appreciate the material added for the Second Edition.

Along with a straightforward version of the standard treatment of amplifier design for noise, gain, and stability, Mr. Gonzalez touches on design for broadband and high power operation. A section on oscillator design is also included.

The "ground-up" explanations of transmission line theory and S-parameters help round out the text as a good reference, and I personally found the inclusion of amplifier DC bias techniques and a slightly simplified simultaneous conjugate match solution to be delightful.