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Electro-thermal theory of intermodulation distortion in lossy microwave components

The developed self-consistent theory has laid a foundation for understanding the electro-thermal mechanisms of nonlinear frequency mixing and harmonic generation in passive microwave circuits. The proposed multi-physics model based on the solution of the heat equation revealed the link between thermal modulation of resistivity and RF dissipation losses. The model predictions, confirmed experimentally, have enabled the fundamental insight into the thermal coupling between the RF electrical parameters and demonstrated that the thermal effects may represent the dominant source of nonlinear signal distortion and passive intermodulation. This paper was awarded the 2010 Microwave Prize, IEEE Microwave Theory and Technique Society.