4.3
CLK Output
An output CLK signal is provided for a connected microcontroller. The delivered signal is CMOS compatible if the load
capacitance is lower than 10pF.
4.3.1 Clock Pulse Take-over
The clock of the crystal oscillator can be used for clocking the microcontroller. A special feature of Atmel®’s ATARx9x is that it
starts with an integrated RC-oscillator to switch on the ATA8403 with ENABLE = H, and after 4ms assumes the clock signal of
the transmission IC, so that the message can be sent with crystal accuracy.
4.3.2 Output Matching and Power Setting
The output power is set by the load impedance of the antenna. The maximum output power is achieved with a load impedance
of ZLoad,opt = (166 + j226)Ω at 868.3MHz. There must be a low resistive path to VS to deliver the DC current.
The delivered current pulse of the power amplifier is 7.7mA. The maximum output power is delivered to a resistive load of 475Ω
if the 0.53pF output capacitance of the power amplifier is compensated by the load impedance.
An optimum load impedance of:
ZLoad = 475Ω || j/(2 × p × f × 0.53pF) = (166 + j226)Ω thus results in the maximum output power of 5.5dBm.
The load impedance is defined as the impedance seen from the ATA8403’s ANT1, ANT2 into the matching network. Do not
confuse this large signal load impedance with a small signal input impedance delivered as input characteristic of RF amplifiers
and measured from the application into the IC instead of from the IC into the application for a power amplifier.
Less output power is achieved by lowering the real parallel part of 475Ω where the parallel imaginary part should be kept
constant.
Output power measurement can be done with the circuit shown in Figure 4-2. Note that the component values must be changed
to compensate for the individual board parasitics until the ATA8403 has the right load impedance ZLoad,opt = (166 + j226)Ω at
868.3MHz. Also the damping of the cable used to measure the output power must be calibrated out.
Figure 4-2. Output Power Measurement
VS
C1
1nF
L1 10nH
C2
1.5pF
Power
meter
Z = 50Ω
ANT1
ZLopt
Rin
2.7pF
C3
50Ω
ANT2
4.4
Application Circuit
A value of 68nF/X7R is recommended for the supply-voltage blocking capacitor C3 (see Figure 4-3 on page 7 and Figure 4-4 on
page 8). C1 and C2 are used to match the loop antenna to the power amplifier where C1 typically is 3.9pF/NP0 and C2 is
1pF/NP0. For C2, two capacitors in series should be used to achieve a better tolerance value and to have the possibility of
realizing the ZLoad,opt using standard valued capacitors.
C1, together with the pins of ATA8403 and the PCB board wires, forms a series resonance loop that suppresses the 1st
harmonic. Therefore, the position of C1 on the PCB is important. Normally the best suppression is achieved when C1 is placed
as close as possible to the pins ANT1 and ANT2.
The loop antenna should not exceed a width of 1.5mm, otherwise the Q-factor of the loop antenna is too high.
L1 (≈ 50nH to 100nH) can be printed on PCB. C4 should be selected so that the XTO runs on the load resonance frequency of
the crystal. Normally, a 15pF load-capacitance crystal results in a value of 12pF.
Atmel ATA8403 [DATASHEET]
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