1 Introduction

Understanding the mechanisms involved in designing high-speed analog-to-digital converter (ADC) front ends is sometimes like an art of its own. Simply placing a balun down and drawing two trace lines from the balun’s secondary outputs to the ADC’s inputs is not recommended for any high-speed analog receiver front end design. Baluns are notorious for being parasitic-sensitive on bandwidth, along with other nuisances. In this article, we’ll show you how to get the most out of your passive analog-input design using a balun. The added benefit is that you don’t need a costly balun nor a costly attenuation pad in order to achieve the bandwidth you want.