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Yttrium Iron Garnet, is a man-made crystal structure which is part of a family of ferromagnetic materials that possess unique high-performance enabling properties in RF and microwave component and test equipment designs. YIG was first synthesized in a laboratory in 1958 at Bell labs and has been the subject of innumerable investigations over the years leading to some of the most innovative and disruptive devices that are still best-in-class in their applications today.

Learn more in our blog “What is YIG and how does it work so well?" >>

There are numerous factors that enter into the tuning speed of a YIG device. However, there are some rules of thumb that one can use to get an idea of the basic tuning speed based on the mechanical package size. The speeds below are based on standard driver voltages of +/- 15 Vdc and no driver “tweaks.”

Standard 1.75” and 2” cylinders: 1-2 mSec per GHz tuned

Standard 1.25” squares: 700-800 uSec per GHz tuned

Standard 1” cubes: 500-600 uSec per GHz

Mini’s ½ cubic inch: 300-500 uSec per GHz

Fast Tune Mini’s: 100 uSec per per GHz

TO-8’s: Full band 3 to 6 GHz in 400-500 usec

If one starts changing to lower inductance tuning coils and changes the driver parameters including the driver input voltages, faster tuning speeds can be obtained.

The heater in a YIG device is used to elevate the temperature of the YIG resonator to approximately +80-85 degrees C. The material at this elevated temperature is less susceptible to emit spurious tones. The heater has a secondary effect on the temperature compensation (temperature drift) of the device over extended temperature ranges.

The best frequency range for a YIG resonator is 3.0 to 6.0 GHz. This is where the YIG material has shown the best overall performance including phase noise spurious performance and loaded “Q” value. Other bands such as 2 to 8 GHz and 8 to 18 GHz have also shown premium performance.

First off, a YIG device is a tunable component that requires a change in magnetic field to change the frequency of the device. So, you cannot operate a YIG device directly from a power supply as you will only be changing voltage and not the necessary change in current. Due to the changing resistance and impedance of the highly-inductive tuning coils present, a constant current source in-between the power supply and YIG device is required.