IMS showcases latest microwave, antenna, and wireless advances

IMS showcases latest microwave, antenna, and wireless advances

This year’s International Microwave Symposium from June 15 to 20 in Atlanta, GA, will highlight the latest in microwave, antenna, and wireless technology. Here are a few of the products that will be presented.

California Eastern Laboratories (www.cel.com) will show its Matrix radio modules, measuring just 23 x 29 mm. This ZigBee/IEEE 802.15.4 module is based on the Texas Instruments CC2430 transceiver platform and joins CEL’s Freescale-based modules in providing a fully integrated, drop-in ZigBee radio solution. Output power can be configured up to 10 mW.

CEL’s Matrix radio modules

Valpey Fisher (www.valpeyfisher.com) will showcase the VFJA402 and VFJA430 jitter attenuators, integrated clock/PLL timing solutions for 1G/10G/100G synchronous Ethernet applications. The VFJA402 provides two LVPECL outputs from 10 to 200 MHz, while the VFJA430 has two LVCMOS outputs from 10 to 200 MHz. Housed in a 19.5 x 15.5-mm SMT package, the devices operate from a 3.3-Vdc supply, typically consume 150 mW, and provide an output jitter of 0.20 ps rms from 12 kHz to 20 MHz.

Vectron (www.vectron.com) will present its VS-705 VCSO, which has an expanded frequency range of 120 to 850 MHz in a 5.0 x 7.5 x 2.5-mm LCC package. Unlike the latest digital phase-locked loop technologies, which at a minimum have two times the phase jitter as well as spurious modes, this part uses a high-Q SAW design, which results in spurious-free phase jitter of less than 125 fs rms.

Mimix Broadband (www.mimixbroadband.com) will showcase the XL1010-QT MMIC LNA, which covers the frequencies from 20 to 38 GHz and is well suited for multiple receiver applications that require broadband performance with simple bias requirements. The part delivers 3-dB noise figure and 17-dB small-signal gain.

NXP Semiconductors, (www.nxp.com), will announce a new base station power transistor, the first of its products to feature the company’s industry-leading Gen7 LDMOS technology optimized for high power use and Doherty amplifier applications. The seventh generation LDMOS technology from NXP will provide an added booston power density and efficiency, while reducing thermal resistance.

At EM Research’s (www.emresearch.com) booth you will see the PLXO-series phase-locked crystal oscillators, which feature 15-dB improvement in phase noise characteristics (less than −140 dBc/Hz at 1 kHz typical) and enhanced spurious response (less than −65 dBc) in a 0.9 x 0.9 x 0.25-in. package. They will also exhibit the CLX series synthesizer which is available in custom frequencies from 200 MHz to 4 GHz in a 0.75 x 0.75-in. package. The CLX is a ceramic resonator based oscillator with a phase noise of −110 dBc at 10-kHz offset.

EM Research’s PLXO-series phase-locked crystal oscillators

Crystek Crystals (www.crystek.com) will showcase its 1-GHz CCSO-914X3-1000 SAW clock oscillator, which provides 142 dBc/Hz phase noise at 10-kHz offset, uses a 3.3-V supply, and generates a true sine wave with 5 dBm min output power. The part has no subharmonics while its second harmonic is 25-dBc typ.

Crystek’s CCSO-914X3-1000 CCSO

Avago Technologies (www.avagotech.com) will show WaferCap, an industry’s first semiconductor-based chip scale packaging (CSP) technology that has the potential to reach the 100-GHz frequency range for a SMT packaging. It has the same dimensions as an 0402 component and can reduce the amount of PCB space an RF device occupies by over 50%. They will also be showcasing the world’s smallest RF amplifiers, the VMMK-2×03, with miniature 0402 package dimensions and no wirebonds. The amplifiers are optimized for 500-MHz to 12-GHz frequencies.

Avago’s VMMK-2×03 RF amps

Infineon (www.infineon.com) will introduce a family of LDMOS RF power transistors targeted to GSM/EDGE applications in the 920 to 960-MHz and 1,805 to 1,880-MHz frequency bands. These new transistors feature 50-W average output power at 920 to 960 MHz and 45-W average output power at 1,805 to 1,880 MHz. These products feature a thermally enhanced open-cavity plastic package with cooper flanges with less than 10 µin. of gold platting.olcn5_jun2008

Infineon’s LDMOS RF power transistors

RFMD (www.rfmd.com) will be exhibiting the 1-W SPA-1426Z and 2-W SPA-1526Z Class A InGaP power amplifiers, which are suited for use as a driver stage in macro- or micro-cell infrastructure equipment, or as the final output stage in pico-cell infrastructure equipment. Featuring on-chip active-bias circuitry and bias-control pins, these devices also have an input power detector and rugged class 1C ESD rating (> 1-kV HBM).

RFMD’s Class A InGaP power amplifiers

Nitronex (www.nitronex.com) will be showcasing the NPT1004 GaN power transistor that delivers 45 W at 28 V for high PAR (peak-to-average ratio) and pulsed applications. It also delivers 5-W average power for 2.5 to 3.5-GHz WiMAX applications and 4.5-W for 3.3 to 3.5-GHz WiMax applications.

AWR (www.awrcorp.com) will present its new Microwave Office process design kits (PDKs), which include the latest innovations of ACE, APLAC, and AXIEM technologies, enabling designers to take full advantage of the most advanced foundry processes. The PDKs reduce the time required to go from design concept to working product by seamlessly integrating the full capabilities of Microwave Office software with those of the foundries.

CST (www.cts.com) will be demonstrating the new functionality and workflow options implemented in the upcoming release of CST Studio Suite 2009, which will be enhanced by the CST PCB Studio and CST Cable Studio. They will be integrated into CST Design Environment and will further increase the SI and EMC capabilities. In addition, the upcoming release version 2009 of CST Microwave Studio is previewed for the fourth quarter and will be fully integrated in CST Studio Suite.

CST’s CST Studio Suite 2009

Agilent Technologies (www.agilent.com/find/eesof) will present the newest version of its GoldenGate software for advanced simulation and analysis of integrated RFIC designs. GoldenGate’s simulation algorithms are optimized for the challenging demands of complex RFIC design, enabling full characterization of complete transceivers prior to tape out. To ensure device manufacturability and reduce design spins, GoldenGate takes advantage of both frequency-domain and time-domain simulation capabilities to perform necessary analyses on today’s mixed-signal RFICs.

Hittite Microwave (www.hittite.com) will announce the release of the HMC-T2000 signal generator for use in research and development laboratories and automated test and measurement environments. The generator delivers up to 20 dBm (17 dBm leveled) of CW output power, operates over 0.7 to 8 GHz, and provides less –40 dBc of harmonic rejection at 1 GHz.

Hittite Microwave’s HMC-T2000 signal generator Christina NickolasFor more information on the International Microwave Symposium from June 15 to 20 in Atlanta, GA, visit http://www.ims2008.org.