ISSUE DATE: DECEMBER 2006  OPTIONS
Millimeter-Wave Components

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December 2006 - In This Issue

[Cover Story]
Low-Cost IC Simplifies Software GPS Receivers
Software-aided receiver techniques are often associated with military tactical radios. But such flexible technology also holds great promise for L1-ban civilian Global Positioning System (GPS) receivers. Of course, low-cost RF receiver circuitry is still needed with the software, and the model MAX2741 integrated circuit (IC) from MAXIM Integrated Products (Sunnyvale, CA) serves as a compact and inexpensive RF front end for the receiver. Software techniques for GPS are paving...  — Orion Liang , et al.

[News]
Chilean Antenna Array Reaches Deep Across Space
Millimeter-Wave Frequencies are sometimes associated with military missile guidance systems and commercial automotive radars. They are also essential to radio astronomy, including the world’s most advanced millimeter/submillimeter wavelength radio telescope, the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA). The giant array is under construction high in the Chilean Andes Mountains as part of an international project to design, build, and operate a multi-element...  — Dr. Andrew Clegg

[Design Features]
Beware Of Spectrum Analyzer Power Averaging Techniques
Averaging is a common technique for reducing the measurement uncertainty inherent in all measurements. Performing the same measurement a number of times and averaging the results can reduce the randomness of the experimental result. Averaging is an automatic function available in most instruments. Rather than returning noise-ridden results, an instrument may make 100 measurements, calculate the average, and return just that average as the measured result. But power averaging in...  — Steve Murray

[Design Features]
Design A Simple, Low-Cost UWB Source
Ultrawideband (UWB) communications systems promise impressive bandwidths at low power levels through the use of time-coded pulses spread over a wide spectrum. While building a receiver capable of covering wide bandwidths is a challenge, creating the impulse generator to go with such an architecture can also be difficult. Fortunately, it is possible to assemble a relatively simple, low-cost, low-power UWB impulse generator by using a step-recovery diode (SRD) and a...  — Yeap Yean Wei

[Product Technology]
Top Products of 2006
With the inception of wireless networks, the microwaves and RF industry experienced an uptick in investments and innovation. Although the commercial sector has had its ups and downs, this market has generally helped to make the RF segment busier and more prosperous. At the same time, the RF industry has remained true to its heritage by continuing to satisfy military needs. The increase in military activity in recent years also has nurtured technology development. Such heightened...  — Nancy Friedrich

[Product Technology]
GaN FET Generates 81.3 W At 9.5 GHz
Gallium-nitride (GaN) substrates hold great promise for high-power transistors at microwave frequencies. While numerous devices are available for applications at typically around 5 GHz and below (WiMAX bands), the surface has barely been scratched in terms of the real high-power/frequency capabilities of GaN. The latest transistor development from Toshiba Corp. provides a closer look at what the future might hold. The firm’s X-band (8 to 12 GHz) GaN field-effect...  — Jack Browne

[Editorial]
WiMAX Enters The Combat Zone
In the past decade, the proliferation of wireless-communication standards has inspired many RF and microwave designs. The engineers behind these designs felt rewarded because they finally had something to point to that people used in everyday life. Many people—be they family, neighbors, or friends—had a better idea of what these engineers did for a living. At the same time, the technologies offered hope for improving and even saving lives through emergency-services,...  — Nancy Friedrich

[Feedback]
Microwave Legends
I read your article about the legends of microwave research and development in the August 2006 issue of Microwaves & RF (“Microwave Legends,” p. 51). I recognized many of the names, especially Packard and Hewlett. It looks like a lot of time and effort went into the list as there was a lot of information presented. One person who was missing, though, was Nicola Tesla. The reason I thought of him is that I was just reading a biography about Tesla...  — Richard Christensen

[The Front End]
China’s 3G Policy Still Remains Unclear
EL SEGUNDO, CA—According to a report from Byron Wu of iSuppli Corp., the Chinese government’s slow progress on the issuing of third-generation (3G) wireless licenses mean that 3G services are unlikely to be deployed in the nation until 2007. As the end of the year nears, there is still no sign that the Chinese government will issue 3G wireless licenses this year. After Chinese operators are awarded licenses, it will take at least one month for telecom OEMs...  — Compiled by John Curley

[The Front End]
Compound Semiconductor Industry Mergers & Acquisitions Draw Q3 To A Close
BOSTON, MA—The Strategy Analytics GaAs and Compound Semiconductor Technologies (GaAs) Service, releasing its regular analysis of compound semiconductor industry news covering microelectronics, optoelectronics, and materials/equipment markets, highlights a high number of joint ventures and mergers and acquisitions in Q3 2006. In the RF space, Freescale joined the private-equity ranks of Avago and NXP as it agreed to be acquired by a...  — Compiled by John Curley

[The Front End]
Intusoft Awarded US Patent For SPICE Simulation Templates
GARDENA, CA—Intusoft has announced the awarding of US patent 7,110,929 B1 to the company’s president and founder, Lawrence Meares, for the development of “System and Method of Providing Additional Circuit Analysis Using Simulation Templates.” The capability has been a key provision in the control of SPICE circuit simulation, custom waveform processing, and interaction with these processes by users of Intusoft’s tools. In October, the...  — Compiled by John Curley

[The Front End]
Kudos
KANSAS CITY, KS—Interconnect Devices, Inc. (IDI), a manufacturer of spring contact probes, test sockets, and custom interconnect solutions, was recently recognized for outstanding achievement for website development by the Web Marketing Association’s Tenth Annual Web Award Competition (www.webaward.org). More than 2300 websites from 35 countries were judged among 96 industry categories. IDI’s...  — Compiled by John Curley

[Financial News]
QUALCOMM Releases Financial Results
QUALCOMM, Inc. has announced results for the fourth fiscal quarter and fiscal 2006 year ended September 24, 2006 QUALCOMM’s fourth quarter revenues under generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) were $2.00 billion, up 28 percent year-over-year and 2 percent sequentially. GAAP net income was $614 million, up 14 percent year-over-year and down 5 percent sequentially. GAAP diluted earnings per share were $0.36, up 13 percent year-over-year and down 3 percent...  — Compiled by John Curley

[Company News]
Company News
CONTRACTS WPCS International, Inc.—Announced that it has recently been awarded a variety of new contracts totaling approximately $3.8 million. Some of the new contracts awarded to WPCS, through its subsidiaries, include projects to be completed for The Department of Emergency Management/Homeland Security, US Army/Fort Dix, Washington University Medical Center, Black & Veatch, the VCI Group, FDH Engineering, Turf Care, the...  — Compiled by John Curley

[People]
People
Barry Industries has appointed DR. PETER BARNWELL as European business manager. Dr. Barnwell will be based in the United Kingdom. He was previously director of advanced technologies for the Heraeus Circuit Materials Division. Micronetics, Inc.—KEVIN BEALS to vice president of business development; formerly district sales manager at M/ACOM, Inc. Motorola, Inc.—KENNETH C. “CASEY” KELLER, JR. to executive vice president and chief...  — Compiled by John Curley

[Educational Meetings]
Educational Meetings
SHORT COURSES Besser Associates Short Courses RF CMOS Design February 26-27, 2007 (San Diego, CA) Applied RF Techniques I February 26-March 2, 2007 (San Diego, CA) May 14-18, 2007 (Burlington, MA) RF Transceiver Architecture, Design, and Evaluation February 26-March 2, 2007 (San Diego, CA) May 14-18, 2007 (Burlington, MA) RF and Wireless...  — Compiled by John Curley

[R&D Roundup]
CMOS Yields 9-To-31-GHz Subharmonic Passive Mixer
Silicon-CMOS Technology has rarely been associated with millimeter-wave signal-processing applications. But Mingquan Bao and associates from the Microwave and High Speed Electronics Research Center at Ericsson Research (Molndal, Sweden) have designed and fabricated a subharmonic, passive down-conversion mixer in 90-nm silicon CMOS capable of operating with RF signals from 9 to 31 GHz. The mixer incorporates a single transistor and runs in local-oscillator (LO) source-pumped mode, with...  — Jack Browne

[R&D Roundup]
Calibration Approach Stabilizes 100-Mb/s UWB Pulse Generator
Ultrawideband-Communications technology promises high data rates with low transmit power levels over short distances. To be effective, however, such systems require effective, low-cost pulse generators. For that reason, Che-Fu Liang and S.-I. Liu of the Graduate Institute of Electronics Engineering and Department of Electrical Engineering of the National Taiwan University (Taiwan, Republic of China) and S.T. Liu of MaxRise (Hsinchu, Taiwan, Republic of China) developed a CMOS pulse...  — Jack Browne

[R&D Roundup]
High-Efficiency Power Amplifier Generates 2.8 W At Q-Band Frequencies
In support of emerging millimeter-wave communications systems, Michael Aust and associates from Northrop Grumman (Redondo Beach, CA) have developed a high-efficiency monolithic power amplifier capable of 2.8 W (+34.5 dBm) output power at Q-band frequencies from 42 to 46 GHz. The amplifier features power-added efficiency (PAE) of 23 to 26 percent when operated at 5 V and 250 mA/mm of device periphery. It achieved maximum PAE of 24 to 29 percent and output power of +33.6 to +34...  — Jack Browne

[Application Notes]
GaAs Proves Reliable At High Operating Temperatures
Manufacturers of Gallium-Arsenide (GaAs) and other semiconductor devices use an accelerated life test to check the reliability of MESFETs. Such tests provide information about failure mechanisms, activation energies, and failure rates. With these tests, an application note from WJ Communications, Inc. (San Jose, CA) works to show that catastrophic failure may occur at conservative channel temperatures in excess of 220°C. The four-page application note, which is...  — Nancy Friedrich

[Application Notes]
Preamplifiers Can Help To Produce Good-Quality Measurements
A preamplifier is often a low-noise amplifier (LNA) with moderate gain. If a preamplifier with low noise is used, the noise of all of the subsequent stages is reduced by its gain. In addition, the preamplifier’s noise is injected directly into the received signal. A preamplifier is needed to boost the desired signal power while adding minimal noise and distortion. The signal can then be retrieved in the system’s later stages. Such amplifiers are the focus of a 12-page...  — Nancy Friedrich

[Editor's Choice]
Linear Amplifier Covers 20 To 2500 MHz
Miltary applications demand extreme ruggedness from their components. A solid-state, Class AB linear amplifier promises to meet these tough requirements while delivering solid performance. In a single module, the model BME27258-50 operates over the full 20-to-2500-MHz frequency range. The amplifier’s typical output power at 1-dB compression is 40 W with a saturated output power of 50 W. Its gain is 64 dB ±4.0 dB. The input VSWR is 2:1 maximum. The amplifier’s...  — Nancy Friedrich

[Editor's Choice]
OCXOs Tolerate Up To 1 G Radiation
Stability is a defining parameter for oscillators of any kind—especially oven-controlled crystal oscillators (OCXOs). Through the use of proprietary compensation and stabilization methods, a series of radiation-hardened OCXOs can maintain a frequency stability of 1 ppb over an operating-temperature range of –55° to +85°C. Customers can specify the following: sine wave, HCMOS, TTL, or PECL output; a frequency range of 1 to 120 MHz; and operating voltages of...  — Nancy Friedrich

[Editor's Choice]
Double-Oven Crystal Oscillators Shrink In Size
In the electronics market, it seems that smaller is better—despite rising performance needs. At 17 mm, for instance, the C4700 double-oven crystal oscillator (DOCXO) should offer some space savings. It also promises stability with an available frequency range of 4 to 15 MHz and temperature stabilities down to 0.2 ppb from 0° to +70°C. The RoHS-compliant oscillator was designed to meet the frequency stability requirements of CDMA and UMTS applications....  — Nancy Friedrich

[Editor's Choice]
MMIC Receivers Span 7 To 28 GHz
Some products integrate components to give engineers space-saving advantages. For example, nine gallium-arsenide (GaAs) monolithic-microwave-integrated-circuit (MMIC) receivers integrate low-noise amplifiers (LNAs), I/Q mixers, and local-oscillator (LO) amplifier/multipliers. The devices cover the microwave radio bands from 7 to 28 GHz. The HMC570, HMC571, and HMC572 bare-die products provide a signal-conversion gain of 8 through 10 dB with a noise figure as low as 3 dB. In addition,...  — Nancy Friedrich