Menlo Microsystems, Inc. (aka Menlo Micro), which claims its fame on the back of its “Ideal Switch” MEMS-based switching technology, is now ready to begin production of its MM5130, touted as the first high-performance RF switch manufactured with solid-state switching technology.
The MM5130 is designed to handle 25 W with ultra-low losses, in a miniaturized wafer-level chip-scale package (WL-CSP). Historically, this level of performance has been reserved for large RF mechanical relays, which have major drawbacks. With its Ideal Switch technology, Menlo Micro says it has eliminated the compromises that engineers have had to make when selecting between RF mechanical relays and solid-state switches. The MM5130 offers the power handling and RF performance of an electromechanical relay (see the table), with the size, reliability, and speed of a solid-state switch.
These improvements make the MM5130 switch well suited for a multitude of applications including low-loss switched filter banks, tunable filters, step attenuators, and even beamsteering antennas for a variety of radio architectures in both commercial and military communications networks. The high channel density and low losses also make the MM5130 a match for ultra-compact switch matrices for test and measurement applications.
Menlo Micro has completed the 30-month process of transferring and qualifying its processes from a 4” research fab to an 8”, high-volume manufacturing line. This allows the company to significantly increase its capacity to millions of units per month in 2021.
Menlo Micro, www.menlomicro.com