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ISSUE DATE: JUNE 2006 | |
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June 2006 - In This Issue [Cover Story] LTCC Launches Miniature, Wideband, Low-Cost Mixers Low temperature co-fired ceramic (LTCC) circuit materials lend themselves to high-performance components in extremely small footprints. They also are the foundation for a new series of broadband, low-cost mixers from a company synonymous with mixers, Mini-Circuits (Brooklyn, NY). The new mixer line employs patented techniques using LTCC and advanced semiconductor technologies to cover bandwidths from 750 MHz to 15 GHz. 1The versatile mixers can be used as... — Mini-Circuits' Engineering Dept. [News] Technology Secures Borders And Shores Up Com Links Recent debates and activism centered around possible immigration reform have once again highlighted a major problem for this country: the task of securing its borders. No matter what political stance one takes on the current state of immigration in the US, most agree that the nation's borders are open avenues to terrorists seeking to gain entry into this country. The thousands of individuals who crossed borders into the US can attest to that fact. Patrolling and performing surveillance on... — Nancy Friedrich [News] Crosstalk: An Interview with Gavin Woods MRF: What is the middle and long-term road map for LDMOS, from the perspective of technological achievement, such as power level, efficiency, and increasing frequency? Compare it to its compound semiconductor alternatives? Woods: Our roadmap for LDMOS is as always to improve intrinsic die performance in key areas such as efficiency and gain. We also are continuing to focus on cost-effective device packaging, which can be as important as... — Jack Browne [Design Features] S-Band Power Amp Incorporates Bare Die Radar systems require higherpower but affordable solidstate high-power amplifiers (HPAs). The design of an efficient, low-cost HPA is particularly challenging given the expense of high-frequency, packaged transistor devices. By eliminating the packages, however, it is possible to save on the cost of developing an HPA. By mounting bare silicon transistor die on aluminum-nitride (AlN) carriers, and protecting the devices with a low-cost plastic cover, an S-band HPA was... — Pierre Bertram , et al. [Design Features] Properly Understanding Noise In Test Applications Noise generators can serve as useful test tools in evaluating communications systems performance. They allow an operator to add a controlled amount of thermal noise to a reference signals to determine the effect of noise on system performance, such as bit-error rate (BER). Thermal noise conforms to a Gaussian probability density function (PDF) allowing a smooth transition from theoretical analysis to a test bench. For the most part, the output of a noise generator is... — Peter Matthews [Design Features] MEMS Motion Sensors Boost Handset Reliability Motion sensors realized as microelectromechanicalsystem (MEMS) integrated circuits (ICs) are playing a major role in the future of cellular handsets. Not only do these MEMS accelerometers make mobile phones more usable, they can increase a handset’s reliability. Due to their increased sensitivity, reduced power consumption, reduced package size, MEMS accelerometers are being adopted more rapidly in new phone designs, supported by new functions implemented in... — Harvey Weinberg [Design Features] RF MEMS Integrates CMOS Controller Mobile-telephone designs continue to integrate more functions, but with goals of cutting supply voltage and current. Because of these conflicting design goals, RF microelectromechanical-system (MEMS) technology has attracted the attention of designers as a viable solution for certain cell-phone functions, such as filtering and switching, while operating from limited power supplies often as low as 2.7 V or less. Still, many factors limit the use of MEMS technology... — Michael C. Hopkins , et al. [Special Report] Simulation Tools Build On Electromagnetic Analysis Computer-aided-engineering (CAE) software for high-frequency design and analysis comes in many shapes and sizes. What started as a handful-of tools running on time-share computers a few decades earlier has blossomed into a market populated by numerous software developers and extensive product lines. The software products are as varied from freeware tools to perform simple calculations and filter analysis to full-fledged frameworks under which other programs operate. What... — Jack Browne [Product Technology] Vector Signal Generator Spans 0.4 To 2.5 GHz Testing components and devices with complex modulation formats require unconventional measurement solutions. Traditional signal sources, for example, may lack the capability to create the advanced phase- and amplitude-based modulation formats used in modern communications systems. But the model 2910 RF vector signal generator from Keithley Instruments (Cleveland, OH) is an unconventional test source with a frequency range—400 to 2500 MHz—that places it in the... — Jack Browne [Product Technology] Wide-Range Trimmers Fit Into Chip Housings Trimmer capacitors serve an invaluable circuit function, or a necessary evil, depending upon an engineer's viewpoint. Although the presence of a trimmer in a circuit implies a need to tune, some applications, such as filters and oscillators, require precise tuning to achieve a desired operating frequency. Of course, most engineers will gripe about the size that a trimmer adds to a printed-circuit board (PCB)—that is, until they have tried the new J Series of ceramic chip capacitors... — Jack Browne [Editorial] Keeping Up With A Changing World FOR THE PAST FEW YEARS, the US electrical-engineering industry has been largely consumed by thoughts, concerns, and plans for China. On one hand, design companies invested a lot of engineering resources and legal clout as they tried to protect their intellectual property (IP) from being mercilessly copied. At the same time, much was being made about China's growing economy. Both large and small companies began opening offices in China or forging business relationships in... — Nancy Friedrich |
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