Millimeter-wave frequencies offer the wide bandwidths needed to support fast wireless data rates, and Hittite Microwave Corp. has made their share of contributions for millimeter-wave radio designers. The firm, showing some of its integrated circuits (ICs) at the 2012 IMS (booth No. 1701), recently developed a highly integrated silicon transceiver chipset. Models HMC6000 and HMC6001 target 60-GHz applications such as metrocell/picocell backhaul, WiGig (IEEE 802.11ad) multi-Gb/s solutions including wireless cable replacement (HDMI, USB 3.0, DisplayPort), wireless docking stations, video/magazine kiosks, and wireless sensors.
The company also recently announced two amplifiers and three mixers for microwave and millimeter-wave radios from 24.0 to 46.5 GHz. Model HMC1040LP3CE is a self-biased GaAs MMIC low-noise amplifier (LNA) with 23-dB gain and 2.2-dB noise figure from 24.0 to 43.5 GHz. It consumes only 70 mA from a +2.5-VDC supply. It is housed in a 3 x 3 mm QFN package. Model HMC1016 is a GaAs PHEMT MMIC amplifier die with 22-dB gain from 34.0 to 46.5 GHz while providing 17% power-added efficiency from a +6-VDC supply.
Models HMC1041LC4 and HMC1042LC4 are in-phase/quadrature (I/Q) MMIC mixers for RF ranges of 17 to 27 GHz and 15.0 to 33.5 GHz, respectively. Model HMC1043LC3 is a triple-balanced mixer which has an intermediate-frequency (IF) range of 16 to 22 GHz and RF range of 26 to 32 GHz. It operates at local-oscillator (LO) levels as low as +9 dBm from 7 to 11 GHz. For more details on these and other ICs, visit Hittite at IMS booth No. 1701. .