July 20, 2006 Newsletter

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Microwaves & RF UPDATE
MWRF - www.mwrf.com
July 20, 2006
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Greetings and welcome to your personal copy of PlanetEE's Microwaves 
and RF UPDATE e-newsletter. Please see below for address-change or 
subscribe/unsubscribe instructions.

Today's Table of Contents:
1. Finding A Place For Technology                                                                             
2. AWR and Peregrine Team On Process Design Kit 
3. Jacket Micro Devices Awarded Patent 
4. Microwave Circuits' Filters Aid Commercial, Military Systems 
5. Report Sees Steady Growth For UWB In Mobile Phones 
6. Linear Launches Low-Power 14-b, 125-MSamples/s ADC 
7. Rogers Launches Advanced Flex Circuit Material 
8. Happenings - Conferences 


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1.  Viewpoint 
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Finding A Place For Technology

When so many companies flocked to making GaAs integrated circuits 
(ICs) in the early 1980's, most thought that the advantages of the 
technology over silicon bipolars in terms of speed and frequency were 
enough to ensure healthy sales and unbridled success. Unfortunately, 
few technologies will sell themselves unless the price tag is also 
reasonable. One of those technologies apparently looking for a home is 
ultrawideband (UWB), a marvelous concept with the capability of huge 
data rates at low transmit and power-consumption levels. 

As promising as UWB technology appears "on paper," however, it is 
competing with hordes of other wireless technologies, including 
Bluetooth and WiMAX. A report from IMS Research reviewed in this 
week's newsletter cites mobile telephones as the place for UWB. And 
UWB may yet prove to be a multimedia cable replacement for big-screen 
televisions and their peripherals. But for all its magic, it must be 
produced cheaply enough to make sense, and only then will it be widely 
adopted.

JACK BROWNE
Technical Director

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2. News
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AWR and Peregrine Team On Process Design Kit

Software specialist Applied Wave Research (AWR) and device supplier 
Peregrine Semiconductor have announced the availability of a process 
design kit (PDK) for Peregrine's UltraCMOS complementary metal oxide 
semiconductor (CMOS) silicon-on-sapphire (SOS) process in AWR's Analog 
Office(R) suite of high-frequency software design tools. The PDK is 
the first step in a long-term collaboration between the two companies 
to deliver complete radio-frequency integrated circuit (RFIC) design 
solutions. The PDK will help shorten IC development cycles, accelerate 
tape-out to the Peregrine process, and speed wireless products to 
market. According to John Sung, Peregrine's director of CAD 
engineering, "After using Analog Office during the PDK development 
process, our designers were impressed with the tight electrical and 
physical integration, ease-of-use, and the environment tailored for
high-frequency RF designers. The PDK includes a complete set of 
validated schematic symbols, simulation models, and fully 
parameterized layout cells that are characterized to match the 
UltraCMOS process performance."
Applied Wave Research ---> http://news.mwrf.com/t?ctl=3239B:49027F
Peregrine Semiconductor ---> http://news.mwrf.com/t?ctl=3239C:49027F

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3. News
*********
Jacket Micro Devices Awarded Patent

Jacket Micro Devices has been granted United States Patent No. 
7,068,124 for their passive multilayer circuit technology. Issued for 
the publication of "Integrated Passive Devices Fabricated Utilizing 
Multi-layer Organic Laminates," the patent was awarded to Jacket Micro 
Devices' founders for their invention of a key technology used in the 
company's multilayer organic packaging technology and module 
production process. According Dr. George White, the company's founder 
and Chief Technology Officer (CTO), "This invention embodies for the 
first time an organic device that is realized through the design and 
fabrication of the highest quality 'Q' factor passive components which 
can be integrated in a multilayer organic printed circuit board. We 
are excited to see the fruits of years of research into advanced 
packaging technology we began at Georgia Tech." Dr. White added 
"Integrated passive devices using these techniques are able to meet 
the specifications of cavity and LTCC filters with equivalent or 
better performance in smaller footprints."
Jacket Micro Devices ---> http://news.mwrf.com/t?ctl=32396:49027F

*********
4. News
*********
Microwave Circuits' Filters Aid Commercial, Military Systems

Microwave Circuits, Inc. (Lynchburg, VA) has developed an extensive 
line of miniature and high-power bandpass, lowpass, and high-pass 
filters for commercial and military applications. For example, model 
B6830004 is a miniature bandpass filter with maximum insertion loss of 
1.3 dB at its 3-GHz center frequency. Peak-to-peak passband ripple is 
within 0.5 dB. Rejection of unwanted signals is more than 60 dB from 
DC to 1.5 GHz and more than 60 dB from 4.5 to 18.0 GHz. The bandpass 
filter measures just 0.45 x 1.00 x 2.75 in excluding connectors. The 
company has also developed patent-pending ceramic-loaded tunable 
cavity filters that are a fraction of the size of standard 
quarter-wave cavity filters. 
Microwave Circuits --- http://news.mwrf.com/t?ctl=32398:49027F

**********
5. News
**********
Report Sees Steady Growth For UWB In Mobile Phones

A new research report from IMS Research, "Worldwide Market for 
Ultra-WIdeband," projects that ultrawideband (UWB) devices will 
achieve low-volume penetration into the mobile telephone market in 
2007, rising to a penetration rate of around 20 percent by 2011. The 
mobile phone market is likely to be an important market for UWB for a 
number of reasons. The sheer size of the available market means that 
even if relatively low penetration rates are achieved, there is a huge 
potential market for UWB. The potentially negative effect of cellular 
terminals on markets such as PDAs, MP3 players, and digital cameras 
only heightens the importance of the cellular market to the future of 
UWB. According to Fiona Thomson, Market Analyst for IMS Research, "The 
sharp rise in the number of feature phones and smart phones has meant 
that the demand for extra connectivity is becoming an extremely 
crucial factor. We see smart phones adopting UWB first with feature 
phones following around 12 months later."
IMS Research ---> http://news.mwrf.com/t?ctl=32397:49027F
 
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*********
6. News
*********
Linear Launches Low-Power 14-b, 125-MSamples/s ADC

Linear Technology Corp. has unleashed the LTC2285, a 14-b, 125 
MSamples/s dual high-speed analog-to-digital converter (ADC) that 
dissipates just 395 mW power per channel. With signal-to-noise ratio 
of 71.3 dB and spurious-free dynamic range (SFDR) of 78 dB at 140 MHz, 
the ADC is ideal for digitizing the intermediate-frequency (IF) stage 
of wireless receivers, including in WiMAX systems. The high sampling 
rate allows designers to capture wider bandwidths and increase the 
capacity of existing systems that are currently sampling at 65 
MSamples/s. 
Linear Technology Corp. ---> http//www.linear.com/

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7. News
*********
Rogers Launches Advanced Flex Circuit Material

Materials specialist Rogers Corp. has announced the availability of 
its R/flex JADE(TM) series of flexible circuit materials, the next 
generation of the firm's R/flex CRYSTAL(R) epoxy adhesive system. They 
are lead-free solder capable, for RoHS-compliant designs, and they 
meet flammability requirements without the use of halogen. They 
feature a high glass transition temperature making them suitable for 
high-yield, multilayer circuits. The transparent adhesive system 
simplifies visual inspection. 
Rogers Corp. ---> http://news.mwrf.com/t?ctl=32392:49027F

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8.  Happenings - Conferences
*******************************
Signal Integrity From The Ground Up
August 14-16, 2006
San Jose, CA
http://news.mwrf.com/t?ctl=32393:49027F

International Electron Devices Meeting (IEDM)
December 11-13, 2006
Hilton San Francisco and Towers
San Francisco, CA
http://news.mwrf.com/t?ctl=32390:49027F

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Instruments http://news.mwrf.com/t?ctl=3239A:49027F 
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MICROWAVES AND RF (MWRF) UPDATE e-NEWSLETTER CONTACTS
====================================================
Technical Director: Jack Browne
mailto:[email protected]

Managing Editor: John Curley
mailto:[email protected]

Advertising/Sponsorship Opportunities:
Paul Barkman at 1-908-704-2460 or
mailto:[email protected]

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