Over 600 companies are expected to take part in the 2019 IEEE International Microwave Symposium (IMS) and exhibition set for June 2-7, 2019 at the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center. There’s usually much fanfare at the show, as this industry’s leading engineering developers ply their wares for an interested public and visitors stroll past creative displays in search of solutions. For those in need of new and different active and passive components, this will be the best possible three-day update.
For example, AVX Corp. (Booths 403 and 404) will be showing passive components well-suited for applications across automotive, consumer, telecommunications, aerospace, and military applications, including wire-bondable capacitors and resistors, thermal conductors, fuses, filters, and antennas. Subsidiary company American Technical Ceramics will also be on hand at the exhibition, as well as the antenna arm of the company, Ethertronics.
As AVX Technical Marketing Manager, Larry Eisenberger explains, “IMS is the flagship conference of the IEEE Microwave Theory and Techniques Society and the premier annual event for the global community of microwave, RF, and millimeter-wave researchers, technologists, and practitioners, so we’re very excited to continue being a part of this industry-leading conference and exhibition.”
He adds, “This year, we look forward to introducing attendees to engineers and product solutions from our newest division, AVX RF Solutions—which now manages and is actively working to expand upon our already extensive portfolio of leading-edge microwave and RF components—in addition to engineers and product solutions from our wholly owned subsidiaries ATC and Ethertronics.”
AVX will feature thin-film transmission-line capacitors with their novel metal-insulator-metal (MIM) structure and small sizes to help miniaturize RF/microwave circuits, in addition to its low-profile 0202 size wire-bondable resistors that are rated to 250 mW dc power. Furthermore, AVX will show samples of its LP Series lowpass 1206 integrated thin-film surface-mount filters, with extremely low profiles and a wide frequency range reaching 6 GHz. On top of that, the company will have its Accu-Guard II SMD thin-film fuses on display, with guaranteed insulation resistance of more than 20 MΩ and a maximum operating temperature of +125°C.
1. These miniature capacitors are available with values from 0.3 to 100 pF with wide operating-temperature ranges. (Courtesy of Johanson Technology)
Among its wide assortment of passive high-frequency components, Johanson Technology (Booth 325) will be presenting examples of its high-quality-factor (Q) multilayer capacitors, such as its L-Series, S-Series, and E-Series capacitors for low, medium, and high-power applications. For instance, the L-Series components (Fig. 1) are RoHS-compliant, miniature capacitors with values from 0.3 to 100 pF and an operating temperature range of −55 to +125°C to handle a wide array of commercial, industrial, and military circuit applications.
Specifiers in need of filters will find them at Booth 471: Reactel is celebrating 40 years as a vital supplier of high-frequency filter technologies, including discrete component filters and cavity filters (Fig. 2). For example, compact cavity filters are available from 30 MHz to 50 GHz in compact coaxial packages as small as 0.25 in. wide and as large as 2.5 in. wide, with up to 16 sections. Designed with the aid of the latest computer-aided-engineering (CAE) software, custom filters can be designed to meet specific performance and mechanical requirements while also meeting the most demanding repeatability measures for production units.
2. Compact cavity filters can be supplied with as many as 16 sections for applications from 30 MHz to 50 GHz. (Courtesy of Reactel)
Lark RF Technology, a Benchmark Company (Booth 1230), will be showing samples that represent its long-time expertise in filters and other passive RF, microwave, and millimeter-wave circuits, including mmWave antenna arrays (Fig. 3) for 5G systems. Among the latest developments on display will be liquid-crystal-polymer (LCP) broadband bandpass filters (BPFs) for applications from 5 to 40 GHz. They’re based on LCP materials with stable dielectric constant and low dissipation factor, and configurations from 5 to 11 sections. These filters are just one example of the company’s long history of working with different types of filters and combining filters, switches, and amplifiers in more complex assemblies to simplify and miniaturize commercial, industrial, and military systems designs.
3. Millimeter-wave antenna arrays such as this are being developed for 5G infrastructure applications. (Courtesy of Lark RF Technology)
Pasternack (Booth 1273) will provide examples of one of the industry’s largest collections of active and passive RF, microwave, and mmWave components from a single source, including amplifiers, oscillators, coaxial cable assemblies, and waveguide components. Just in waveguide components, for example, specifiers can review amplifiers, upconverter and downconverter frequency mixers, and precision loads. Those working at links and other systems at 60 GHz will find the Pasternack/Vubiq 60-GHz development system, which offers a quick means of evaluating 60-GHz waveguide modules and components for the emerging unlicensed 60-GHz industrial-scientific-medical (ISM) frequency band.
JFW Industries (Booth 607) has long been a name associated with precision RF and microwave attenuators. The company will be on hand at the 2019 IMS exhibition with a number of its high-performance rack-mountable attenuator assemblies for systems and test applications (Fig. 4). Visitors to the booth will be able to compare manually controlled RF/microwave attenuators to completely programmable step-attenuator systems for use in both 75- and 50-Ω applications.
4. Programmable attenuation assemblies like that shown are well-suited for system and test applications across wide frequency ranges. (Courtesy of JFW Industries)
One of JFW’s latest developments, model 75P-223, is a 75-Ω programmable attenuator well-suited for cable-television (CATV) testing; it has a wide attenuation range of 0 to 63.75 dB that is adjustable in 0.25-dB steps. The device maintains a frequency range of 5 to 2150 MHz and can handle input power levels to +23 dBm. Available with Type N, F, or BNC connectors, the compact programmable attenuator boasts 2-ms switching speed to help accelerate production testing.
Represented here are a few of some of the longer-running names in the RF/microwave industry. Their products and technologies have evolved over recent years to meet demands for higher frequencies and smaller sizes, notably for 5G and automotive electronics applications as well as in EW military use. Overall, visitors to the 2019 IEEE IMS will see an industry reaching its highest frequencies and bandwidths in response to user needs, whether for active or passive components.
