Switches are important components for applications like test-and-measurement instrumentation, among many others. Simply put, any scenario that involves signal routing requires an appropriate switching solution. Those attending the exhibition at IMS 2019 had an opportunity to get a firsthand look at some of the latest switches to hit the market.
One company making an impact in this arena is Menlo Micro, which recently unveiled its MM5120 and MM5130 single-pole, four-throw (SP4T) switches. The MM5130 was demo’d at IMS, giving visitors an opportunity to see the device’s wideband performance and high power-handling capability in person (Fig. 1).
1. At IMS, Menlo Micro demonstrated how its MM5130 SP4T switch still performs when driven by a high-power signal.
Looking at its specifications, the MM5130 micro-mechanical SP4T switch operates from dc to 18 GHz. The device can handle 25 W of continuous-wave (CW) power along with 150 W of pulsed power. At 6 GHz, the MM5130 achieves an insertion loss of 0.2 dB. In addition, the switch’s third-order input intercept point (IIP3) is in excess of +85 dBm, and it achieves 25 dB of isolation at 6 GHz.
According to Menlo Micro, the MM5130 is rated for more than 3 billion switching cycles at +85°C. The device comes in a 2.5- × 2.5-mm wafer-level chip-scale package (WLCSP). Markets for the MM5130 include aerospace and defense, test-and-measurement systems, and wireless infrastructure.
Menlo Micro’s other new high-power SP4T micro-mechanical switch is the MM5120. This device covers a frequency range of dc to 12 GHz. At 6 GHz, the MM5120 is also rated for 25 W of continuous-wave (CW) power and 150 W of pulsed power. Furthermore, the switch achieves 0.35 dB of insertion loss at 6 GHz. The MM5120 comes in a 4.0- × 4.0-mm BGA package.
Skyworks also showcased its latest RF switching products at IMS. On the show floor, the company demonstrated its SKY12245-492LF 100-W single-pole, double-throw (SPDT) switch with integrated driver circuitry (Fig. 2). The SKY12245-492LF covers a frequency range of 300 MHz to 3.8 GHz. It requires only a single +5-V dc supply and a control voltage that ranges from 0 to 3 V. Intended for LTE time-division-duplex (TDD) applications, the device comes in a 5.0- × 5.0-mm quad-flat no-leads (QFN) package.
2. At this live demo, visitors saw Skyworks’ SKY12245-492LF SPDT switch in action.
The SKY12247-492LF SPDT switch is an even newer product from Skyworks. This 100-W switch with integrated driver circuitry operates from 3.4 to 3.8 GHz. Also intended for LTE TDD applications, the SKY12247-492LF has typical transmit and receive insertion losses of 0.3 and 0.75 dB, respectively. The device also comes in a 5.0- × 5.0-mm QFN package.
