Most of last week's news was announced in conjunction with the International Microwave Symposium (#IMS2015) in Phoenix.

Companies and Products

Avago introduced an LNA-filter module for satellite radio. The ALM-2203 integrates a three-stage enhancement-mode pHEMT LNA with an FBAR filter in a 5 x 5 x 0.95 mm molded chip-on-board package.

Cree plans an IPO for their Power and RF segment. While Cree will remain the majority stockholder, the split will allow Cree's management to focus on their LED and lighting businesses. Cree's board has recruited Franco Plastina to be the Interim Executive Vice President for Power and RF, effective June 8.

Cree announced 500 W S-Band and 350 W C-Band GaN transistors, aiming to replace TWTs in radar systems.

Freescale, king of LDMOS, introduced their first GaN power transistor for cellular infrastructure. The device is designed for 30 and 40 W PAs in the 1.8 to 2.2 GHz wireless bands.

Freescale also announced a digital front-end processor for implementing PA digital pre-distortion (DPD). The AFD4400 provides the digital processing hardware that enables designers to fully program, optimize, and modify the radio via software.

MACOM highlighted various products and participated in several technical sessions at IMS. Their main focus was touting the improved power and efficiency of their Gen 4 GaN on silicon. New GaN on silicon products include a

• 100 W PA covering DC to 2000 MHz, with 60 percent drain efficiency and 20 dB gain at 900 MHz, and a
• 12.5 W PA covering 20 to 1000 MHz with 65 percent drain efficiency and 14 dB gain.

Mercury Systems released a wideband tuner for ESM based on their OpenRFM architecture. Lorne Graves of Mercury urged industry adoption of OpenRFM, citing the building block approach will reduce system development time.

Microsemi introduced 13 RF, microwave, and mmWave devices: five GaN L- and S-Band PAs, two SPST PIN switches, five coaxial limiters, and a 100 W PA module covering 6 to 18 GHz.

Qorvo presented several papers at IMS and featured multiple products — including their first GaN PAs in plastic.

Skyworks announced two switches targeting IoT: a GaAs pHEMT SPDT and a CMOS SOI SP3T. Both operate to 6 GHz.

WIN Semiconductors announced the foundry has shipped more than 1 million GaAs wafers and is adding a third fab to meet the growing demand for GaAs and GaN.

Markets and Technology

Six Chinese were charged with economic espionage by the U.S. Department of Justice. They are accused of stealing FBAR IP from Avago and Skyworks. The DoJ release is a fascinating read.

Prototyping 5G technology, Nokia and Mitsubishi are collaborating on a 3.5 GHz active antenna. This video is a good summary of their work.

After the recent derailment of a speeding train, we're hearing how positive train control (PCT) would prevent that from happening. NPR reported that acquiring the needed spectrum is slowing deployment of the system, and the FCC provides their perspective about their role and timeliness.

Remember Y2K? Now people are fretting about the leap second.