The Optical Fiber Communication (OFC) conference and exhibition, held last week in Los Angeles, generated quite a few transimpedance amplifier (TIA) and modulator driver product announcements, a few of which are noted below. These microwave components serve at the electro-optical interface and are enabling the higher speeds of optical networks.

And the drumbeat of M&A continues, with two acquisitions announced.

Companies and Products

For $2.75 million, Akoustis is buying STC-MEMS to gain a fab for manufacturing Akoustis’ single-crystal BAW filters. They will keep the MEMS business, which generates about $3 million in annual revenue.

Fairview Microwave released three 8-bit digitally controlled analog phase shifters, which cover bands from 500 MHz to 18 GHz. The phase shifters produce 256 total phase states in 1.4 degree steps with typical phase shift error between ±0.9 to ±4.5 degrees.

Kymeta announced the commercial availability of their electronically scanned antenna (mTenna) and terminal (KyWay) for satellite communications. The company will begin field trials in May. Leveraging the commercialization of the hardware, Kymeta and Intelsat announced a data service that will pair Kymeta’s ground terminals with Intelsat’s geostationary satellites, offering data plans modeled on those for mobile phones.

MACOM announced three 64 GBd, 64-QAM linear modulator drivers for 600G coherent optical networks. With differential inputs and single-ended outputs, the drivers work with both InP and LiNO₃ modulators.

MaxLinear announced two drivers and two TIAs: a 45 GBd linear modulator driver, a low power 32 GBd linear driver, a 45 GBd TIA and a 64 GBd linear TIA. More info here and here.

Mercury Systems was awarded a five-year, follow-on contract for digital RF memory (DRFM) jammers from the U.S. Navy.

At the IEEE Wireless Communications and Networking Conference, National Instruments (NI) implemented and demonstrated the first over-the-air test of Verizon's 28 GHz, fixed wireless, pre-5G specification. Using OFDM with eight component carriers in a 2x2 downlink multi-user MIMO configuration and hybrid beamforming, the prototype achieved 5 Gbps peak throughput — scalable to over 20 Gbps with eight MIMO streams.

Peregrine Semiconductor is acquiring Arctic Sand Technologies, an MIT spin-off developing low power ICs for DC-DC power conversion. The deal, which is expected to close April 3, is part of Murata’s strategy to grow its power electronics business by developing small and efficient power solutions.

SAGE Millimeter released a 50 to 75 GHz dual polarized antenna with 15 dBi nominal gain at 62.5 GHz and 45 dB isolation between vertical and horizontal polarizations. An integrated orthomode transducer (OMT) enables the antenna to separate a circular or elliptical polarized waveform into two linear, orthogonal waveforms.

TowerJazz announced the availability of H5, a 300 GHz SiGe BiCMOS process developed for 400G networks. H5 combines advanced CMOS with low noise, high speed and high power SiGe devices for both TIAs and laser drivers.

In a Texas courtroom, ZTE pled guilty of violating U.S. export laws and promised to cooperate with U.S. and foreign law enforcement. One interesting wrinkle in the agreement: ZTE is not obligated to disclose information deemed to be a Chinese state secret, as defined by China. ZTE will pay a fine of $892 million, with an additional $300 million if it violates the terms of the settlement.

Markets and Technology

Cellular and 5G — Zahid Ghadialy, author of the 3G/4G blog, tells the story of the high power user equipment (HPUE) standard for band 41, which will improve coverage.

Fractus Antennas wants to replace smartphone antennas by using the phone's own ground plane and a small “booster.” Amy Nordrum profiles the company and its strategy in IEEE Spectrum.

ABI Research forecasts that GaN will capture approximately 25 percent of the base station power amplifier market this year, with most of the revenue coming from Asia. ABI’s annual market review includes a forecast updated through 2022.

Asha Keddy, a vice president in Intel’’s mobile and communications group and the general manager of the standards and advanced technology team updates her view of the path to 5G, covering standards, the 5G new radio, network transformation, spectrum and field trials.

Broadband — Research firm The Diffusion Group (TDG) said that 22 percent of U.S. homes have broadband but no pay TV, which is more than 2x the 2011 level. Michael Greeson, TDG co-founder and director of research, said, “Where broadband (and broadband video) goes, legacy pay TV subscriptions will increasingly decline. This is indeed what has transpired.” Read more in this Fierce Cable article.

Defense — The New York Times reports that the Pentagon is worried about Chinese firms investing in U.S. tech start-ups and gaining access to sensitive technology. The Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) reviews and sometime blocks foreign acquisitions of American companies — Infineon’s purchase of Wolfspeed comes to mind — but its scope does not include smaller deals, according to the article.

Semiconductor Technology — To avoid the deceleration of Moore's Law, systems are adopting parallel processing architectures with specialized ICs. Read the Wall Street Journal article.

Mobile Society — If you’re a Well Fargo customer, by the end of this week you should be able to use your cell phone to access your account at an ATM. An app on your phone will generate an eight-digit code which you enter with your PIN. Voila!

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