Microsemi new PIN diode to increase RF performance
Microsemi, a provider of semiconductor has announced the availability of a series of new plastic packaged PIN diode control products, leveraging the company's 50-year history supplying premier PIN diode products for challenging radio frequency (RF) power, small signal switching and receiver power limiting functions. The company says these new devices are highly cost competitive and can provide higher RF functionality, enabling defense, aerospace and medical customers to drive down bill of materials (BOM) costs with low risk and little sacrifice to performance.
"Our test and measurement, communication radio, radar and MRI customers all require an increased level of functional integration coupled with form factor reduction, which is consequently driving the need for PIN diode switches with higher density, functionality and performance," said Kevin Harrington, director of strategic marketing for Microsemi's RF/Microwave Discrete Products business unit. "Our new PIN diode switches are both integrated and compact in surface mount plastic packaged formats which further enables superior RF performance."
The new product families, all RoHS-compliant, include:
"¢ MPS4101-6LP, a single pole single throw (SPST) PIN switch with a 3 mm QFN-packaged series/shunt element offering wide-band, low-loss and high-isolation performance;
"¢ MMP4400, a series of five high-voltage, high-power PIN diode devices in plastic surface mount technology (SMT) packages with high stability and reliability, as well as low thermal resistance, high shunt isolation and low distortion;
"¢ GC4701-6LP, control devices with a SMT PIN limiter element, providing a specially processed PIN diode packaged in a convenient, low-cost plastic outline suitable for standard or co-planar microstrip circuits that comes in a 1.6 mm QFN package and offer low insertion loss, low threshold power and high isolation; and
"¢ MML4400, a series of fast surface mount MRI protection diodes offering protection from high-RF energy fields and enabling passive switching of surface-coil detuning and blocking circuits. The devices offer an anti-parallel option (unconnected pairs) in addition to low capacitance and conductance.
Challenging other PIN diode product suppliers in the market, Microsemi's new devices are designed to support the company's cross-selling opportunities alongside existing products into a variety of aerospace, defence and industrial applications such as test and measurement, MRI equipment, electronic warfare and radar.
According to a recent study by Global Industry Analysts, Inc. the RF and microwave diode market is projected to reach $1.34 billion by 2020. Microsemi's newly launched PIN diode families are ideal for these growing markets, as they combine lower cost surface mount packaging, fast switching and high continuous wave (CW) power handling capability, without sacrificing overall RF performance specifications.