Microwave Journal articles from November 2000

Microwave Journal archives from November 2000

IMPROVING ACCURACY AND RELIABILITY OF MICROWAVE ON-WAFER SILICON DEVICE MEASUREMENTS.
November 1, 2000... This article summarizes recent research findings and general guidelines for microwave on-wafer measurement of devices fabricated using silicon technologies. Issues specific to low resistivity substrates and low conductance metallization are...

Common Ground Station Approved for Full-rate Production.
November 1, 2000... The Department of Defense (DoD) has approved full-rate production that will extend the acquisition program for the Motorola US Army Common Ground Station (CGS), a battlefield intelligence and reconnaissance ground processing system. The...

Report Forecasts $6.6 B Airborne Reconnaissance SAR Market for 2000-2009.
November 1, 2000... A new report from the Teal Group Corp., "Airborne Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) Forecast for 2000--2009," predicts that the total reconnaissance and surveillance SAR market will remain stable at $600 M to $700 M per year from FY 2000 to FY...

Air Force Outlines Joint Strike Fighter Comparative Evaluation Program.
November 1, 2000... Two rival designs of the next-generation Joint Strike Fighter will be tested side-by-side but Air Force officials caution that the public should not expect a survivor-type competition for the $220 B weapon contract, the largest in US history....

Army TOW-F&F Contract Awarded.
November 1, 2000... Raytheon Co., Lexington, MA, has been awarded a $125.9 M contract from the US Army for engineering and manufacturing development (EMD) of the Tube-launched, Optically Tracked, Wire-guided Fire and Forget (TOW-F&F) anti-tank weapon. According to...

DARPA Supports Development of Smart Shirt for Patient Monitoring.
November 1, 2000... Sensatex/LifeLink, Dallas TX is developing a wireless platform for the real-time diagnostic health monitoring of home-care and hospital patients. The platform will consist of the Smart Shirt -- a computer in the form of a T-shirt -- and an...

Land Attack STANDARD Missile EMD Funded.
November 1, 2000... The US Navy has awarded a contract to Raytheon Co. for EMD work and testing for the Land Attack STANDARD Missile (LASM). LASM is designed to provide ground forces with long-range, rapid, precise fire, and will be deployed on the Navy's AEGIS...

AMSAR Moves Forward.
November 1, 2000... Europe's three nation (France, Germany and the UK) Airborne Multi-role Solid-state Active-array Radar (AMSAR) has successfully passed its Phase 2A Critical Milestone Review (CMR), paving the way for the construction and testing of a Core...

Philips Launches New Generation RF Synthesiser Technology.
November 1, 2000... Netherlands contractor Philips Semiconductors has launched a new range of Sigma-Delta Fractional-N RF synthesiser devices that are aimed at high bandwidth, digital radio applications such as cellular telephones, cordless telephone handsets,...

Astor Radar to Begin Trials During 2001.
November 1, 2000... Flight trials of a representative prototype of the radar sensor to be used in the UK's Airborne Stand-Off Radar (ASTOR) surveillance system are scheduled to begin during the early part of next year. Based on the American Advanced Synthetic...

Siemens Demonstrates 7 Tbps Fibre-optic.
November 1, 2000... Siemens Munich, Germany-based Advanced Optical Networks Laboratory has demonstrated the transmission of data over a single fibre-optic at a speed of 7.04 Tbps using Dense Wavelength Division Multiplexing (DWDM) technology. In more detail, the...

Swedish Army to Experiment with Software Radio.
November 1, 2000... Sweden's military procurement arm (the FMV) has awarded German contractor Rohde & Schwarz a contract covering the supply of a quantity of M3TR software radios for use in a tactical radio communications environment demonstration. Here, the...

SES ASTRA 2B Successfully Launched.
November 1, 2000... The Societe Europeene des Satellites (SES) ASTRA 2B digital broadcast satellite was successfully launched into a geostationary orbit at 28.2[degrees] East on 14 September. Co-located with the organisation's ASTRA 2A vehicle, the combination of...

Second Satellite-to-car Broadcast Satellite Launched.
November 1, 2000... The second of the three satellites of a constellation that will deliver digital-quality radio broadcasting to motorists throughout the US has been launched. The third operating satellite and a ground spare for the digital audio radio service...

Strategic Partnership Formed to Build Broadband Satellite Network.
November 1, 2000... EUTELSAT and Nera have announced the formation of a strategic partnership for the development of broadband access via satellite. The principle objective of the partnership is the construction of a pilot satellite network based on the Return...

New 3G Equipment Facility Opens.
November 1, 2000... Ericsson has opened its newest third-generation (3G) production facility in Gavle on the east coast of Sweden. The plant will produce wideband CDMA (W-CDMA) base stations for the worldwide market. Ericsson is presently the supplier of...

Wireless Data Users to Number 1.3 Billion by 2004.
November 1, 2000... A new report from Cahners In-Stat Group, "Wireless Data/Internet Market Gains Momentum: Five-year Subscriber Forecast," predicts that the wireless data market will grow from approximately 170 million subscribers worldwide in 2000 to more than...

New High Speed Wireless Internet Access Service to be Demonstrated.
November 1, 2000... Burst Wireless Inc. has announced plans to collaborate with Lucent Technologies in a trial of portable, high speed, wireless Internet access to residents and small business users in the Pacific Northwest. Under the terms of the agreement,...

Device Combines Processing and Communications Functions.
November 1, 2000... Millennial Net Inc. has introduced its i-Bean, a very low power integrated computing/communications device that combines a disposable computer with a built-in power source, digital I/O, flash memory, pulse width modulation, A/D and D/A...

Spacek Labs Inc.
November 1, 2000... * Spacek Labs Inc., Santa Barbara, CA, has completed its acquisition of the assets of millimeter-wave amplifier manufacturer Sierra Wireless Systems. Financial terms of the cash agreement were not disclosed.

Gel-Pak[R].
November 1, 2000... * Gel-Pak[R], Sunnyvale, CA, has acquired Silicon Packaging Technology Inc. (SPT), San Diego, CA. SPT has been renamed Quik-Pak[TM] and will operate as a division of Gel-Pak.

StratEdge.
November 1, 2000... * StratEdge, San Diego, CA, has purchased the assets of hermetic glass-to-metal seal, flatpack, Plastic Equivalent Package manufacturer Package Technologies Inc. (PTI), Taunton, MA. The acquisition expands StratEdge's product offerings from low...

Credence Systems Corp.
November 1, 2000... * Automatic test equipment manufacturer Credence Systems Corp., Fremont, CA, has acquired Modulation Instruments Inc., Colorado Springs, CO, a specialist in leading-edge RF test technology for the wireless device market. The acquisition will be...

Selco Products Co.
November 1, 2000... * Selco Products Co., Orange, CA, has purchased electronic control manufacturer Electronic Controls Corp. (ECC), Los Alamitos, CA. The addition of ECC will complement Selco's existing line of thermal management products, including disc...

Lindgren RF Enclosures Inc.
November 1, 2000... * Lindgren RF Enclosures Inc., a Chicago-based manufacturer of RF shielding products for electromagnetic compatibility (EMC), medical, industrial and government markets recently acquired by ESCO Technologies Inc., will integrate its EMC test...

Picosecond Pulse Labs Inc.
November 1, 2000... * Picosecond Pulse Labs Inc. has created a new research and development facility and engineering team. The 8149-square-foot facility is located at 9795 SW Gemini Dr., Beaverton, OR 97008. The engineering team will work on technology and...

Crystalline Materials Corp.
November 1, 2000... * Aluminum nitride packaging material manufacturer Crystalline Materials Corp., Phoenix, AZ, is changing its name to CMC Wireless Components. The company is located at 10409 S. 50th Place, Phoenix, AZ 85044 (480) 496-5027.

CTS Corp.
November 1, 2000... * CTS Corp. has established an Application Specific Networks Product Group for its resistor/electrocomponents business headquartered in Berne, IN. The product group will address critical market demand for high frequency data bus termination for...

EMS Wireless.
November 1, 2000... * EMS Wireless, a division of EMS Technologies Inc., is establishing operations in Brazil to offer a complete range of PCS/cellular base station antenna products to the fast-growing South American market. A wholly owned subsidiary, EMS Wireless...

W.C. Heraeus.
November 1, 2000... * W.C. Heraeus has formed a new worldwide circuit materials division to manage the specific segments of the company that serve the electronic component fabrication industry. The new division is designed to create synergy among the company's...

Micro Pulse Inc.
November 1, 2000... * Micro Pulse Inc., Camarillo, CA, has expanded its present facility location to 19,000 square feet. In related news, the company has been named to Deloitte and Touche's "Los Angeles Fast 50," a ranking of the 50 fastest-growing technology...

Advanced Hardware Architectures.
November 1, 2000... * Advanced Hardware Architectures (AHA) has opened a new design center in Southampton, UK. Record demand for AHA's forward error correction products spurred the expansion decision.

APLAC Solutions Corp.
November 1, 2000... * As part of an effort to enhance customer support throughout the Americas, APLAC Solutions Corp. has established an office in Irving, TX.

TRW.
November 1, 2000... * TRW, Redondo Beach, CA, has completed facilities construction and is beginning to install manufacturing equipment for what will become the world's first high volume production line for high performance chips fabricated using indium phosphide...

ADC Telecommunications Inc.
November 1, 2000... * ADC Telecommunications Inc., Minneapolis, MN, has opened a new manufacturing facility in Nanjing, China. The facility will serve as the technology development and product manufacturing center for the company's Broadband Connectivity Group and...

Norsat International Inc.
November 1, 2000... * Norsat International Inc. and Fujitsu General Limited have signed a strategic manufacturing and marketing memorandum of understanding. Under the terms of the agreement, Fujitsu will undertake the manufacturing of components based on Norsat's...

M/A-COM SIGINT Products.
November 1, 2000... * M/A-COM SIGINT Products, Hunt Valley, MD, General Dynamics-Worldwide Telecommunication Systems (GD-WTS), Chesapeake, VA, and Touchstone Electronics Inc., Litchfield, NH, have formed a strategic alliance named COLLECTRON. The alliance was...

VXI Technology Inc.
November 1, 2000... * High density modular switch and functional test instrument manufacturer VXI Technology Inc., Irvine, CA, and high performance data acquisition product manufacturer KineticSystems Co. LLC, Lockport, IL, have entered into a worldwide...

Channel Master LLC.
November 1, 2000... * Channel Master LLC and US Monolithics LLC have agreed to cooperatively market their products as an integrated solution for subscriber outdoor equipment used in interactive satellite delivery systems. Under the terms of the agreement, Channel...

ANADIGICS Inc.
November 1, 2000... * ANADIGICS Inc., Warren, NJ, has entered into a strategic agreement to hold a minority equity position in Embedded Wireless Devices Inc., Pleasanton, CA, and the two companies have agreed to cooperate on the development of future wireless...

Agilent Technologies Inc.
November 1, 2000... * Agilent Technologies Inc. has introduced the first portable drive test platform for general packet radio service and data networks to help network infrastructure providers and wireless service providers quickly locate and resolve sources of...

International Crystal Manufacturing Co. Inc.
November 1, 2000... * International Crystal Manufacturing Co. Inc. (ICM) Oklahoma City, OK, is providing volunteer firefighters with prompt delivery of high quality Sceptar VHF and UHF synthesized tone and voice pagers. ICM offers a two-year warranty and one-week...

TestMart.
November 1, 2000... * TestMart has added ATN Microwave Inc. to its list of distribution partners. ATN Microwave specializes in high frequency/high speed measurement solutions, systems and control components for communications, high speed data and aerospace...

Silicon Wave Inc.
November 1, 2000... * Silicon Wave Inc. has been granted a new position as associate member of the Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG). The Bluetooth SIC created this standing to offer innovative companies a greater role in defining the Bluetooth specification....

Finisar Corp.
November 1, 2000... * Finisar Corp. has delivered the first units of its model FTRJ-1320-1 SONET OC-48 small form factor (SFF) optical transceiver. The device operates at data rates of 2.488 Gbps over single-made fiber and complies with the SFF footprint per the...

Sprague-Goodman Electronics.
November 1, 2000... * Sprague-Goodman Electronics has received ISO 9000 certification. The certification applies to the design, manufacture and distribution of the company's lines of variable capacitors, fixed ad variable inductors and transformers, tuning...

Electrocube Inc.
November 1, 2000... * Electrocube Inc., Monrovia, CA, has been awarded ISO9001:1994 certification and a certificate of conformance to AS9000: 1998.

MAXRAD Inc.
November 1, 2000... * MAXRAD Inc., Hanover Park, IL, has received certification to ISO9001:1994 on its first attempt. In related news, the company presented Jorge Saad with the 2000 George M. Hanus Award.

ElectroniCast Corp.
November 1, 2000... * A new report from ElectroniCast Corp., "Internal Optical Interconnect Components and Subsystems Market Forecast," predicts that the global market for optical signal interconnections will climb from $35.5 M in 1999 to $3.06 B by 2008. The...

Discovery Semiconductors Inc.
November 1, 2000... * Discovery Semiconductors Inc., Princeton Junction, NJ, has been named to Deloitte and Touche's "Fast 50" program for New Jersey.

Wireless and Microwave Technology 2000.
November 1, 2000... * In April, the University of South Florida hosted more than 100 participants for "Wireless and Microwave Technology 2000: An Industry/Government/Education Forum," The goal of this annual event is to create a stimulating environment for the...

Cree Inc.
November 1, 2000... * Silicon carbide (SiC) semiconduder malerial and device developer Cree Inc. has made an $11.3 M equity investment in Xemod Inc., a privately held developer and manufacturer of radio frequency power amplifier components for the wireless...

NEC Corp.
November 1, 2000... * NEC Corp. and its US semiconductor arm, NEC Electronics Inc., have announced plans to spend $60 M over the next three years to develop the recently formed Communications Strategic Business Unit (SBU) at NEC Electronics. The Communications SBU...

American Technical Ceramics Corp.
November 1, 2000... * American Technical Ceramics Corp. reports record sales of $21.3 M for the fourth quarter, ended June 30, compared to $10.5 M for the same period last year. Net income was $3.4 M (44[cent]/share), compared to $729 K (10[cent]/share) for the...

Ansoft Corp.
November 1, 2000... * Ansoft Corp. reports sales of $8.7 M for the first quarter, ended July 31, compared to $6.9 M for the same period last year. Net income was $202 K (2[cent]/share), compared to a net loss of $311 K (3[cent]/share) for the first quarter of FY...

RF Micro Devices Inc.
November 1, 2000... * RF Micro Devices Inc. (RFMD) has agreed to privately place $250 M aggregate principal amount of 3.75 percent convertible subordinated notes due 2005. The notes will be convertible into RFMD common stock at a conversion price of $90.17 per...

Integrated Telecom Express Inc.
November 1, 2000... * Integrated Telecom Express Inc. has announced the sale of an additional 840,000 shares of its common stock at $18 per share, pursuant to the exercise of the uderwriters' over-allotment option in connection with the company's recent initial...

CTS Corp.
November 1, 2000... * CTS Corp., Elkhart, IN, has been awarded a multimillion-dollar contract by one of the world's largest base station infrastrncture equipment manufacturers. CTS Interconnect Systems will supply backplane and electronic assemblies for GSM base...

Superconductor Technologies Inc.
November 1, 2000... * Superconductor Technologies Inc., Santa Barbara, CA, has received a $7.8 M purchase order for Super-Filter(R) systems from United States Cellular Corp. The SuperFilter system utilizes high temperature superconducting technology along with...

EMS Technologies.
November 1, 2000... * EMS Technologies, Atlanta, GA, has been awarded a firm, fixed-price contract from Canada's Department of National Defense to redesign the Search and Rescue Satellite Aided Tracking (SARSAT) radio frequency payload. The SARSAT payload is a...

RF Micro Devices Inc.
November 1, 2000... * RF Micro Devices Inc., Greensboro, NC, has received production orders to supply power amplifiers for Sanyo's latest dual-band CDMA PCS handset. Volume shipments have begun and are expected to ramp to a multimillion-dollar level this calendar...

Novas Software Inc.
November 1, 2000... * Novas Software Inc. has signed a multiyear agreement with AMD under which AMD will use Novas' Debussy Total Debug system throughout AMD worldwide. Debussy improves an electronic design engineer's productivity by reducing the time required to...

Excellon Automation.
November 1, 2000... * Excellon Automation and PPC Electronic AG have booked two more XLP drilling machines. The order represents the latest in a series of eight new Excellon drilling machines purchased by PPC Electronic AG this year.

EMS Technologies Inc.
November 1, 2000... * EMS Technologies Inc. has announced a second order from P-Com to supply antennas for P-Com's point-to-multipoint wireless telecommunications network. These fixed-wireless networks connect a central hub to several points over a shared wireless...

PERSONNEL.
November 1, 2000... * Marconi Applied Technologies Inc. has appointed Steve Darr president. Previously, Darr served as president at APW McLean Group. * Insulated Wire Inc. (IW) has named Saverio "Sal" Bruno president. Previously, Bruno served as the VP/general...

Coleman Microwave Corp.
November 1, 2000... * Coleman Microwave Corp., Edinburg, VA, has announced a series of sales representation appointments. Sierra Technical Group Inc., Scottsdale, AZ, will cover Arizona and New Mexico; Vincent Pirro Industries (VPI), Dayton, MD, will cover...

Emerson & Cuming Microwave Products Inc.
November 1, 2000... * Emerson & Cuming Microwave Products Inc., Randolph, MA, has appointed Spartech South, Palm Bay, FL, and PhaseCom Inc., Grapevine, TX, as its exclusive sales and technical representatives for the ECCOSORB[R], ECCOSTOCK[R] and ECCOSHIELD[R]...

Texas Instruments.
November 1, 2000... * Texas Instruments has redesigned its TIRIS[TM] Web site, www.tiris.com, making the one-stop informational site more comprehensive and user friendly. The site contains complete downloadable brochures, reference guides and application notes, as...

International Microwave Power Institute.
November 1, 2000... * The International Microwave Power Institute (IMPI) has made its database of peer-reviewed papers on industrial, commercial and consumer microwave heating technology available for online research at www.impi.org. Spanning more than 35 years of...

Heraeus Inc.
November 1, 2000... * Heraeus Inc. is launching a new global Web site, www.4cmd.com, which contains extensive information on all products and systems in the company's recently renamed Circuit Materials Division. The site includes items such as data sheets and...

EXTENDING GOLD THICK-FILM TECHNOLOGY THROUGH MATERIALS AND PROCESS DEVELOPMENT.
November 1, 2000... New powder and screen technologies have allowed for the development of a thick-film gold paste that meets a difficult list of requirements. This new Au and Al wire bondable conductor is able to print thin, cost-effective, fine line patterns...

TIME DOMAIN ANALYSIS OF A PRINTED CIRCUIT BOARD VIA.
November 1, 2000... This article describes the time domain analysis of a printed circuit board via connecting two semi-infinitely-long microstrip transmission lines above a ground plane. An equivalent circuit consisting of capacitance and inductance is given. Time...

DESIGN CONSIDERATIONS FOR THICK-FILM HIGH POWER CHIP TERMINATIONS.
November 1, 2000... As the wireless revolution extends component requirements upward in frequency, higher in operating power and smaller in size, the performance demands on surface-mount devices grow ever more stringent. Chip terminations made with resistive films...

FINITE ELEMENT ANALYSIS OF RF COUPLERS WITH SLICED COAXIAL CABLE.
November 1, 2000... This article presents the analysis of two coupled lines with sliced coaxial cable, based on a numerical resolution of the Laplace's equation by the finite element method (FEM). This technique is adapted to study the complex configuration of the...

A DYNAMIC DRAIN CURRENT MODEL FOR MESFET/HEMTs VALID UNDER VARYING STATIC BIAS AND TEMPERATURE CONDITIONS.
November 1, 2000... Modifications to the Dortu-Muller DC drain current model for GaAs MESFET/HEMT devices that enable the dynamic output characteristics of the device to be simulated under different temperature and static bias conditions are presented. The...

THE ABCs OF DEVICE BIASING.
November 1, 2000... This tutorial article covers the most common modes of amplifier operation. Each mode of operation has distinct characteristics associated with it and, therefore, the modes are delineated into individual classes. Each class has distinct device...

A SIMPLE GAIN EQUALIZER FOR A PCS-BAND AMPLIFIER.
November 1, 2000... A simple distributed network is described, which has the effect of flattening the frequency response of an amplifier or system by reducing its gain in a particular frequency range. Operating with a quarter-wave line coupler (which can be...

SHIELDING FORMULAS FOR NEAR FIELDS.
November 1, 2000... This article reviews extremely low frequency (ELF) formulas for magnetic shielding effectiveness. In particular, the simple three-term Schelkunoff formula is accurate at all frequencies if the proper near-field, or far-field, wave impedance is...

THE NEXT LEVEL OF DESIGN AUTOMATION.
November 1, 2000... Microwave Office 2000 Version 4.0 begins shipping in December of this year. The latest release of the popular electronic design automation (EDA) suite includes revolutionary new capabilities for automating the high frequency design process by...

A VOLTAGE VARIABLE ATTENUATOR USING SILICON PIN DIODES AND A PASSIVE GAAS MMIC IN A PLASTIC SMT PACKAGE.
November 1, 2000... A unique voltage variable attenuator (VVA) has been developed for the commercial wireless market. The device has linear operating power and intercept points higher than GaAs FET-based VVAs. The design uses mixed technology, a gallium arsenide...

A VSWR METER USING A POWER SENSING TERMINATION.
November 1, 2000... Transmitted power detection is important in wireless basestation applications in order to insure proper geographical coverage and to meet radiated power regulations. If the power detection is done between the transmitter and antenna then some...

A LOW LOSS LTCC SYSTEM FOR WIRELESS APPLICATIONS.
November 1, 2000... A new low temperature co-fired ceramic (LTCC) material system has been developed to address emerging new communications market demands such as wireless telephones, automotive components and Blue-tooth modules. Unlike other materials for...

A VECTOR MODULATOR TO CONVERT ANALOG SIGNAL GENERATORS TO DIGITAL FORMATS.
November 1, 2000... There is much capital money invested in analog signal generators within today's research and development laboratories and manufacturing floors. Yet the trend in wireless technology is to use complex digital modulation schemes that require...

A VERSATILE MULTILEVEL AMPLIFIER FOR PCS APPLICATIONS.
November 1, 2000... Communication amplifier designers today are challenged with rapidly bringing to market a qualified product in a mature form factor, while meeting strict spectral regrowth requirements. Combine this with varying power level and gain requirements...