Plextek’s E-band expertise recognised by Europe’s premier microwave conference

The ever increasing demand for wireless data has driven interest in E-band technology operating at 71 to 76GHz and 81 to 86GHz. E-band spectrum is available worldwide on a light-license basis and the wide bandwidths provided offer a practical route to implementing very high data rate wireless links.
The range and performance of commercially available E-band ICs is currently limited and the unit cost is high. This makes the development of E-band point-to-point radios a challenging task. Plextek’s new IC is realised on a PHEMT process with 6” diameter wafers and optically defined gates, which means that cost and pricing can be low.

As the design is sub-harmonic, the LO input is at half the mixing frequency and therefore simplifies the development of E-band transceivers making use of it. The IC will be made commercially available through TriQuint as the TGC4671 and will provide a route for point-to-point link manufacturers to reduce the cost of their E-band radios.

The EuMIC will take place in Amsterdam on October 29th and 30th as part of the European Microwave Week.