mmTron recently hosted Mark Liu, former chairman of TSMC, and his team. Welcoming a visionary whose leadership has helped shape the global semiconductor industry was a privilege.
We discussed how next‑generation Satcom systems need mmWave spectrum and how mmTron’s high‑linearity, high‑bandwidth semiconductor solutions will improve mmWave system performance.
Mark Liu’s visit reinforced our commitment to innovation and industry collaboration.
Attending the SATShow in Washington this week (March 24–26)? Stop by the Richardson RFPD booth (#3131) and learn how mmTron’s mmWave MMICs are extending the performance of LEO and other SATCOM systems.
Our CEO, Seyed Tabatabaei, will be at the show on Wednesday, if you’d like to have more detailed discussions. Reach out to schedule a conversation.
Richardson RFPD can show you mmTron’s product portfolio and help identify which mmTron products best support your program. mmTron’s unique designs simultaneously optimize output power, linearity, and efficiency, enabling systems to increase data rates and extend link distances.
mmTron’s CEO, Seyed Tabatabaei, discussing the company’s product portfolio and capabilities at the Richardson RFPD booth at the SATShow Week conference in Washington, D.C.
Watch this short video explaining how mmTron is enabling new system capabilities such as digital radar. How? By delivering the highest combined mmWave power, linearity, and efficiency RFICs and modules.
Our thanks to Chris Sheppard of contentsource llc for the video production.
This year’s International Microwave Symposium (IMS) in San Francisco was very productive for mmTron. Scheduled meetings and booth traffic kept us busy all three days of the exhibition, and we’re now following up on the action items and opportunities from those conversations.
One of the week’s highlights was Microwave Journal’s interview with our co-founder and CEO, Seyed A. Tabatabaei. Seyed gives a cogent summary of our focus and differentiation.
If you didn’t see us in San Francisco and would like to explore how mmTron’s high linearity power amplifier technology can extend your reach, reach us at contact@mmtron.com.
We look forward to next year’s IMS in Boston.
mmTron’s leadership in developing high power, high linearity, and high efficiency mmWave RFICs is well recognized. Beyond the design skills that yield such impressive performance, what makes mmTron a compelling partner?
In this video, our VP of Sales, Steven Layton, outlines mmTron’s whole package: process technology, product performance, quality, and operations.
Since launching in 2020, mmTron has developed more than 47 products providing multiple circuit functions. mmTron’s high power, high linearity, and high efficiency mmWave power amplifiers lead the product portfolio, offering network operators the ability to extend the reach and data rates of fixed wireless access (FWA) and satellite communications (Satcom) systems.
We appreciate the video production skills of Chris Sheppard, Content Source
One of the summer’s projects was producing a video where our founder, Seyed Tabatabaei, shares his motivation for starting mmTron and the market need the company is filling. It provides a concise overview for those not familiar with mmTron or mmWave markets.
Takeaways?
mmTron’s ability to develop high power, high linearity, and high efficiency mmWave RFICs is extending the reach and data rates of fixed wireless access (FWA) and satellite communications (Satcom) systems.
The more than 47 products providing multiple circuit functions and growing number of customers clearly show mmTron’s differentiation.
As Seyed concludes, “This is an amazing time to partner with mmTron to be able to respond to this growing demand.”
We appreciate the video production skills of Chris Sheppard, Content Source.
mmTron’s co-founder and CEO, Seyed Tabatabaei, and Engineering Fellow, Mike Roberg, were interviewed by Eric Higham of Microwave Journal at this year’s IMS in Washongton, D.C. Watch the short interview to learn how mmTron is providing value to customers with high linearity, high power, and high efficiency power amplifiers for fixed wireless access and satellite communications systems.
We appreciate the opportunity to be interviewed by Microwave Journal and covered in their IMS 2024 Show Wrap Up article.
We want to express our appreciation to everyone we saw last week at the MTT-S IMS2024 in Washington, D.C. So many productive discussions with customers, suppliers, sales representatives, distributors — the full ecosystem enabling mmTron’s compelling solutions for mmWave systems.
mmTron’s differentiation is our ability to develop and supply high linearity, broadband power amplifier MMICs that extend the reach of high-speed communication systems, such as fixed wireless access (FWA) and satellite communications (Satcom).
Our latest disruptive solution, announced at IMS2024, is an IF to antenna transceiver for mmWave FWA, with two options to provide either +57 or +63 dBi EIRP. Read more about the products here.
If you missed IMS, you can still check out what we were talking about:
— mmTron’s Disruptive Value Proposition for FWA
— Driving 5G Forward: The Technology of mmTron’s MMICs
— Today’s Palette of Semiconductor Technologies: A Millimeter-wave MMIC Designer’s Dream, an article written by our CEO, Seyed Tabatabaei, and published in Microwave Product Digest
— Executive Interview with Seyed Tabatabaei, published by Microwave Journal
You can download datasheets for our products here on our website.
mmTron’s Michael Roberg, Engineering Fellow, recently presented a tutorial on designing non-uniform distributed power amplifiers at the IEEE MTT-S World Microwave Conference. Watch a replay of his presentation below — a very detailed tutorial from one of the best MMIC power amplifier designers.
This presentation was one of six in the GaN MMIC Power Amplifier Design session. You’ll find the others here.
The global demand for broadband access to the internet is fueling rapid growth of fixed wireless access (FWA) and satellite communications, with mmWave spectrum at 24 GHz and above increasingly being tapped to add network capacity.
What is the spec limiting the performance of a mmWave communications system?
Linear power is the key parameter for achieving high data rate mmWave communication. Linearity determines the highest modulation usable for a given channel bandwidth, which sets the maximum data rate of the system. The output power determines the range of a wireless link. The greater the power and linearity, the longer the range and higher data rate for transmission. Power and linearity go hand-in-hand to enable long-reach high data rate systems. High power alone is useless without linearity, because the data rate will not be high enough for demanding internet applications such as high-definition video and emerging VR and AI devices.
mmTron’s power amplifier (PA) products are designed to simultaneously provide high power and linearity while also maintaining excellent efficiency. For example, mmTron’s TMC2111, a GaN PA covering 24.5 to 29 GHz, delivered a record-setting 10 W output power at 3.5% EVM with 30 dBc ACLR, using a 5G NR signal at 29 GHz — to our knowledge the highest linear output power for a MMIC PA at mmWave frequencies.
Why is the TMC2111’s performance notable?
FCC regulations allow an EIRP of 75 dBm from a FWA base station operating at 28 or 39 GHz. [1] Yet most FWA systems today operate well below that maximum because the EIRP is limited by the output power of the semiconductors and the gain of the antenna array. As the linear output power of a silicon PA is much less than that of GaN — approximately 10x — a silicon-based transmitter requires a larger array than one using GaN to achieve the same EIRP. [1]
Alternatively, the system designer can use an mmTron GaN-based transmitter to increase the EIRP, resulting in a longer distance between antennas. This significantly reduces the number of base stations required and the overall cost of the network, since fewer base stations are needed to cover the same geographical area.
What’s the business case for mmTron?
FWA has emerged as the predominant use for mmWave 5G. Mobile operators are currently tapping unused capacity in their sub-6 GHz (FR1) bands, yet this spectrum won’t support the increasing demand for both FWA and mobile users. Operators must turn to the mmWave (FR2) bands to support this demand.
Ericsson forecasts that global FWA connections will reach 330 million by the end of 2029, up from 130 million at the end of 2023. They forecast the associated data traffic to grow by more than 5x from 2023 to 2029, reaching 159 EB or almost 30% of the total mobile network data traffic. [2]
What’s the take-away?
mmTron has developed a differentiated design and manufacturing expertise for high power, highly linear PAs, as illustrated by the performance achieved by the TMC2111. This unique value proposition is enabling operators to not only reduce the cost of their FWA networks, but also deliver the high data rates users are demanding.
References
[1] “5G Fixed Wireless Access Array and RF Front-End Trade-Offs,” Bror Peterson and David Schnaufer, Microwave Journal, February 2018
[2] “Fixed wireless access outlook,” Ericsson Mobility Report, November 2023, web: www.ericsson.com/en/reports-and-papers/mobility-report/dataforecasts/fwa-outlook