Visit mmTron at the European Microwave Week Conference

Learn how mmTron’s MMICs are Unleashing the mmWave Frontier, Stand 106E

mmTron will be exhibiting our products and capabilities at the European Microwave Week (EuMW) conference in Berlin, Germany, from September 19-21. At stand 106E, we will be discussing our disruptive MMICs that are addressing the mmWave markets and unleashing the mmWave frontier.

“Our goal attending EuMW is to expand awareness of our new products and capabilities to our existing and new European customers,” said Seyed Tabatabaei, CEO of mmTron. “For European companies new to mmTron, we want to show our presence as an established supplier in Europe.”

Featured Products

High-speed data converter interfaces that help maximize the sensitivity and dynamic range of direct RF sampling software-defined radios into Ka-Band. These A/D and D/A converter interfaces provide low noise and high linearity amplification, as well as transforming between the single-ended, 50 Ω RF signals and the differential ports of the high sample rate data converters.

GaN power amplifier MMICs with high power, high linearity, and high efficiency. They have been optimized to meet the needs of 5G infrastructure and both Satcom ground terminals and satellite payloads.

mmTron’s family of distributed low noise and power amplifier MMICs with upper bandwidths from 20 to 160 GHz. They provide low noise and high power amplification for mmWave systems, including the latest generation of test instrumentation for 6G.

Seyed Tabatabaei and Mona Molaasgari, co-founders of mmTron, and Michael Roberg, Engineering Fellow, will be available to discuss the performance of mmTron’s products and how they solve mmWave system challenges. To schedule a meeting, email contact@mmtron.com.

If you’re attending EuMW, we look forward to seeing you and discussing how mmTron’s products and capabilities are unleashing the mmWave frontier. If you’re not attending, you can peruse our product portfolio and request additional information at www.mmtron.com/products.

Mixer Expert Stephen Maas Joins mmTron to Develop High Linearity, mmWave Mixers

Mixer authority Stephen Maas has joined mmTron as a mmWave MMIC Mixer Design Scientist. He will focus on improving the linearity and mmWave coverage of MMIC mixers, leading to MMIC mixer products that will complement mmTron’s catalog of high linearity mmWave power amplifiers, very low noise amplifiers, and front-end modules.

“We are very fortunate to have Stephen apply his vast knowledge of mixers to extend mmTron’s capabilities and products,” said Seyed Tabatabaei, mmTron founder and CEO. “Mixers are integral to every RF system, yet mmWave mixers have not received much design focus. We want to fill the performance gaps in mmWave systems, especially high linearity.”

"I'm looking forward to applying my experience and RF design background to extend mmWave mixer performance, leading to innovative, high linearity products for mmTron," said Stephen Maas.

A Life Fellow of the IEEE, Maas is widely known for his expertise in RF, microwave, and mmWave mixer technology, which was recognized with the MTT-S Application Award in 2002 for the low distortion FET resistive mixer and the Microwave Prize in 1989 for his work on distortion in diode mixers.

His broad and detailed knowledge of all RF/microwave components is reflected in his numerous books: “Microwave Mixers,” “Nonlinear Microwave Circuits,” “The RF and Microwave Circuit Design Cookbook,” “Noise in Linear and Nonlinear Circuits,” and “Practical Microwave Circuits.”

Among his career accomplishments, Dr. Maas served as a principal and chief scientist of AWR Corporation, now part of Cadence Design Systems, where he helped develop the Microwave Office circuit simulator.

He received bachelor’s and master’s degrees in electrical engineering from the University of Pennsylvania in 1971 and 1972, respectively, and a Ph.D. in electrical engineering from UCLA in 1984.

MMIC Industry Veteran Paul Blount Joins mmTron as Technology Fellow

mmTron is pleased to announce that Paul Blount has joined the company as a Technology Fellow. In this role, he will design MMIC products, focusing on low noise and high linearity amplifiers, and help mmTron’s leadership team develop the operations infrastructure to accelerate growth.

“We are very fortunate to have Paul at mmTron,” said Seyed Tabatabaei, mmTron founder and CEO. “Paul will contribute his deep MMIC design expertise to expand our product portfolio and his business experience from Custom MMIC, which he grew into a successful and highly regarded MMIC supplier.”

Blount started Custom MMIC in his basement in 2006. Over the next 15 years, he led the company to become a major supplier of MMICs for defense, satellite, instrumentation, and commercial systems. Custom MMIC was acquired by Qorvo for $96 million in 2020.

“Even as president and CEO of Custom MMIC, I spent time doing MMIC design and staying close to the technology,” said Blount. “Joining mmTron gives me the opportunity to stay at the forefront of mmWave MMIC design, exploring new ideas to help mmTron push their MMIC performance in the mmWave and sub-THz bands.”

Before starting Custom MMIC, Blount was a senior design engineer at Hittite Microwave, where he was a leading contributor to many product lines launched by Hittite. Before Hittite, he worked at Alpha Industries (now Skyworks) and Thorn EMI Electronics.

mmTron Appoints Gary Lerude as Marketing Director

Semiconductor Industry Veteran and Past Technical Editor of Microwave Journal to Guide mmTron’s Branding and External Positioning

REDWOOD CITY, Calif. – Feb. 3, 2023 – mmTron, Inc., a leading fabless designer of millimeter-wave (mmWave) broadband products for the Satcom, 5G/6G, aerospace and defense markets, has named RF/microwave industry veteran Gary Lerude as Marketing Director, with responsibility for defining and implementing the marketing strategy to communicate mmTron’s unique capabilities and products.

Lerude brings over four decades of marketing, business development and product management expertise to leading semiconductor firms, driving the development and commercialization of pioneering technology, from device to system, across both defense and commercial markets.

Lerude most recently served as a technical editor for Microwave Journal (MWJ), the industry’s leading authority on RF and microwave technology. His eight-year tenure at MWJ helped strengthen the Journal’s reputation for in-depth, quality coverage of both technical and business trends.

Lerude began his career as at Texas Instruments (TI), where he helped birth the gallium arsenide (GaAs) MMIC industry, ushering in the era of monolithic integrated circuits, which today play a key role in both commercial and military microwave systems because of the technology’s reduced size, low cost, high reproducibility and repeatable performance. During his 19-year tenure at TI, he held a range of roles, from design engineering and program and product management to marketing and business development.

Following TI, Lerude held product management and business development roles at M/A-COM and at TriQuint Semiconductor, prior to its merger with RFMD to create Qorvo. At M/A-COM, Lerude supported two acquisitions during a time of consolidation in the RF/microwave industry, which enabled the company to expand and strengthen its position in defense markets.

“We’re pleased to have someone with Gary’s experience and capabilities to take mmTron’s story to the industry in this pivotal coming-out year for the company,” says Seyed Tabatabaei, founder and CEO of mmTron.

“Joining mmTron echoes the excitement of my early days at TI,” adds Lerude, noting that mmTron is newly emerging in the mmwave market. “mmTron is all about offering differentiated performance using gallium nitride (GaN) and GaAs technologies. The technical team is focused on optimizing output power, efficiency and linearity in products that are the next frontier in mmwave 5G and Satcom infrastructure.”

Lerude is a Life member of IEEE and the Microwave Theory and Technology Society (MTT-S).

About mmTron, Inc.
Founded in 2020 by industry veterans and visionaries in semiconductor millimeter-wave design, mmTron is powering the world’s 5G/6G and satcom future. mmTron leads the industry in mmWave broadband and narrowband products for advanced wireless, defense, and aerospace communication markets. The company’s designs offer the highest linearity in the industry. mmTron leverages turnkey commercial foundry technology with innovative design solutions to deliver linearity, efficiency, and performance for the most demanding mobility industries driving tomorrow’s internet.
Learn more about mmTron’s MMIC designs and high-frequency products in GaAs, GaN, InP and SiGe by visiting mmTron.com.

mmTron Appoints Dr. Michael Roberg as Engineering Fellow

Former Qorvo Senior Technologist Leading mmTron’s Advanced MMIC Product Development.

mmTron is honored to announce it has been selected to join the Silicon Catalyst incubator program. Silicon Catalyst, whose tag line is We accelerate semiconductor startups from PowerPoint to prototype, selected mmTron because of the important role mmWave MMICs are playing in the 5G radio access network.