August 22, 2023
Low Loss MMIC Balun Family Covers Bands from 3 to 100 GHz

—Initial products cover 3–18 GHz, 11–65 GHz, and 27–100 GHz
—Low loss, tight matching, and high power handling
—3–18 GHz balun has option for AC coupled differential ports to simplify external circuitry
—Die for integration in multichip modules; 3–18 GHz baluns also available in SMT packages

mmTron announces the first four products in a family of broadband, low loss, 50 Ω baluns, covering 3–18, 11–65, and 27–100 GHz. (Baluns are components that transform balanced to unbalanced signals and vice versa.)

“Several of our MMIC products use baluns, and we designed our own to get the best performance. Our experienced designers chose a high power and high Q GaAs process to achieve very low loss, excellent gain and phase matching, and higher power handling,” said Seyed Tabatabaei, mmTron’s CEO and founder. “We’re now offering them as products, so other designers can use them.”

The TMC810-1 and TMC811-1 cover 3 to 18 GHz and have 2 dB midband insertion loss. The balanced ports have 0.4 dB amplitude and 1 degree phase matching, with a common mode rejection of 35 dB. Return loss is 10 dB.

On the TMC811-1, the balanced ports are DC coupled and connect to ground. On the TMC810-1, the balanced ports are AC coupled, which eliminates the need for large, external coupling capacitors in applications where DC voltage is present at the balanced ports.

Circuit diagrams of the TMC810-1 and TMC811-1

The TMC812 and TMC813 baluns cover 11 to 65 and 27 to 100 GHz, respectively, and are DC coupled.

All the baluns are offered as die so they can be integrated in multichip modules. To simplify module assembly, the layouts are symmetric. The TMC810-1 and TMC811-1 are also available in QFN packages for surface-mount assembly.

Part Number Frequency Range (GHz) Die Size (mm) Differential Ports Die/SMT
TMC810-1 3–18 1.25 x 2.17 AC Die & QFN
TMC811-1 3–18 1.25 x 2.17 DC Die & QFN
TMC812 11–65 1.25 x 0.85 DC Die
TMC813 27–100 0.79 x 2.17 DC Die

All baluns in the family are available in production quantities.

More information about product performance is available at mmTron’s Products page, where you can download product datasheets. For additional information and to order products, email mmTron at contact@mmtron.com.