Digital attenuators

Hittite Microwave has released two GaAs MMIC digital attenuators, with TTL/CMOS control, which are suitable for wireless infrastructure, test equipment and microwave radio applications fromDC to 3.0 GHz.

The HMC470LP3 is a 5 bit digital attenuator with a typical insertion loss of 1.4 dB and will provide any attenuation state from 1 dB LSB to 31 dB with a typical step error of ±0.2 dB.

The HMC472LP4 is a 6 bit digital attenuator with a typical insertion loss of 1.5 dB and will provide any attenuation state from 0.5 dB LSB to 31.5 dB with a typical step error or ±0.3 dB. The attenuators offer lower insertion loss, faster switching speed and operation down to near DC without the need for an internally generated or externally supplied negative voltage.

Both attenuators are matched to 50 ohm at all attenuation levels, deliver minimal phase shift per bit and are TTL/CMOS compatible, requiring only a single control line per bit.

They are housed in QFN leadless surface mount packages.