Smiths Interconnect is the world leader in temperature variable attenuators from DC through Ka Band, featuring our patented Thermopad line of products which compensate for gain variation over temperature. The Thermopad® (Patent # 5,332,981) is a totally passive, surface mountable temperature variable attenuator. It requires no bias or control voltages and does not generate distortion. The Thermopad can be used in place of a standard chip attenuator to combine level setting or buffering and temperature compensation in a single chip design. This will reduce component count, increase reliability, and lower costs. Applications include power amplifiers, mixers, MMIC amplifiers, directional couplers and diode detectors.

In applications from DC - 50 GHz, EMC’s Thermopad is the ideal temperature compensation solution for cost, size, performance, and reliability. The Thermopad can replace closed loop temperature compensation circuits with a single chip device requiring no bias or active control. Since the Thermopad produces no signal distortion it excels in applications involving multiple tones and complex modulation schemes such as cellular base station applications and radar. In high reliability, military, and spacecraft applications the Thermopad reduces system complexity and cost.

Features

• Frequency Ranges from DC to 50 GHz
• Attenuation Values from 1 to 10 dB
• Negative and Positive Temperature  Coefficients of Attenuation (TCA) Available
• Power Handling Up to 2 Watts
• Space and Military Qualified
• Surface Mount Packaging
• Wire Bondable Connections Available
• Impedance 50 and 75 Ohms
• RoHS Compliant Option Available

Benefits

• Small Footprint
• Zero Distortion
• Totally Passive
• Power Handling up to 2 Watts
• Several Metallization Options Available
• Tailored Response to Variations Over Temperature
• Requires no DC power

Applications

• Power Amplifiers
• Military
• Mixers
• Satellite Communication
• Gain Blocks
• MMIC Amplifiers
• Directional Couplers
• Diode Detectors
• Broadcast (TV and Radio)

Smiths Interconnect Thermopad® (Temperature Variable Attenuator) Offering;