In The Media

25 January 2024: PRFI’s Commercial Director, Rob Smith, shared his insights with EDACafé in their recent interview.

Click here to read the article.

Electronic Specifier

14 August 2023: Liam Devlin is set to speak at the Interlligent RF & Microwave Seminar on 30 November 2023. His presentation is titled “How to design and develop custom MMICs”.

Click here to read the article.

Microwave Product Digest

7 August 2023: Richard Cavanagh is set to speak at EDICON Online 2023, presenting a talk entitled “Automated Gain/Phase Control Measurement and Calibration for Sub-6GHz 5G”.

Click here to read the article.

New Electronics

28 April 2023: Neil Tyler, Editor of New Electronics, visited us at our new facility and has written this feature about his interview with Liam Devlin.

Click here to read the article.

Electronics Weekly

1 March 2023: Our move to new premises has been featured in Electronics Weekly.

Click here to read the article.

Business Weekly

28 February 2023: Cambridge’s Business Weekly has published news about our move to Abbey Barns in Ickleton.

Click here to read the article.

A View from the Top, 2023

December 2022: Liam Devlin answers questions from Microwave Product Digest in the 2023 edition of its annual “View from the Top” feature. Topics include the defence market and mmWave deployment.

Click here to read the article.

Q&A with David Collins, our recent graduate starter

Student Circuit has published an interview with David Collins, a new starter at PRFI. Unusually, David joined us as a graduate starter in his mid-30s.

A View from the Top, 2022

December 2021: Liam Devlin answers questions from Microwave Product Digest in the 2022 edition of its annual “View from the Top” feature. Topics include satcoms and mmWave technology.

Click here to read the article.

Predicting Modulated Signal Performance of 5G mmWave Power Amplifiers

September 2021: Our article in Microwave Product Digest describes how performance metrics such as Error Vector Magnitude (EVM) and Adjacent Channel Leakage Ratio (ACLR) are a better indication of how well a PA will operate with complex digitally modulated waveforms than the more conventional metrics found on most datasheets.

Click here to read the article, or here to download the digital edition of the magazine, where it appears on page 18.

EDA Café Industry Predictions for 2021

January 2021: EDA Café has published this insight from PRFI’s CEO, Liam Devlin.

Click here to read the article.

A View from the Top, 2021

December 2020: Liam Devlin answers questions from Microwave Product Digest in the 2021 edition of its annual “View from the Top” feature. Topics include RF digitalisation, 5G open architectures and keeping business going during the pandemic.

Click here to read the article.

Fabs and Labs feature in Microwave Journal

October 2020: Microwave Journal featured our labs in Great Chesterford, near Cambridge, in its regular ‘Fabs and Labs’ spotlight.

Doherty Power Amplifiers Move to mmWave

September 2020: Doherty power amplifiers (PA) are widely used below 6 GHz to improve power-added efficiency (PAE) for communications applications. Although the benefits of the Doherty architecture are compelling, the challenges of designing Doherty PAs increase as the frequency of operation moves toward mmWave. GaN technology offers significant performance advantages over LDMOS for realizing RF/microwave PAs. More recently, short gate length GaN on SiC MMIC processes have become commercially available, offering the possibility of designing high efficiency Doherty PAs at mmWave frequencies. This article in Microwave Journal describes the design of a Doherty PA MMIC for the 5G frequency band at 28 GHz.

Maximizing the Benefits from GaN Technology with Experienced Design Support

July 2020: Our article in Microwave Product Digest describes the benefits of using GaN technology  for the realization of microwave Solid State Power Amplifiers (SSPAs), and outlines how experienced design support can help in navigating the GaN technology options and implementing the most effective design.

Plextek RFI is Now PRFI Ltd.

July 2020: Read the coverage on the Microwave Journal website about our new brand identity.

Designing MMICs for millimetre-wave 5G

April/May 2020: Our article in the May issue of Compound Semiconductor magazine describes how PRFI is addressing the challenges of designing front-end ICs for mmWave 5G applications, including the design and realisation of a number of custom GaAs ICs, and measurement of their performance. We discuss the challenges of implementing packaging at mmWave frequencies using low-cost surface-mount technology (SMT), and the techniques that can be adopted to ensure the high performance of packaged parts.

Click here to read the article

The 5G Frequency Bands: What Does Each Do and What are the Design Constraints?

April 2020: Microwave Product Digest has published an article by PRFI explaining about the low-band, mid-band and mmWave frequency allocations for 5G and how to design for them.

Click here to read the article

EDA Café Industry Predictions for 2020

January 2020: EDA Café‘s article on Industry Predictions for 2020 includes an insight from PRFI’s CEO, Liam Devlin.

Click here to read the article.

Plextek RFI partners with Sanan IC for GaAS MMIC fab

January 2020: Coverage of our news release about the  recent collaboration between Plextek RFI & Sanan IC appeared in:

RF Globalnet (US) – click here to read the article.

Microwave Journal (US) – click here to read the article.

Electronics Weekly (UK) – click here to read the article.

A View from the Top, 2020

January 2020: Liam Devlin answers questions from Microwave Product Digest in the 2020 edition of its annual “View from the Top” feature

Click here to read the article.

Packaging for mmWave Devices — Why Do We Need It, and How Do We Do It?

August 2019: RF Globalnet has published a ‘guest column’ article on ‘mm-wave packaging’

Click here for the link.

A Fully-Integrated 3.5GHz Single Chip GaN Doherty PA For sub-6GHz 5G

April 2019: RF Globalnet has published a ‘guest column’ article from Plextek RFI on ‘A Fully-Integrated 3.5GHz Single Chip GaN Doherty PA For sub-6GHz 5G’

Click here for the link.

Plextek RFI Extends RF-on-wafer Clean Room Facilities

March 2019: Compound Semiconductor ran coverage on the new RF-on-wafer Clean Room Facilities recently commissioned at our site in Cambridge, UK.

Click here to access the article.

What Lies Ahead for Microwave and mmWave in 2019?

ECN Magazine ran a feature on Wireless Technology Predictions for 2019. Our CEO, Liam Devlin added some comments on “What Lies Ahead for Microwave and mmWave in 2019”.

Click here to access the article, which is now featured on 5G Technology World & scroll down to the end of the piece.

Power Amplifier MMICs For mmWave 5G

January 2019: RF Globalnet have published our article  on “Power Amplifier MMICs For mmWave 5G”

Click here to access the article.

A View from the Top, 2019

January 2019: Liam Devlin answers questions from Microwave Product Digest in its 2019 “View from the Top” feature

Click here to read the article.

Plextek RFI designs PA module for Astro Digital

Click here to view the coverage of our news item on the Electronics Weekly website

An SMT packaged dual-channel PA for the 26 GHz 5G pioneer band

September 2018: Our paper on the design of a PA for the 26 GHz 5G pioneer band was published in the September issue of MWEE

Click here to view the article (page 12).

Article in Electronics Weekly

September 2018: Our recent white paper on “Plextek RFI Closes the Gap between Measured and Modelled MMIC Performance” made it onto the front page of Electronics Weekly

Click here to view the article.

Article on RF Globalnet

May 2018: RF Globalnet has an article on the “Design Of A Cost-Effective, Hybrid Input-Matched GaN Transistor For S-Band Radar Applications” taken from a presentation by Rob Smith at a recent ARMMS conference

Click here to download the article

High Performance GaN PA Design for 3.5 GHz 5G Applications

March/April 2018: Our article was published in Wireless Design and Development magazine.

Click here to download the article in full.

Microwave Journal Cover Feature:
Design of a Single Chip Front-End Module for 28GHz 5G

Plextek RFI appeared on the front cover of the April 2018 issue of Microwave Journal, with an invited paper that described the design, realisation and evaluation of an FEM MMIC for the 28 GHz 5G band. The part was developed by Plextek RFI and designed on WIN Semiconductors’ PE-15 0.15 µm, enhancement mode GaAs PHEMT process. It is realised in a compact, low-cost 5 mm x 5 mm plastic overmolded SMT compatible QFN package making it suitable for high volume, low cost manufacture.

Click here the read the article in full.

Technology and Engineering Predictions, 2018

February 2018: ECN published an article (now on EE World Online) on Technology and Engineering predictions for the upcoming year, including a contribution from Plextek RFI’s CEO, Liam Devlin.

The Plextek RFI part is reproduced below. Click here to read the full set of predictions.

2018 will see continued growth in mmWave 5G development activity. Despite the fact that the decision on which frequency bands will be allocated for 5G will be not be confirmed until the 2019 World Radio Conference in (WRC-19), we have already undertaken custom MMIC and module design work in most of the main candidate mmWave 5G bands (FCC licensed bands at 28 GHz, 37 GHz, 39 GHz, and the 26 GHz 5G “Pioneer Band” in Europe). It is becoming increasingly apparent that a single worldwide mmWave band for 5G is unlikely to be adopted and multiple bands are likely to be progressed.

Some of the early applications for mmWave 5G, such as fixed wireless access, are likely to use point to point or point to multi-point links. However, non-line of sight mmWave links will ultimately be required for many of the planned 5G applications. Various approaches are currently being trialed but it is likely that some form of electronic beam steering, either phased array or switched antennas, will be utilized. There is still much debate about the number of beams and Tx/Rx channels. Whilst some are proposing user terminals with many channels/elements, I feel a more modest number of channels (say 4 or 8) is more likely.

GaN technology also continues to go from strength to strength. LDMOS was previously the exclusive semiconductor technology choice for cellular base station PAs, but commercially competitive GaN transistors are now available and the technology is gaining ground from LDMOS, with a significant percentage of base stations already using GaN PAs. GaN has a higher power density than LDMOS and can provide a higher Power Added Efficiency (PAE), particularly at higher RF frequencies. I believe that GaN will continue to take market share from LDMOS in the cellular base station PA market and will become the preferred choice for the higher frequency cellular bands.

A View from the Top, 2017

December 2017: Microwave Product Digest published an interview with Liam Devlin as part of its annual View from the Top feature.

Please click here to view the article

The Design of a Multi-Chip SMT Front-End Module for the 26GHz 5G Pioneer Band

November/December 2017 – MWEE magazine featured an article on the 26GHz 5G FEM designed by Plextek RFI in collaboration with Filtronic Broadband Ltd.

Click here to read the full article.

What Technology Developments are Needed for Millimeter-Wave 5G?

August 2017: RF Globalnet  published an article by  Liam Devlin on the technology developments that would be required for mmWave 5G?

Click here to read this article online.

Role Call: Consultant Engineer

August 2017: RF Globalnet has interviewed Plextek RFI’s Andy Dearn on what it’s like being a Principal Consultant Engineer in the RF & Microwave industry.

Click here to access the interview online.

Meeting the Ambitions for 5G

June 2017: New Electronics magazine  published an article by Plextek RFI on “Meeting the ambitions for 5G”, describing how mmWave technology and its associated components will be crucial in future 5G applications.

Please click here to read the article.

EW BrightSparks 2017

May 2017: Rob Smith of Plextek RFI was presented with an Electronics Weekly BrightSparks 2017 award, as one of the “Design Engineers of Tomorrow”, and was honoured at a ceremony at the UK Houses of Parliament. The award is offered by Electronics weekly in conjunction with RS Components.

Design of a Dual-Band PA for Millimeter-Wave 5G Applications

May 2017: Microwaves & RF magazine published an article by Plextek RFI on the design of a dual band PA, targeted at mmWave 5G applications.

The article can be viewed online here.

RF & Microonde: il punto di vista di Liam Devlin, CEO

Elettronica Plus (Italy) has published a recent interview with CEO Liam Devlin (in Italian) in their EO News magazine. Click here to read it.

Brainstorm: Addressing 5G Design Challenges

April 2017: Liam Devlin is included in the brainstorming session on 5G design challenges on 5G Technology World.

Click here to access the article.

Is industry ready for 5G?

March 2017: Ofcom, Qualcomm & Plextek RFI are interviewed by New Electronics on the subject of “Is industry ready for 5G?”

Click here to access the article.

RF ICs Aim for Higher Functional Densities

January 2017: Plextek RFI  contributed to an article on High Density RFICs published in Microwaves & RF.

Click here to read the full article.

View From the Top

January 2017: Microwave Product Digest has an interview with Plextek RFI CEO Liam Devlin.

Click here to read Liam’s opinion

2017…What Lies Ahead

EE World Online has a discussion on what lies ahead in 2017.

Plextek RFI CEO Liam Devlin’s answer to the question “So tell us—what are your predictions for the coming year?” is as follows…

2017 will see continued growth in the development and evaluation of mm-wave 5G communications, as well as a growing interest in drone detection and jamming. The cost and performance of commercially available drones represent a potential security threat to airports, power stations, and other critical infrastructure. High-resolution radar systems are the key to detecting small, highly manoeuvrable drones, and GaN technology can provide adequate power to jam the aircraft’s control links. High-performance, low-cost GaN transistors, capable of generating adequate power across the relevant bands, are now readily available.

Many manufacturers are investing heavily in developing solutions for the Internet of Things (IoT). The interest stems from the potentially huge volumes in which IoT products will ultimately be deployed, but in fact, the IoT is already with us. IoT solutions are currently being deployed and actively used today in wireless street lights, fleet management, vehicle tracking, healthcare, smart homes, and a host of other M2M and Machine Type Communications (MTC) applications. These applications currently use a range of personal-area connectivity technologies including Bluetooth, ZigBee, proprietary ISM band solutions, and local-area networks like WiFi 802.11ah (HaLow). They will also increasingly start to use Low Power Wide Area (LPWA) technologies including LoRa, SigFox, Telensa, and LTE-based standards such as NB-IoT.

Low-cost, high-volume IoT components and products based on these emerging IoT standards will see considerable development activity in 2017 and will begin to be launched into the market. However, there will be no single solution for IoT applications; many of the existing solutions will continue to grow alongside the newer technology standards that are joining the global M2M connectivity behemoth.

To view the full article and also read other people’s views please Click this link