Radio Frequency (RF) & Wireless Design

Created by Steven Minichiello on 27 April, 2018

Extremely High Frequency RF Coaxial Connectors above 40 GHz - another new vendor

There are not too many companies that support high quality RF coaxial connectors over 40 GHz since the quality of the materials and the tolerances of joining the coax plug (usually movable) and coax socket (usually stationary and either chassis or PCB board mounted).


The typical go-to vendors are Amphenol,  SV Microwave, and Rosenberger to name a few. Others lesser known are Bel/Cinch/Johnson , Samtec , and CarlisleIT .This is showcased in many of my models for frequencies above 40 GHz. But I recently became aware of another vendor that is providing 40+ GHz coaxial connectors called Southwest Microwave :

https://mpd.southwestmicrowave.com/products/


Their line is interesting in that their connectors are holding to very high tolerances as well as high material standards, which is necessary for the long term stability of the tolerances, especially over wide temperature variations and material weathering lifespans.


So I will try to model some of these connectors over the next few months to support the emerging 5G wireless connections as well as other high end mulit-GHz connections for the extremely high (digital) data rates.


One RF engineering design note that I want to mention is that once a vendor has been chosen for a particular product and/or project, it is always a good idea to match vendor and vendor part numbers for plugs to sockets since there are minor design variations and/or tolerances that are very difficult to keep consistent.


This is because the slightest variations at above 40 GHz will cause SWR mismatches and other RF effects that are very difficult to isolate ! So for the least amount of headaches and to avoid problems (especially in the engineering design phases) always try to keep consistent with plugs and sockets at one end of the cables. Of course being consistent across the product line or system is best, but sometimes they cannot be matched, especially with many different connector vendors for each module ; each with their unique vendor part numbers.