everything RF recently interviewed John Richardson, the founder and chief technology officer (CTO) of Quantic X-Microwave. He holds a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering from Louisiana Tech University. In 2013, he co-founded X-Microwave with Raymond Page in Austin, Texas, officially opening for business in 2015. Under his leadership, the company has grown to serve a wide range of customers across the RF and Microwave industry.
Q. Can you tell us about Quantic X-Microwave? What does the company offer and how did you get started on this interesting and unique concept?
John Richardson: Quantic X-Microwave has developed a unique modular platform that enables designers to navigate from Concept to Prototyping to Production Hardware faster than ever before. After decades of working as a design Engineer in the RF industry, I couldn’t shake the thought that there must be a faster, lower cost and less risky way to develop sophisticated RF and Microwave products on the first pass. The light bulb moment came when thinking about a common drop-in component in the industry, an RF Mixer. That led me to wonder why a drop-in everything didn’t exist, and why no one had created this yet. After several months of pondering this idea and its challenges, I was left with one certainty – if the modular platform I was envisioning existed, then I would use it, and therefore I had my first customer. Why not go for it?
Q. Can you tell us about the Prototyping solution that Quantic X-Microwave has developed? How does this solution help RF engineers in designing, optimizing and validating their designs?
John Richardson: The X-MW Prototyping Solution is based on a growing portfolio of approximately 6000 Drop-In components called X-MWblocks. The drop-ins are the “RF Lego” pieces of a complete prototyping platform. Other key elements of the platform include a single RF Probe (X-MWprobe), a unique Solderless Interconnect, a Prototype Plate, and the ability to build an arbitrarily shaped machined housing around the prototype right on the prototype plate. This makes cascading, testing and validating a complete signal chain design fast and easy, with the ability to optimize and validate the design by moving the drop-ins around to change/compare devices from multiple component manufacturers that are all physically compatible. The most important benefit to designers comes after the prototype is working, in that the design can often be moved directly to production using the drop-in X-MWblocks. For volume production, the individual drop-ins can be combined into a single RF board, and the combined signal chains can be miniaturized while still leveraging all modular aspects of the platform.
Q. What prototyping methods did designers use before the X-Microwave solution was developed?
John Richardson: Designers traditionally prototype using component manufacturer evaluation boards or custom designs. While effective, this approach has its constraints: limited board availability, chaotic workspaces, and the time-consuming, high-risk process of replicating board functionality. This often results in significant delays, costs, and low first-pass success rates.
Q. Which major manufacturers have you included in your X-MWblock product listings?
John Richardson: Quantic X-Microwave is proud to partner with device manufacturers, from the most recognizable names to more niche companies, to streamline the design process. Major manufacturers include Analog Devices, MACOM, pSemi, Mini-Circuits, Qorvo, TI, and Marki Microwave. Our manufacturer-agnostic approach enables us to integrate all RF devices into our modular platform. With over 6,000 X-MWblocks across virtually every product category, we’re committed to providing engineers with a seamless design-to-development workflow and expanding access to RF devices.
Q. What is the process for a new manufacturer to list their products as prototype X-MWblocks?
John Richardson: We work with many manufacturers in the industry, and while our process continues to evolve, the best place to start is to ask!
Q. Can you describe the process of converting a manufacturer's product into a drop-in X-MWblock?
John Richardson: It’s a simple yet detailed process. Our goal is to precisely replicate manufacturer device performance in a drop-in X-MWblock, while ensuring a small footprint for broad application compatibility. Ensuring compatibility with other X-MWblocks for seamless signal chain integration mandates careful consideration of port orientation, bias/control, thermal management, and physical design.
Q. How can a user get started with using your Prototyping service tool? What are the prerequisites required to use your service?
John Richardson: There is no cost to use our current Layout Tool – and we are excited to share an updated version will launch before EuMW 2024. The Layout Tool is an interactive online design environment for configuring RF signal chains with drop-in X-MWblocks. Updates include: the full library of RF X-MWblocks with associated bias and control boards, updated pricing, top and bottom views, layer transparency, and an editable Title Block with the option to download for presentations.
Q. Is it possible for customers to request the development of a custom X-MWblock that is not currently listed in your X-MWblock catalog?
John Richardson: Yes, and there is no NRE charge nor minimum purchase quantity.
Q. Can you tell us more about Integrated Microwave Assemblies (IMAs) built using X-MWblocks? What is the advantage of building IMAs using these blocks?
John Richardson: Custom IMAs built with X-MWblocks incorporate the same tried and true physical techniques to ensure manufacturability, testability, good thermal path, and good structural approach to survive all mil and aerospace environmental conditions. Our drop-in X-MWblocks are moved directly into machined housings (IMAs) after validating the design on a prototype plate, and the design is not modified unless it is miniaturized (on an as-needed basis). The time and cost savings are significant.
Q. Can you tell us some interesting use cases where customers have saved time and resources by using X-Microwave solutions?
John Richardson: The Quantic X-Microwave platform demonstrably saves our customers time. One great example includes a Tier 1 customer, who required a complex set of three signal chains to be built on prototype plates and ready for a critical customer demonstration that was rapidly approaching. Each plate had over twenty devices, including high-frequency devices, power amplifiers, DSAs, switches and more, using a combination of die, flip chip and SMT devices. Thanks to Quantic X-Microwave’s modular design platform and close collaboration with the customer, we bypassed the typical lengthy procurement phase by not requiring an SCD or SOW and managed to deliver all of the prototype plates within six weeks. The demonstration was successful and the customer was very pleased.
Q. Does Quantic X-Microwave provide any kind of software to simulate the performance of the prototype developed using X-MWblocks?
John Richardson: We aim to make the entire product development cycle, from simulation to prototyping to production, easier for the industry. In addition to our X-MWblocks, our website features a Layout Tool and an S-Parameter Viewer. The Layout Tool is an interactive design environment for part selection and physical layout of signal chains designed with X-MWblocks on a prototype plate or in standard connectorized housings. We continually add new XMWblocks and functionality updates to this tool, with key features including over 6000 X-MWblocks, the ability to add modular walls and lids, and the ability to export the full components list.
Additionally, our S-Parameter Viewer allows designers to download and compare s-parameters of different devices.
To aid our designers in simulation, we are consistently working to expand the library of Quantic X-Microwave devices in Keysight’s Pathwave SystemVue harmonic balance simulator. We have shown a very good correlation of full signal chain simulations in SystemVue to measured data on Keysight’s PNA-X network analyzer.
Q. Quantic Electronics acquired X-Microwave in 2021. How has this acquisition played out? Can you tell us about the synergies that have resulted from this acquisition?
John Richardson: Quantic is a unique company that brings together the best and most trusted electronic component businesses under one roof, allowing customers access to an extended engineering ecosystem and powerful supply chain. As a Quantic company, X-Microwave has been able to continue to grow and develop the foundation of our business, the modular platform. With the support of Quantic, we have been able to secure larger production opportunities and deliver sophisticated hi-rel production hardware to a growing list of customers more quickly, including all of the Tier I companies in our industry.
Q. What is Quantic X-Microwave's product and software roadmap for the next three years?
John Richardson: We see endless opportunities for innovation and expansion using the Quantic X-Microwave modular design platform as our foundation. The four product areas that we are already pursuing based primarily on customer requests and the obvious values to expand our platform are 1) Power Products including PAs, T/R Switches and Limiters etc. 2) Higher Frequency Products to 110 GHz including Amplifiers, Switches, Filters etc. 3) Devices that fall under the general description of higher complexity functions including DDS’s, Beamformer Chips, Microprocessor and FPGA Control etc. and 4) Software for use at the prototype phase that can be leveraged in system applications.
Q. What advice would you give someone thinking about starting their own business in the RF Industry?
John Richardson: A paragraph would not suffice, but I would encourage anyone considering entrepreneurship to ask themselves these important questions: Do I have the right support system? Do I have the right personal experience? Am I good at sales? Is my idea unique, and is it scalable?
