Labtech Microwave, one of the UK’s leading design and manufacturers of microwave solutions and bespoke microwave component technology has appointed Stephen Melvin as their new principal engineer, with the aim of developing the company’s MMIC (monolithic microwave integrated circuits) packaging and LCP (liquid crystal polymer) offering.

Prior to joining Labtech Microwave 43-year-old Mr Melvin was the senior design engineer for RFMD (formerly Filtronic Compound Semiconductors), where he designed MMICs for power amplifiers as well as microwave radio components and broadband MIC (microwave integrated circuit) amplifiers for EW (electronic warfare) applications. He will report to sales and marketing director Robert Lowther.

Stephen Melvin said: “Supporting the current team in the design and development of MMICs I am looking forward to building the LCP packaging activity at Labtech, both with products of our own and by offering more complete packaging solutions for third parties.”

Commenting on Mr Melvin’s appointment, Robert Lowther, sales and marketing director at Labtech Microwave said: “Through his twenty years of knowledge and experience Stephen will make an invaluable contribution at an exciting time in the development of our MMIC packaging solutions offering. Demand is such that we are currently issuing 5mm packaging samples with 50-ohm evaluation boards through our representative network to interested parties. We are pleased to advise that he will also be working on new surface-mount switch and amplifiers, a consequence of the growing trend in demand for these products and drop-in configurations as opposed to connecterised low-power metal PIN switches. In addition, our recent white paper has been well received, reinforcing the increasing interest in utilising organic LCP laminates for packaging.”