At IMS 2026, everything RF met Kevin DeFord, Product Line Manager at Smiths Interconnect, a Molex company, and Bob Buxton of Smiths Interconnect. At the company's booth, they showcased two technologies aimed at addressing interconnect flexibility and RF performance stability: the new ReadyStack interposer platform and the company's ThermoPad temperature-compensating attenuator technology.
Kevin DeFord introduced the ReadyStack interposer platform, a cost-effective addition to Smiths Interconnect's interposer portfolio. The ReadyStack series uses stamped metal contact technology and a modular architecture that enables configurable board-to-board spacing using the same core contact design. Positioned between the company's traditional stamped-contact interposers and higher-performance spring probe RF interposers, ReadyStack is designed for applications that require a balance of cost, flexibility, and performance. The smallest configuration supports a board-to-board height of 3.75 mm, while additional insulator sections can be stacked to create larger assemblies with spacing up to 20 mm. The scalable architecture allows designers to use a common interposer platform across multiple mechanical configurations while maintaining a lower-cost stamped-contact approach.
During the demonstration, DeFord showed how the modular design enables users to increase board-to-board spacing simply by stacking additional insulator sections. He explained that the approach provides greater design flexibility than fixed-height interposers, allowing engineers to tailor the mechanical spacing to their application requirements without redesigning the contact structure. The company positioned ReadyStack as a flexible interconnect solution for applications where a high-end RF spring probe solution may not be necessary.
In a second demonstration, Bob Buxton highlighted Smiths Interconnect's ThermoPad technology, a passive temperature-variable attenuator designed to compensate for amplifier gain changes caused by temperature variations. ThermoPad devices automatically adjust their attenuation characteristics as temperature changes, helping maintain a more consistent system response without requiring bias voltages or active control circuitry. Smiths Interconnect describes ThermoPad as a passive temperature-compensation solution that can be used in amplifier circuits and other RF assemblies where gain drift over temperature is a concern. The devices are available across a wide frequency range extending from DC through microwave and millimeter-wave frequencies, depending on the product series.
During the live demonstration, Buxton used both heating and cooling methods to show how ThermoPad responds to changing temperatures. As the temperature decreased and amplifier gain naturally increased, the ThermoPad increased attenuation to compensate. As the temperature rose and amplifier gain decreased, attenuation was reduced, helping maintain a flatter overall gain response. The demonstration illustrated how passive temperature-dependent attenuation can help stabilize amplifier performance and improve response consistency across varying operating conditions, making the technology useful for RF, microwave, aerospace, defense, and communications systems that must operate over wide temperature ranges.
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