The HMC542BLP4E is a broadband 6-bit GaAs IC digital attenuator with a CMOS compatible serial to parallel driver in low cost leadless surface mount package. This serial control digital attenuator incorp rates off chip AC ground capacitors for near DC operation, making it suitable for a wide variety of RF and IF applications. Covering DC to 4 GHz, the insertion loss is 1.7 dB and the attenuator bit values are 0.5 (LSB), 1, 2, 4, 8, and 16 dB for a total attenuation of 31.5 dB. Attenuation accuracy is excellent at ±0.25 dB typical step error with an IIP3 of +50 dBm. Six bit serial control words are used to select each attenuation state. A single Vcc bias of +5V is required.