Date: 11/03/2009

LDMOS driver amplifier RFICs for 2 GHz wireless applications

Freescale Semiconductor has introduced LDMOS driver amplifier RFICs for wireless broadband networks. The ideal wireless applications for this device are Multi-Carrier GSM, W-CDMA and the LTE enhancement to UMTS.

These high-power LDMOS RF power transistors are designed to enable multi-carrier amplifiers in base station transceivers to process more channels than before to reduce base station manufacturing cost and power consumption while decreasing base station annual transmitter operating cost.

These RFICs offer better RF performance at lower cost, while addressing the wide channel bandwidths of broadband transmission technologies such as LTE. The bandwidth required to accommodate high data rates means that the instantaneous video bandwidth of RF power transistors and amplifiers must be as wide as possible. The greater an amplifier's video bandwidth, the more adjacent channels it can process.

To meet this challenge, these RFICs have an instantaneous bandwidth of approximately 60 MHz, which allow them to accommodate multiple channels without increasing intermodulation distortion. Freescale says this is the broadest instantaneous bandwidth of any RFICs currently available for operation in this band.

The RFICs include the MW7IC2040N, MW7IC2220N and MW7IC2240N, and all are designed to cover popular bands between 1.8 and 2.2 GHz. The devices are fabricated using Freescale's high-voltage, seventh-generation (HV7) process technology, which provides significant improvements in gain and efficiency over earlier LDMOS generations.

These devices are RoHS complaint. They join the company's growing portfolio of RFICs that cover the full range of wireless communications networks, including GSM/EDGE, Multi-Carrier GSM, W-CDMA, LTE, WiMAX, and TD-SCDMA.

Key specifications for the devices in W-CDMA operation with a 3.84 MHz channel bandwidth include:
MW7IC2040N: At 1.9 GHz, Pout = 4 W, gain is 32 dB, PAE is 17.5%, and ACPR is -50 dBc.
MW7IC2220N: At 2.17 GHz, Pout = 2 W, gain is 31 dB, PAE is 13%, and ACPR is -50 dBc.
MW7IC2240N: At 2.17 GHz, Pout = 4 W, gain is 30 dB, PAE is 14%, and ACPR is -50 dBc.

All three devices feature electrostatic discharge (ESD) protection designed to decrease susceptibility to damage on assembly lines. These rugged devices feature on-chip matching to simplify circuit design and are designed withstand a VSWR of 5:1.

Availability
The three Freescale RFICs are in full production and broadband reference text fixtures are available now.
For further details visit Freescale Semiconductor website: www.freescale.com