hf/rf ZONE Products for the week of June 30, 2003
SiGe Semiconductor says . . .
SE2526A: High Performance RF Front-End for Dual-Mode
802.11b/g
RF front-end reduces size by 50%, providing an ideal solution
for embedded
Wi-Fi applications
SiGe Semiconductor announced sample availability of the industry's highest performance, most cost effective RF front-end for dual-mode 802.11b/g WLAN systems. The SE2526A features industry-leading data throughput and transmission range, while providing a fully tested, RF front-end solution priced at less than $2.00 each in volume quantities.
The SE2526A RF front-end integrates a high-performance power amplifier, power detector, transmit/receive switch, diversity switch and filtering into a compact chip-scale device that is fully matched to 50 Ohms. The SE2526A replaces up to 40 components typically required for the RF front-end, and is supplied in a laminate package measuring 5.5 x 7.0 x 1.4mm. This form factor is 50 percent smaller than competitive module solutions, making the SE2526A ideal for Wi-Fi systems including access points, PCMCIA cards, PC cards, PDAs and cellular phones. In further support of embedded, portable applications, the SE2526A consumes just 160mA in 802.11g mode, operating from a single 3.0-3.6V supply.
Based on SiGe Semiconductor's proven high-performance 802.11b/g power amplifier, the SE2526A delivers power output of +16dBm while achieving an Error Vector Magnitude (EVM) of less than three percent operating in 802.11g mode. In 802.11b mode, the SE2526A delivers +20dBm output power with an Adjacent Channel Power Ratio (ACPR) of <-35dBc. The industry-leading EVM, ACPR and harmonic performance ensures high data throughput and longer range while operating in 54Mb/s 802.11g mode.
"Through collaboration with partners and customers implementing our existing power amplifiers, we've gained significant expertise solving the RF front-end design challenges associated with matching, tolerance and component placement," said Bill Cuming, vice president product marketing, SiGe Semiconductor. "Channeling this expertise to deliver complete front-ends allows us to take the risk out of RF design for our customers, thereby simplifying manufacture and improving yields. Using the SE2526A, customers can effectively integrate 802.11b/g capability, allowing fast time-to-market for next-generation products."
The 802.11g specification is expected to emerge as the preferred wireless
technology for high data rate access in hotspot, home, enterprise and SOHO
environments. Able to support data rates up to 54Mb/s in the 2.4GHz frequency
band, the technology provides five times the speed of 802.11b networks,
while maintaining backward compatibility with the large installed base.
SiGe's roadmap includes power amplifiers and RF front-ends that meet all
of the requirements of multi-mode, multi-band products supporting 802.11a/b/g
systems.
analogZONE Says . . .
Every time SiGe Semiconductor opens its product trunk I seem to get yet another pleasant surprise. This latest offering just about overcomes every obstacle for a non RF engineer designing the output side of an 802.11b/g system. I do wish the company hadn't attached the label "front-end" because that implies to me, at least, the receive end of a system. Without quibbling about words, however, here we have a dual antenna diversity switching system with antenna matching and matching to the receive side, plus the transmit RF PA, voltage regulation, bias and associated power detector, LPF for the output of the PA and input matching to the whole system, all in one module.
And the numbers are right, too, with a typical output of +16 dBm for 802.11g (54 Mbit/s OFDM with an EVM of <3%, and +20 dBm for 802.11b (11 Mbit/s DSSS with an ACPR <32 dBc) across the 2400 - 2485 MHz ISM band. Supply current for "g" (with a 3.3-V rail) is a typical 160 mA, and for "b" it is 240 mA. The 1 dB compression point is 24 dB and the small signal gain of 28 dB (with a 1-dB typical variation.) The input return loss is better than -10 dB with no numbers quoted on the preliminary data sheet for the output return losses on the antennae feeds, but the input return loss to the receiver feed is a typical -20 dB.
The power detect range of the on-module detector is from +6 dBm to +28 dBm with a sensitivity of 35 mV/dBm.
This part will do extremely well with SiGe's business relationships with IBM guaranteeing to provide continuity of the supply of parts.
The SE2526A sampling in a 5.5 mm x 7.0 mm LGA-24 and will be priced at less than $2.00 in 1-M piece lots.
Data Sheet On Request
from SiGe Semiconductor