Shrinking switches save wireless space

Edited by the Electronicstalk editorial team Jun 11, 2007

Flip-chip-packaged RF switches enable 40% size reduction in front end modules by eliminating the area consumed by wire bonds.

Peregrine Semiconductor has expanded its highly successful RF switch line for quad-band GSM and GSM/WCDMA handset applications by introducing RFICs using advanced chip scale packaging.

The HaRP-enhanced PE42632 SP6T and the PE42674 SP7T flip-chip devices enable 40% size reduction in front end modules by eliminating the area consumed by wire bonds.

PE42674 is the world's first flip-chip monolithic SP7T WEdge switch with onboard CMOS decoder.

This highly integrated solution simplifies and lowers the cost of RF designs by eliminating up to 20 wire bonds and reducing overall footprint with a single die placement.

It offers one WEdge-compliant port (TX1), two GSM/Edge TX ports, and four RX ports.

The device shatters RF performance of competitive solutions by offering exceptional linearity (2fo of -85dBc and 3fo of -79dBc); IIP3 of +67dBm; TX-RX isolation of 38.5dB (900MHz); 0.65dB insertion loss (900MHz); and IMD3 of -109dBm.

"The robust mechanical strength of sapphire, the base substrate used for UltraCMOS, allows Peregrine to offer low-cost chip scale packaging", says Rodd Novak, Vice President of Marketing and Business Development for Peregrine.

"It enables our customers to continue to advance their product roadmaps by greatly reducing the area needed to implement the switch function as well as lowering their overall production costs", he adds.

The PE42632 SP6T switch also delivers excellent performance: low harmonics (2fo of -90dBc and 3fo of -82dBc); TX-RX isolation of 38dB (900MHz) and 31dB (1900MHz); P1dB compression point of 41dBm; and 0.55dB of insertion loss at 900MHz.

Both devices feature world-class 1.5kV ESD tolerance on all ports, 2.75V operating voltage and ultralow power consumption, and on-chip CMOS decode logic facilitates both 1.8 and 2.75V three-pin CMOS control inputs.

No blocking capacitors and on-chip SAW filter over-voltage protection devices ensure ease of integration.

The PE42674 is priced at US $0.70 and the PE42632 is priced at $0.60 (both in 10,000-unit quantities).

The devices are in volume production and are available in die form from Peregrine.