Product/Service

E-pHEMT MMIC For Femtocell, RF-Metering, RFID And Wi-Fi

Source: RFHIC
Recent improvements on the CMOS Silicon process introduced many one-chip solutions to the market. DSP, Analog/Digital converter, Digital/Analog converter, Up/Down converter, VCO and PLL Synthesizers are one of those one-chip solutions in the market today. However, CMOS has some drawbacks in higher power levels of 10dBm+ and having a high noise figure.

Recent improvements on the CMOS Silicon process introduced many one-chip solutions to the market. DSP, Analog/Digital converter, Digital/Analog converter, Up/Down converter, VCO and PLL Synthesizers are one of those one-chip solutions in the market today. However, CMOS has some drawbacks in higher power levels of 10dBm+ and having a high noise figure.

Higher power means higher heat generation, which is always a design problem in many cases. Designing a one-chip solution is also a challenge against isolation. There is a need for an amplifier which has 10dBm or higher power, great efficiency, low supply voltage and low noise figures. This is where RFHIC's new E-pHEMT (Enhancement Mode Pseudomorphic High Electron Mobility Transistor) MMIC will fit well.

The new AE362, AE368 and AE379 devices are suitable for Femtocell, CPE, Multi-metering, RFID reader, WLAN, Zigbee, Wi-Fi, and Wireless sensor applications as a low noise amplifier (LNA) or a power amplifier. These MMIC devices are capable of carrying OFDM, WCDMA, CW, and Multichannel signals and the supply voltage can either be 3.3V or 5V. Lower noise figures and 50% or higher efficiency is another focus point for this MMIC product line.

There are four different higher output power devices such as 20dBm, 27dBm, 31dBm, and 33dBm output power. Several application notes are provided for the MMIC, including 400MHz, 900MHz, 2100MHz, 2400MHz, and 2600MHz.

Existing GaAs HBT MMIC with 25dBm or higher output powers were built in bipolar structures and had high junction temperatures and low breakdown voltage. These characteristics make the device very sensitive against voltage and harsh environments. High noise figures of GaAs HBT also suffer EVM loss from the OFDM signals. MESFET and pHEMT MMIC needs negative voltage which makes the circuit more complicated and expensive.