World's First Silicon Power Amplifier for 4G Mobile Devices
World's First Silicon Power Amplifier for 4G Mobile Devices
7th October , 2009
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US : VT Silicon announced the industry's first silicon-based power amplifier capable of meeting the stringent operating requirements of 4G wireless data transmissions.
This breakthrough milestone was achieved after 2 1/2 years of privately funded development by using the company's patented Linearity Enhancement Technology (LET(TM)) to achieve the power, efficiency, and linearity required by today's battery-powered 4G broadband mobile devices.
The use of silicon (Silicon Germanium, or SiGe) instead of the traditional, more expensive Gallium Arsenide (GaAs) allows a significantly lower cost device with a much higher level of integration. The new PA design has been shown to compete effectively with GaAs PAs on key 4G specifications such as EVM, PAE, and ACPR as defined by the WiMAX Forum(TM) and 3GPP.
Based on the competitive performance demonstrated by the PA, the company has embarked on the next step of creating a fully integrated single chip Front End RFIC initially targeting the WiMAX market, with future versions designed for LTE. The first chip of the family (VFM2500) will be available for testing in the first quarter of 2010 with production targeted at 4Q2010.
The initial design will cover the 2.5GHz to 2.7GHz WiMAX band as well as the 2.4GHz WiFi band, and will include the PA, LNA, T/R Switch, and TX and RX filtering and baluns. Other key features include support for transmit antenna diversity, 2x2 DL MIMO, and dynamic bias control via the serial interface for battery life optimization. The chip includes multiple power modes to allow for efficient operation over a wide range of transmit powers, as well as providing efficient operation in WiFi mode. The Front End RFIC is housed in a single 5mm x 5.5mm x 1mm QFN package that requires only two external bypass capacitors, thereby minimizing the external BOM cost and space requirements.
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