Integrated AM/FM radio receiver

22nd January 2007

ES Admin

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Silicon Laboratories has announced the extension of its broadcast audio product portfolio to include the Si473x AM/FM receiver family. The Si473x enables an AM/FM receiver to be easily added to consumer devices such as clock and portable radios, home stereos, MP3 players, docking stations and mobile handsets.

The Si473x is the first fully integrated AM/FM radio receiver from antenna input to audio output in a single monolithic IC. Conventional AM/FM radio implementations are large, expensive and difficult to manufacture, limiting the inclusion of AM radio functionality in many small, portable, high-volume applications. The single-chip Si473x requires only two external components in 0.15 cm2 of board space compared to more than 50 components and 10 cm2 of board space for conventional solutions.

By leveraging an innovative digital architecture, the Si473x significantly simplifies design and manufacturing. The Si473x is the only AM/FM receiver that does not need manual alignment, which can take up to several minutes per device. While traditional AM/FM solutions may require four stages of hand tuning, the Si473x supports a wide variety of antennas with an on-chip varactor and auto calibration to streamline manufacturing.

The Si473x seek performance and adjustability for both AM and FM is unmatched resulting in reduced interference and improved reception. The excellent sensitivity and selectivity of the Si473x reliably identify many stations other AM/FM radios do not detect or incorrectly identify as valid. The market-leading audio quality of the Si473x offers adjustable soft mute and other audio enhancement features.

The Si4731 is also the only AM/FM receiver to include support for the European Radio Data System (RDS) and the U.S. Radio Broadcast Data System (RBDS). This feature enables data such as the station ID and song name to be displayed on the LCD of any device, creating a visual user-experience similar to a portable media player.

“AM radio is popular for music, news, sports and talk formats, has a wide coverage area and a large installed base of stations worldwide,” said Tyson Tuttle, vice president of Silicon Laboratories. “We have leveraged our market-leading CMOS RF and mixed-signal expertise to engineer an easy-to-design, cost-effective, high-performance solution, which will enable manufacturers to offer both AM and FM receivers in a variety of applications including mobile handsets and MP3 players.”

Samples of the Si4730 and Si4731 are available in a compact 3 x 3 mm 20-pin quad flat no-lead (QFN) package. Pricing for the Si4730 begins at $4.87 in quantities of 10K. Pricing for the Si4731, which supports RDS/RBDS, begins at $5.53 in quantities of 10K. An evaluation board is available for $150.