SiGe Power Amplifier Reduces System Footprint for Embedded WLAN

16th December 2008

ES Admin

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SiGe Semiconductor has released the SE2568U ISM band high-performance power amplifier (PA) targeted at the embedded 2.4GHz wireless LAN (WLAN) market. This new device integrates direct to battery operation and offers state of the art integration for embedded handheld and modular application. The SE2568U offers the industry's smallest solution footprint for embedded WLAN functionality, delivering +18dBm output power at 3% error vector magnitude (EVM), integrating a fully-matched PA, power detector, 3.2GHz LO filter and harmonic filter in a tiny 2.0mm x 2.0mm x 0.5mm QFN package.

Specifically designed for use in portable embedded and modular integration applications, the SE2568U PA is a complete 802.11 b/g WLAN PA that features direct battery operation from +2.7 to +4.8V, without the need for on-board voltage regulation. In addition, the new device is CMOS compatible, so it enables direct logic connections to the baseband function, eliminating the need for external switching circuitry.

Current solutions require up to 15 external components for matching and filtering to get equivalent performance, but the SE2568U PA requires only three external capacitors, observed Sanjiv Shah, director, product marketing WiMAX, & embedded WLAN, This significantly reduces device and bill of materials and board assembly costs as well as the overall system footprint, all of which are paramount in embedded applications.

Drawing just 120mA while delivering +18dBm output power at 3% EVM, this new device offers state of the art integration for all applications where size and current consumption are at a premium, specifically in WLAN enabled cell phones and portable devices.