LDMOS RF ICs power outdoor small cell base stations

26th May 2016

Nat Bowers

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NXP Semiconductors has introduced what it claims to be the industry’s largest portfolio of broadband 28V LDMOS two-stage, dual-path Doherty-optimised ICs for small cell base stations. The LDMOS ICs are designed to provide RF power, efficiency and gain in all current and proposed frequency bands, from 700 to 3,800MHz, with RF output power of 2.5 to 12W.

Paul Hart, Executive Vice President and General Manager, RF Power business unit, NXP, commented: “The need to provide quality coverage and service to mobile phone subscribers both indoors and outdoors drives the rapid increase of small cell deployments in cellular networks. This trend will continue to accelerate as the cellular industry moves toward 5G. Our new LDMOS RFICs are designed to meet microcell base station requirements in all bands and at all RF power levels.”

The eight LDMOS ICs combine two stages of gain for both the carrier and peaking stages required by Doherty power amplifiers in a single device. The four symmetric devices offer ultra wideband performance, up to 900MHz of RF bandwidth and 365MHz of instantaneous bandwidth. The family of asymmetric products covers the full range of frequencies from 700 to 3,800MHz. All are easy to linearise with analogue and digital predistortion solutions.

The LDMOS ICs are extremely rugged and can operate into an impedance mismatch (VSWR) of 10:1 when driven by twice their rated RF input power without performance degradation or failure. They also incorporate features at the die and package levels that make them extremely compact. This is of critical importance for outdoor small cells which are designed to blend unobtrusively into its environments.

Broadband symmetric Doherty-optimised power amplifier ICs include:

A2I20D020N: 1,400 to 2,300MHz, average RF output power of 2.5W, gain up to 29.7dB, efficiency up to 43%, TO-270WB-17 plastic package;
A2I20D040N: 1,400 to 2,300MHz, average RF output power of 5W, gain up to 29.7dB, efficiency up to 46%, TO-270WB-17 plastic package;
A2I25D012N: 2,100 to 2,900MHz, average RF output power of 2.2W, gain up to 27.7dB, efficiency up to 40%, TO-270WB-15 plastic package; and
A2I25D025N: 2,100 to 2,900MHz, average RF output power of 3.2W, gain up to 29.1dB, efficiency up to 40%, TO-270WB-17 plastic package.

Broadband asymmetric Doherty-optimised power amplifier ICs include:

A2I08H040N: 728 to 960MHz, average RF output power of 9W, gain up to 30.7dB, efficiency up to 46%, TO-270WB-15 plastic package;
A2I20H060N: 1,800 to 2,200MHz, average RF output power of 12W, gain up to 28.5dB, gain up to 44%, TO-270WB-15 plastic package;
A2I25H060N: 2,300 to 2,690MHz, average output power of 10.5W, gain up to 27.5dB, efficiency up to 41%, TO-270WB-17 plastic package; and
A2I35H060N: 3,400 to 3,800MHz, average RF output power of 10W, gain up to 24dB, efficiency up to 33%, TO-270WB-17 plastic package.

All eight LDMOS ICs are in production. Reference designs and evaluation boards are available.