Three LDMOS Power Amplifiers from Freescale expands Airfast RF power portfolio

The new AFT05MS031N, AFT09MS031N and AFT05MP075N products are suitable for use in mobile VHF and UHF transceivers used in public safety, professional mobile radio and other harsh machine-to-machine communications environments. The Airfast products are designed to survive >65:1 VSWR even with simultaneous over voltage and overdrive stressing the amplifier and its RF power transistors. The devices integrate much of the circuitry required to maintain stability, thereby simplifying design and supporting stability under a wide range of operation conditions.



Engineered for 12V nominal mobile operation at frequencies between 136 - 941 MHz, the Airfast devices are designed to remain stable while delivering rated performance over the breadth of their operating frequency ranges. Stability testing is conducted using multiple voltages, drive levels and temperatures into a VSWR of 3:1.



“Building on our 50-year history of RF technology development, Freescale continues its track record of delivering land mobile solutions that lead the industry in ruggedness, performance and gain,” said Ritu Favre, vice president and general manager of Freescale’s RF Division. “These new Airfast power amplifiers provide radio designers what they need to differentiate and win in land mobile markets.”



Unlike inflexible RF power amplifier modules, these discrete products combine ease-of-use and cost-efficiency without sacrificing performance. The Airfast devices ship with comprehensive reference designs and require only a few inductors and capacitors to complete the design. The result is a more cost-efficient amplifier that delivers higher performance within the same footprint as competitive module-based solutions. In addition, the efficiency of the Airfast devices is typically 65 percent or greater than competitive modules, which commonly range in efficiency from 25 to 40 percent.



Other features contributing to the cost-efficiency of the new Airfast products include: optimized system reliability for lower maintenance costs; elevated power gain resulting in fewer stages and improved stability; and high efficiency across a wide frequency range for simplified cooling and smaller radios.



The new Airfast devices operate from a nominal 12.5-VDC supply and have integrated ESD protection for increased resistance to stray voltage during assembly and optimal performance when operated in Class C mode.



AFT05MS031N:

-136-520 MHz

-Ruggedness >65:1 VSWR

-> 31W output power

-High gain – less then .5W drive for rated output power

-2 lead over-molded plastic package (TO-270); surface mount option (GN)



AFT09MS031N:

-764-941 MHz

-Ruggedness >65:1 VSWR

-> 31W output power

-High gain – less then 0.6W drive for rated output power

-2 lead over-molded plastic package (TO-270); surface mount option (GN)



AFT05MP075NL:

-136-520 MHz

-Ruggedness >65:1 VSWR

-> 75W output power

-High gain – less then 1W drive for rated output power

-4 lead over-molded plastic package (TO-270WB-4)



The AFT05MS031N and AFT09MS031N 31W devices are now in production. The AFT05MP075 75W device is expected to be in production in the fourth quarter of 2012. Reference designs and other support tools are available to designers.