Peregrine Semiconductor Expands MPAC–Doherty Product Family
to Support GaN Power Amplifier Frequencies

The MPAC–Doherty Portfolio Now Extends From 1.8 to 3.8 GHz with Three Pin-Compatible Products—the PE46120, PE46130 and PE46140

Beijing – EDI CON 2016 – April 19, 2016 – In booth #309 Peregrine Semiconductor Corp., founder of RF SOI (silicon on insulator) and pioneer of advanced RF solutions, introduces two UltraCMOS® MPAC–Doherty products—the PE46130 and PE46140. These monolithic phase and amplitude controllers (MPAC) join the PE46120 in offering maximum phase-tuning flexibility for Doherty power amplifier (PA) optimization. Designed for the LTE and LTE-A wireless-infrastructure transceiver market, the MPAC–Doherty product family now extends from 1.8 to 3.8 GHz with three separate, pin-compatible parts.

"Phase and amplitude control is critical to the future of communications, where everything from LTE and 5G to radar will rely on the efficient exchange of data," says Kinana Hussain, director of marketing at Peregrine Semiconductor. "Peregrine's monolithic phase and amplitude controllers will support this future. Today's addition of two integrated products to Peregrine's MPAC–Doherty product family is only the beginning. Upcoming products in the MPAC family will support beamforming, full wireless duplex and 5G applications. Furthermore, the entire MPAC portfolio will continue to showcase the intelligent integration capabilities of Peregrine's UltraCMOS technology."

Because the PE46130 and PE46140 are based on UltraCMOS technology, they deliver the intelligent integration benefits—reliability, flexibility, smaller footprint, configurability and greater system capability—that cannot be matched by gallium arsenide (GaAs) solutions. Each MPAC–Doherty product eliminates the need for discrete components and integrates a 90-degree RF splitter, 5-bit digital phase shifters, a 4-bit digital step attenuator and a digital serial peripheral (SPI) interface on a single monolithic die.

The PE46130 and PE46140 are ideal for optimizing gallium nitride (GaN)-based Doherty PAs, which are preferred at higher frequencies. Low-frequency Doherty amplifiers are typically based on laterally diffused metal oxide semiconductor (LDMOS) technology as LDMOS offers efficiency and cost advantages at frequencies less than 2.0 GHz. However, at higher frequencies, this efficiency breaks down and GaN-based Doherty PAs are used for their ability to maintain performance and meet high power density requirements. The UltraCMOS PE46130 covers a frequency range of 2.3 to 2.7 GHz and PE46140 extends from 3.4 to 3.8 GHz.

In Doherty amplifier architectures, the PE46130 and PE46140 reduces the bill of materials (BOM) by improving the overall yield of expensive Doherty power amplifier assemblies utilizing high efficiency GaN transistors. Additionally, these controllers offer performance advantages in power added efficiency, linearity across the frequency range, Doherty bandwidth through better matching and increased effectiveness of the digital pre-distortion (DPD) loop. The maximum tuning flexibility enables uniformity and repeatability between transceiver paths, while increasing system reliability. The monolithic controllers can be programmed remotely through the digital interface to accommodate varying field requirements. This flexibility allows engineers to adjust the phase and amplitude in real-time for operational and environmental factors.

Features, Packaging, Pricing and Availability

Aside from supporting different cellular frequency bands, the PE46130 and PE46140 are similar in their features and performance advantages. The controllers cover a phase range of 87.2 degrees in 2.8-degree steps and an attenuation range of 7.5 dB in 0.5 dB steps. The PE46130 and PE46140 deliver high linearity of greater than 60 dBm IIP3 and extremely low power consumption of 0.35 mA. Uniquely, each controller provides high power handling of 35 dBm P0.1dB and high port-to-port isolation of 30 dB. UltraCMOS technology enables the controllers to deliver superior ESD performance of at least 1 kV on all RF pins, an extended temperature range up to +105-degrees Celsius and a wide power supply range from 2.3 to 5.5V. Each controller is offered in a RoHS compliant, 32-lead 6 x 6 mm QFN.

Samples and evaluation kits are now available for PE46130 and PE46140, and volume-production parts for PE46130 are available now. The PE46130 is $9.37 each for 1K-quantity orders, $7.60 each for 5K-quantity orders and $7.03 each for 10K-quantity orders. The PE46140 is $10.31 each for 1K-quantity orders, $8.36 each for 5K-quantity orders and $7.73 each for 10K-quantity orders.

About Peregrine Semiconductor

Peregrine Semiconductor Corporation, a Murata company, is the founder of RF silicon on insulator (SOI) and is a leading fabless provider of high-performance, integrated RF solutions. Since 1988 Peregrine and its founding team have been perfecting UltraCMOS® technology—a patented, advanced form of SOI—to deliver the performance edge needed to solve the RF market's biggest challenges, such as linearity. By delivering best-in-class performance and monolithic integration, Peregrine products are the trusted choice for market leaders in automotive, broadband, industrial, Internet of Things, mobile devices, smartphones, space, test-and-measurement equipment and wireless infrastructure. A Murata company since December 2014, Peregrine holds more than 200 filed and pending patents and has shipped over 2.5 billion UltraCMOS units. For more information, visit http://www.psemi.com.

Contact:

Peregrine Semiconductor Corporation
Customer Support & Satisfaction

Web: http://www.psemi.com
Email: sales@psemi.com
Phone: 858-731-9400
Fax: 858-731-9499

Posted April 19, 2016