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wirelessZONE Products for the week of June 22, 2009
Peregrine Semiconductor Says…
PE43501/43601: UltraCMOS Digital Step Attenuators Feature Serial Addressability
5- and 6-bit DSAs offer exceptional broadband linearity
Peregrine Semiconductor Corporation, a leading supplier of high-performance RF CMOS and mixed-signal communications ICs, has released the latest in the new UltraCMOS Digital Step Attenuator (DSA) 50Ω series. Building on their high-performance predecessors, along with direct and latched parallel interface logic these new HaRP-enhanced devices also offer highly flexible serial programmability with attenuation options covering a 7.75 dB (PE43501)and 15.75 dB (PE43601) attenuation range in 0.25 dB steps.
The PE43501 and PE43601 DSAs offer best-in-class linearity, outstanding attenuation accuracy and low Insertion Loss (IL). As with all UltraCMOS silicon-on-sapphire RFICs, there is no gate lag nor phase drift providing exceptionally fast settling time, making them ideal for next generation wireless protocols such as LTE, WiMAX and TD-SCDMA (China’s 3G standard for mobile telecommunication). These devices provide the industries best linearity and broadband accuracy for cellular base stations, repeaters and femtocells.
EN-Genius Says…
Peregrine’s digital step attenuators (DSAs) just keep getting better. Looking at the 5-bit PE43501 as our example here (and it will be the higher volume part) we have a range of attenuation in 0.25 dB steps from the reference insertion loss (typically 2.3 dB up to 6 GHz) up another 7.75 dB. With a nominal 3.3 V rail (can be 5.0 V, a regulator is on chip) the quiescent is a typical 70 µA (max 350 µA).
Peregrine’s UltraCMOS process (an SoI process on a sapphire substrate) gives GaAs-like performance with CMOS costs and has proven to be extremely viable in the RF world. No blocking capacitors are required in the signal path and there are three different programming options: direct parallel, latched parallel, and serial addressable with up to eight addresses.
The performance from dc to 6 GHz is remarkably consistent with only about 0.5 dB bit error at 6 GHz. The attenuation error is a maximum of ±(0.15 + 4%) dB out to 4 GHz with a maximum of +0.3 + 4% dB for the range of attenuation of 3.75 dB to 7.75 dB from 4 GHz to 6 GHz.
Return loss (in this 50 Ω system) is a minimum 18 dB across the band (much better at most temperatures) while relative phase is a typical 6º. P1dB is a typical +32 dBm and IIP3 is 58 dBm with two tones at +18 dBm, spaced at 20 MHz. Switching time is a very fast 650 ns while risetime/falltime is 400 ns. At power-up the PE43501 always initializes to the maximum attenuation of 7.75 dB.
The input power handling capability of the PE43501 is rather complex. Up to about 300 kHz it is about +12 dBm. It then increases, like a slow rise time – except over frequency – to +23 dBm at about 20 MHz, where it remains out to 6 GHz.
These are remarkable components with an incredible linearity and accuracy. They will be deployed in all sorts of basestation and femtostation applications, in huge volumes.
The PE43501 and the 6-bit PE43601 are both sampling in QFN-32 with pricing of $2.12 and $2.28, respectively, both in 50-k piece lots
Data Sheet PE43501
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