Peregrine Semiconductor Corp., a supplier of high-performance RF CMOS and mixed-signal communications ICs, announced the first pair in a series of new SPDT RF switches addressing the needs of wireless infrastructure, 2.4 GHz Industrial, Scientific and Medical (ISM), and broadband applications for fiber optics and Multichannel Multipoint Distribution Service (MMDS). The PE4250 and PE4251 are the result of a joint design and development activity with long-standing partner OKI Electric Ltd. (Tokyo). Product engineers from both OKI and Peregrine collaborated to develop leading-edge design techniques to meet market demands, resulting in the latest high-performance UltraCMOS™ Silicon-on-Sapphire (SOS) RFICs.
The new PE4250 reflective and PE4251 absorptive 50-Ohm SPDT RF switches deliver best-in-class linearity and are pin- and logic-compatible, environmentally friendly alternatives to gallium-arsenide (GaAs)-based ICs. These HaRP™-enhanced devices, offered in the tiny RoHS-compliant 8-lead MSOP package, operate near DC through 3 GHz and deliver market-leading RF performance with P1dB of +30.5 dBm and IP3 (typ) of +59 dBm; and fast switching speed of 150 nS. The PE4250 and PE4251 utilize Peregrine’s HaRP Technology, which eliminates gate and phase lag and results in fast settling time and no insertion loss drift. In addition, the devices have extremely low insertion loss (IL) of 0.55 to 0.75 dB typical from 10 MHz to 3 GHz; high isolation across the operating range (51 to 40 dB for PE4250 and 62 to 43 dB for PE4251); and excellent ESD protection of 4000 V HBM.
Flexible 3.3 or 5.0 V dual supply voltage with 55/75 uA supply current, respectively, allows customers to select either supply voltage without sacrificing IIP3 linearity or degradation in P1dB performance. The new switches feature single-pin or complementary control inputs and no blocking capacitors are required.
The new devices are in volume production and are priced at $0.66/25Ku (PE4250) and $0.68/25Ku (PE4251).
