Microwave Journal
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Fujitsu Microelectronics Now Shipping 3G SAW-less Transceiver

September 15, 2009

Fujitsu Microelectronics America Inc. (FMA) has entered the mobile phone RF transceiver market with commercial production of a new highly integrated transceiver module supporting 3GPP WCDMA/EGPRS wireless phones.

The MB86L01A is the industry’s first multi-mode transceiver to eliminate 3G TX and RX inter-stage SAW filters and low noise amplifiers (LNA). The transceiver features a high-level programming model for controlling the radio using an open standard digital interface (3G DigRF/ MIPI), which is compatible with a wide range of industry basebands. The MB86L01A is available in volume shipments now.

The compact new transceiver module enables cell phone manufacturers to reduce component count, board space and bill of materials. The simplified programming model helps significantly reduce development time and simplify integration of the RF in a radio platform. The transceiver is optimized for compressed mode operation, and features quad‐band GSM/EDGE and up to four WCDMA bands in a single-phone configuration.

The transceiver includes six outputs that drive the power amplifier directly, so there is no need for SAW filters. The receiver provides seven inputs that support WCDMA and GSM/EDGE, and uses the new RF front‐end to eliminate the requirement for LNAs and SAW filters. The receiver also incorporates anti-aliasing filters, digital channel filters, digital gain control and high dynamic range ADCs.

The MB86L01A supports GSM bands (GSM850, EGSM900, DCS1800, PCS1900), WCDMA (Bands I, II, III, IV, V, VI, VIII, IX, X, and XI) and WCDMA HSDPA category 10 and HSUPA category 6. The transceiver includes a 3G DigRF interface to the baseband IC. It offers either SPI and/or GPOs to control PAs, switching regulators and antenna switch, with simplified timing and control enabled by a microcontroller unit in the transceiver.

The development of the MB86L01A transceiver module was enabled in part by the April acquisition by Fujitsu Microelectronics Ltd. of licenses and rights to the technology and intellectual property related to Freescale’s RF transceiver products for cellular handsets, and by Fujitsu’s acquisition of an RF team from Freescale Semiconductor in Tempe, AZ. More than 130 of those design engineers are working on RF transceiver IC design, architecture, validation, verification and reference designs. The group is also working on the next generation of products with engineering samples already available on a multimode WCDMA/EGPRS/LTE transceiver with a 4G DigRF interface.