Freescale Semiconductors has released two-stage RF Integrated Circuits (RFICs) capable of delivering the 100-watt (W) RF output power required for GSM and EDGE network base stations.
The MWE6IC9100N and MW7IC18100N RFICs are high-powered two-stage RFICs, which when driven by Freescale's MMG3005N general purpose amplifier (GPA), form a comprehensive 100 W power amplifier solution for wireless base stations operating at 900 and 1800 MHz.
Target applications include GSM and EDGE base stations. The output power of two-stage RFICs has been limited to less than 30 W, relegating their utility to driver and pre-driver stages. Unlike previous designs, which required a separate high power transistor to achieve the 50 dB of gain and the 100 W of output power typically required for GSM EDGE transmitters, a GPA and a single RFIC combine to meet this requirement now.
"These 100 W RFICs are a breakthrough in RF power technology for the wireless marketplace," said Gavin P. Woods, Vice-President and General Manager of Freescale Semiconductor's RF Division. "They are the highest power two-stage RFICs ever commercially offered and they are housed in over-molded plastic rather than air cavity packages. Either of these advancements alone would be significant, but together they represent a significant step forward for the industry."
Technical specifications of MWE6IC9100NThe MWE6IC9100N is designed for both the 869 to 894 MHz cellular and 920 to 960 MHz GSM bands. For GSM operation, the device is designed to deliver CW output power of at least 100 W at 1-dB gain compression (P1dB) in 28 V Class AB bias conditions.
Gain is 33.5 dB and power added efficiency is in excess of 52 percent over the intended operating range. Under a 28 V drain bias and 50 W average output power in an EDGE application, the MWE6IC9100N addresses the stringent linearity requirements with spectral regrowth of -63 dBc and -81 dBc at 400 kHz and 600 kHz, respectively, with EVM of two percent rms.
Technical specifications: MW7IC18100NThe MW7IC18100N covers the 1805 to 1880 MHz and 1930 to 1990 MHz bands. MW7IC18100N is designed to deliver P1dB RF output power of 100 W CW with 30 dB of gain and power added efficiency of 48 percent over the intended operating range when running in a GSM environment at 28 V. EDGE performance includes average power of 40 W, spectral regrowth of -63 dBc (400 kHz offset) and -80 dBc (600 kHz offset), with EVM of 1.5 percent rms.
Housed in an over-molded plastic packaging, both RFICs are internally-matched and exhibit appreciable ruggedness. MWE6IC9100N and MW7IC18100N have integral ESD protection, are RoHS-compliant and can handle 200°C junction temperatures. MWE6IC9100N and MW7IC18100N also include an integral quiescent current thermal tracking device that provides effective temperature compensation to keep current constant within five percent over a 115°C operating temperature range for all amplifier stages.
The RFICs help simplify power amplifier system designs by incorporating an automatic biasing function, which allows designers to set amplifier biases with minimal external circuitry. Additionally, the MWE6IC9100N and MW7IC18100N devices automatically compensate to set the desired drain quiescent current with a minimum amount of external control circuitry required.
