Peregrine throws down RF switch gauntlet
What is being billed as the first CMOS-based switch to connect to the antenna of GSM handsets directly could pose a threat to the GaAs PHEMT RF switch market.
Peregrine Semiconductor, the San Diego company that has developed the CMOS switch, says that it has been validated in some early phone designs, with production currently ramping up.
"Today, for the first time ever, a CMOS-based IC can be directly connected to the antenna of a GSM handset," said the company in a statement.
Offering 41 dBm power and 65 dBm (IP3) linearity, the company believes that the switch gives "superior performance, lower insertion loss, a smaller footprint and higher integration" compared with PHEMT alternatives.
The switch is fabricated using Peregrine s own patented variation of silicon-on-insulator (SOI) technology. Unlike the bulk silicon substrates conventionally used in the CMOS process, this "UltraCMOS" variant uses sapphire substrates, which Peregrine claims gives high yields and low costs. A thin layer of silicon is then deposited onto the insulating sapphire substrate.
"[Handset] designers have long been constrained by the limitations of exotic IC technologies such as PHEMT used in high-power, high-throw switch ICs," said Peregrine s CEO Jim Cable. "This device deliver a simple, and profoundly different approach to solving the toughest [switch] challenges."
GaAs PHEMT switch manufacturers include Skyworks Solutions and M/A-COM.
