Peregrine Semiconductor Corp of San Diego, CA, USA, a fabless provider of radio-frequency integrated circuits (RFICs) based on silicon-on-sapphire (SOS), has signed a collaborative agreement with Japan’s Murata Manufacturing Company on a multi-sourcing arrangement for RF switches based on Peregrine’s proprietary UltraCMOS technology.
Peregrine pioneered RF CMOS-based devices with its UltraCMOS technology, an advanced form of silicon-on-insulator (SOI) process, and more than 20 years of R&D have resulted in 150 patents issued and pending. Aided by its IP portfolio, Peregrine has established its position in the RF front-end section of mobile devices for RF switches and tunable RF components.
Murata is a supplier of RF front-end (RFFE) modules (incorporating RF switches and tuning devices with SAW filters, passive components, and advanced packaging techniques) for the global mobile wireless market.
Murata will source a majority of its RF switching requirements from Peregrine in exchange for being granted a license to purchase or manufacture RF CMOS switches using Peregrine’s technology and intellectual property (IP). The parties expect the agreement to result in an expanded source of supply for these critical RF components and to assure global OEMs broad access to RF CMOS products.
“Global OEM customers of both Peregrine and Murata have for some time requested that the companies implement an independent source of supply for the critical switching elements that are widely utilized in today’s smart phones and other wireless-communications products,” says Peregrine’s president & CEO Jim Cable. “This agreement marks the first license of Peregrine’s switch-based intellectual property to a third party; we look forward to working collaboratively with Murata to expand the deployment of UltraCMOS technology,” he adds.
“Peregrine has fundamental IP in CMOS-based switches and tuning products,” says Norio Nakajima, Murata’s VP, Communication business unit. “This IP licensing arrangement solidifies our existing relationship and future collaboration with Peregrine,” he adds. “We believe that the combination of Murata’s filter and packaging technology with Peregrine’s UltraCMOS switch and tuning technology is a formidable RFFE solution.”
