Peregrine Semiconductor Corp of San Diego, CA, USA, a fabless provider of radio-frequency integrated circuits (RFICs) based on silicon-on-sapphire (SOS), is to collaborate with Murata Manufacturing Company on a multisource arrangement for RF switches and other components based on Peregrine’s proprietary UltraCMOS technology. Under the proposed agreement, Murata would be granted a license to design and manufacture RF switches and other switch-related components utilizing Peregrine’s technology and intellectual property (IP). Murata is a supplier of RF front-end modules for the global mobile wireless marketplace.
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 research and development have resulted in 140 patents issued and pending.
“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 core switch-based intellectual property to a third party and we look forward to entering into this collaborative arrangement with Murata,” he adds.
“Peregrine has fundamental IP in CMOS-based switches and tuning products with its UltraCMOS technology,” says Norio Nakajima, Murata’s VP, Communication business unit. “This IP licensing arrangement solidifies our existing relationship and future collaboration with Peregrine. We believe that the combination of Murata’s filter and packaging technology with Peregrine’s UltraCMOS switch and tuning technology is a formidable RF front-end solution.”
