Fabless semiconductor firm RFaxis Inc of Irvine, CA, USA, which designs RF semiconductors and embedded antenna solutions for the wireless connectivity and cellular mobility markets, has announced the sampling of its pure-CMOS, RFX8420 RF front-end integrated circuits (RFeIC).
RFX8420 is designed to meet the high performance and ultra-compact size requirements for dual-mode Wi-Fi/Bluetooth operation in mobile devices such as smartphones, featurephones and tablets. A fully integrated, single-chip/single-die RfeIC, the RFX8420 incorporates all the RF functionality needed for dual-mode WLAN 802.11b/g/n and Bluetooth operation in the 2.4GHz band. It comes with a high-efficiency high-linearity PA providing 18dBm output power with three percent EVM at antenna port, a directional coupler and output power detector, impedance matching networks, harmonic filters, and a SP3T switch for antenna sharing between Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, integrated onto a single CMOS device. Housed in a 2.5mm x 2.5mm x 0.4mm 16-pin QFN package, the RFX8420 has the smallest-class solution size in the industry and is pin-to-pin compatible with incumbent front-end solutions from several vendors which use gallium arsenide (GaAs) solutions.
"We developed the RFX8420 based on specific input from multiple handset/smartphone vendors to meet their most demanding requirements in terms of size, performance and functionality. The RFX8420 is specifically designed to support direct battery operation for mobile phone applications," stated Mike Neshat, chairman & CEO of RFaxis. "We are proud that our team has delivered another state-of-the-art, RF front-end solution in pure-CMOS, which is significantly more cost-effective than alternative solutions currently available in GaAs."
With the RFX8420 all RF decoupling components and DC blocking capacitors are integrated completely on-chip, which differentiates it from existing solutions that require multiple inductors and capacitors externally, which add additional cost and board space. These unique features enable RFaxis' customers to add Wi-Fi/Bluetooth functions to their products with the smallest external Bill of Materials (BOM) and effective PCB footprint, says the firm. The RFX8420 RFeIC is available in an ultra-compact, low-profile 2.5x2.5x0.4mm QFN package and at a high volume pricing of $0.22 per unit. Evaluation boards and samples are available now. Volume production will be available Q3/2012.
RFaxis will showcase the RFX8420, along with its commercial-ready 5GHz RFeIC RFX5000, at Computex 2012 in Taipei, Taiwan (5-9 June).
