RF front-end component maker and foundry services provider TriQuint Semiconductor Inc of Hillsboro, OR, USA has introduced its first integrated power amplifier solution for small-cell and active antenna base-stations, dramatically reducing board space while delivering high efficiency, the firm says. Small-cell solutions are key components in 3G/4G mobile networks including LTE.
TriQuint’s TGA2450-SM integrated small-cell power amplifier is the first in a family serving all key mobile infrastructure frequency bands. The new power amplifier and other integrated solutions for base-station, networks and defense applications are being exhibited in Stand 130/141 at European Microwave Week (EuMW 2013) in Nuremberg, Germany (8-10 October).
Small-cell radio systems have deliberately defined coverage areas that can improve connectivity where it is most needed. The radio transceivers in these systems are smaller by design to support indoor or outdoor deployment, as required. By significantly reducing board space, network infrastructure OEMs can reduce the size of radio systems and their bills of materials.
“The market trend is towards more densely packed, smaller radio links - small cells,” notes James L. Klein, TriQuint’s Infrastructure and Defense Products VP & general manager. “TriQuint's highly integrated solution offers the flexibility to support our customers’ emerging designs,” he adds. “Our product family uses only half the space of traditional discrete parts.”
Infrastructure researcher Earl J. Lum reports that small-cell and active antenna solutions will be a growing part of infrastructure and future heterogeneous networks supporting faster 3G/4G data rates. “Highly integrated power amplifier solutions such as the TGA2450-SM and filtering technology offered by TriQuint support additional network capacity, higher-efficiency systems and reduced system bill of materials (BOMs),” says Lum, president of EJL Wireless Research. “The overall LTE outdoor microcell market is expected to begin high-volume shipments in 2014 and reach $1.8bn by 2017,” he adds.
The TGA2450-SM is a fully integrated surface-mount 3-stage power amplifier module suited to 3G and 4G small-cell base-station applications with 1W RMS power at the antenna. The module is 50 ohm input and output and requires minimal external components. It is also compact (supplied in a 20mm x 20mm SMP package) and offers a much smaller footprint than traditional discrete component solutions, TriQuint says.
The TGA2450-SM incorporates a Doherty final stage delivering high power-added efficiency of 35% for the entire module at 2.5W average power. Three-stage gain is 35dB. Peak power is 18W. Operating at 2.11-2.17GHz and supporting multi-mode and multi-carrier signals (for W-CDMA and LTE bands 1, 4 and 10), the module includes InGaP/GaAs heterojunction bipolar transistor (HBT) device technology to provide a combination of high efficiency and DPD (Data Processing Design) friendliness. Typical applications include 3G/4G wireless infrastructure, BTS transceivers/repeaters, heterogeneous networks, and MIMO.
Samples and evaluation fixtures of the TGA2450-SM are available now.
