News

9 December 2009

 

RFMD ships pre-production GaN-based hybrid amplifiers to US CATV equipment maker

RF Micro Devices Inc of Greensboro, NC, USA says that it has commenced pre-production shipments of gallium nitride (GaN)-based CATV hybrid amplifiers to a major US-based cable television (CATV) equipment provider. RFMD is already shipping GaN-based CATV hybrid amplifiers to CATV equipment suppliers in Europe, Japan and North America.

To address the increasing demand for higher-throughput video and broadband services, operators of hybrid fiber coax (HFC) networks are installing fiber capacity deeper into their networks (fiber deep networks), says RFMD. Accordingly, CATV equipment makers looking to reduce the cost of fiber deep networks are seeking semiconductor devices capable of higher RF output levels than those available from existing GaAs-based devices.

The firm says that, due to the RF output levels of its GaN CATV hybrid amplifiers, cable operators can reduce the number of amplifiers required in emerging architectures (also known as N+1 architectures) and achieve cost savings of up to 20% in fiber deep networks.

“With our GaN semiconductor expertise and our world-class CATV manufacturing capability, RFMD is uniquely positioned to bring the next generation of high-performance CATV amplifiers to the CATV equipment market,” claims Alastair Upton, general manager of RFMD’s Broadband Components business unit.

Initial GaN shipments to the CATV customer are intended for use in optical nodes. Subsequent shipments are expected to be used in line extender amplifier applications. Volume production is expected in first-half 2010.

See related item:

RFMD launches GaN amplifier modules for CATV applications

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