11 June 2012

Freescale unveils its first GaN RF product for cellular infrastructure

Freescale Semiconductor of Austin, TX, USA, which provides RF power technology for cellular markets, has unveiled its first RF power amplifier fabricated using gallium nitride (GaN) technology. Products will initially target the cellular infrastructure market, with potential future applications including avionics, radar, ISM (industrial, scientific & medical)-band, and software-defined radio.

The first GaN product, the AFG25HW355S, is the latest addition to what is claimed to be the industry’s most comprehensive portfolio of power amplifier (PA) solutions. Existing Freescale RF power products include 12V, 28V and 50V silicon LDMOS products, 5V GaAs HBT, 5V and 12V GaAs pHEMT solutions, and high-frequency SiGe technology featuring operation up to 100GHz and beyond.

“Freescale’s GaN RF power solutions underscore our technology-agnostic approach to the RF power market,” says Ritu Favre, VP & general manager of the firm’s RF Division. “Working with GaN in development since the mid-2000s, we have established an ideal blend of cost efficiency, performance and reliability,” he reckons, “and the time is now right to add GaN-based products to our broad array of RF power amplifier solutions.”

The AFG25HW355S is a 350W, high-performance-in-package (HiP), 2:1 asymmetric device with the following features and performance targets: 2.3-2.7GHz operation; 56dBm peak power; 50% efficiency; 16dB gain; and NI-780 packaging.

Freescale says that advantages of using GaN technology in power amplifiers include smaller product form-factors, low parasitic loss, elevated power density, and higher-frequency operation. Potential GaN cellular applications include quasi-linear, high-efficiency (Doherty), high-powered pulsed (non-linear) applications, broadband PAs, and switch-mode amplifier configurations.

The AFG25HW355S will be available soon to select customers in sample quantities, with full qualification and volume shipping planned by second-quarter 2013.

Tags: Freescale GaN RF

Visit: www.freescale.com