12 February 2016

Peregrine expands glitch-less RF digital step attenuator portfolio from 50Ω by launching 75Ω chip

Peregrine Semiconductor Corp of San Diego, CA, USA – a fabless provider of radio-frequency integrated circuits (RFICs) based on silicon-on-insulator (SOI) – has extended its glitch-less RF digital step attenuator (DSA) portfolio from 50Ω to 75Ω by launching the UltraCMOS PE4314, which is suitable for wired broadband applications in cable/satellite customer premises equipment (CPE) and infrastructure equipment.

The 75Ω PE4314 joins Peregrine's 50Ω glitch-less DSAs — the PE43711, the PE43712 and the PE43713 — in offering glitch-less attenuation state transitions. When switching attenuation states with a DSA, there is a brief 'glitch' or transient spike in output power. This glitch, if left alone, could lead to degraded signal quality and possible damage to power amplifier sub-assemblies. To minimize this glitch, engineers deploy a software or firmware workaround that reduces the effect of this transient spike. Peregrine says that, with its glitch-less DSA, this output power glitch is significantly reduced to less than 0.5dB, enabling users to reduce their engineering overhead and prevent damage to expensive sub-assemblies.

"Peregrine introduced the world's first single-chip DSA in 2004, and we are now expanding our DSA portfolio to include this 75Ω solution to solve one of our customers' biggest challenges — attenuation state transition glitches," says director of marketing Kinana Hussain.  

Supporting a frequency range from 1MHz to 2.5GHz, the PE4314 is a 75Ω, 6-bit RF DSA that is a pin-for-pin compatible upgraded version of the PE4304, PE4307, PE4308 and PE43404 DSAs.

Covering a 31.5dB attenuation range in a 0.5dB step, the PE4314 is capable of maintaining 0.5dB monotonicity through 2.5GHz. An integrated digital control interface supports both serial and parallel programming of the attenuation, including the capability to program an initial attenuation state at power up. The DSA supports 1.8V control voltage and has an extended operating temperature range up to 105°C.

The PE4314 is offered in a 20-lead 4mm x 4mm x 0.85mm QFN package. Samples and evaluation kits are available now; volume production units will be available in March.

See related items:

Peregrine launches glitch-less RF digital step attenuators

Tags: Peregrine CMOS SOI Digital step attenuators

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