News: Microelectronics
23 June 2022
pSemi’s first mmWave beam-former and up-down converter ICs reach volume production
Murata company pSemi Corp of San Diego, CA, USA – a fabless provider of radio-frequency integrated circuits (RFICs) based on silicon-on-insulator (SOI) – has announced the production readiness of two new millimeter-wave (mmWave) ICs targeted for active antenna systems in 5G base stations, 5G customer premises equipment (CPE) and point-to-point radio communication applications.
In addition to the 8-channel beam-forming front-end and dual-channel up-down converter ICs, pSemi offers a complete support package of tools and technical expertise to simplify mmWave design and development.
The new RF SOI ICs are the latest in the firm’s mmWave portfolio that offers full IF-to-RF coverage across the n257, n258 and n260 bands in what are claimed to be the industry’s smallest form factors.
“As the n257 band reaches global mainstream use, pSemi is pleased to introduce a suite of mmWave products and tools to support this growing demand,” says Vikas Choudhary, VP of sales & marketing.
Beam-former & up-down converter IC features and benefits
The PE188200 beam-former IC (n257 band) and PE128300 up-down converter IC (n257, n258 band) offer a wide range of features and benefits to 5G FR2 system designers, including:
- Smallest footprint per channel – Monolithically integrated RF SOI ICs with the industry’s smallest form factors make it easy to build large arrays without the need for extra routing.
- Full IF-to-RF coverage – Up-down converters can be paired with up to four pSemi beam-formers to support massive MIMO, hybrid beam-forming and other active antenna configurations.
Additionally, the PE188200 8-channel beam-former IC offers:
- Flexible antenna design – The 8-channel beam-former IC supports four dual-polarized or eight single-polarity antenna elements, and scaled configurations for optimum array gain, EIRP (equivalent isotropically radiated power), and antenna directivity.
- Beam-forming accuracy – Linear POUT at the desired EVM (error vector magnitude) with low RMS phase and amplitude error for increased array gain and antenna directivity ensures accurate beam-forming.
Additionally, the PE128300 dual-channel up-down converter IC offers:
- Highly integrated solution – Industry’s first dual-channel up-down converter saves expensive real estate with the smallest footprint.
- Low power consumption – Best-in-class up-down converter IC performance enables more efficient system thermal management.
- Minimize system impairments – Optimal I/Q balance adjustment and minimal LO leakage results in improved EVM performance.
mmWave control software
In addition to samples and evaluation kits (EVK) pSemi offers a complete support package of software tools and technical expertise to help customers get up to speed working with its beam-former ICs, up-down converter ICs, or arrayed combinations of both:
- Graphical user interface (GUI) – The software GUI assures proper operation of register programming for effective, efficient code implementation.
- API integration – Optimize performance across channels with the firm’s GUI and API integration. Speed up software development and demonstration by embedding pSemi software within customer-specific code.
- Comprehensive user’s manual – A thorough user’s manual for each product contains register programming requirements and operational details.
The discrete RFICs were featured and demonstrated as a part of the Murata antenna-integrated module in pSemi’s booth at the IEEE International Microwave Symposium (IMS 2022) in Denver, CO, USA (21-23 June).
