News

27 November 2006

 

RFMD ships 50 millionth Polaris RF Solution

At its second annual Analysts' Day event in New York last week, RFIC maker RF Micro Devices (RFMD) Inc announced that it has shipped its 50 millionth Polaris RF solution. In the September quarter, Polaris solution sales represented
30% of total RFMD revenue. The proportion is expected to grow sequentially, based on current design activity, as new customers and new platforms are added.

RFMD's Polaris RF solutions provide handset makers with a robust approach for cellular radios that delivers high levels of integration, reduces time to market and simplifies supply chain management, claims RFMD. The chip-set consists of a SiGe BiCMOS-based quad-band RF receiver (low-noise amplifier and mixer with polyphase filter, DC offset correction and serial data interface); a silicon CMOS-based digital filter, fractional-N PLL, modulator and power amplifier ramp controller; and GaAs HBT-based quad-band PowerStar power amplifier module with integrated power control.

* RFMD ramps Polaris 2 for high-volume EDGE handset; starts shipping to China's Amoi for GSM/GPRS/EDGE handsets

An existing Polaris customer has started production of a new high-volume EDGE handset enabled by RFMD's Polaris 2 Radio Module for EDGE solution.

"It enables full quad-band EDGE in cellular handsets and is instrumental in helping mobile device makers meet the size, cost and performance requirements of next-generation EDGE-enabled handsets," says Eric Creviston, corporate VP, Cellular Product Group.

Polaris 2 for EDGE is the smallest EDGE radio solution commercially available and requires less than half the number of discrete components required by competitive EDGE radio solutions, claims RFMD (a SiGe- and CMOS-based quad-band transceiver module and a GaAs HBT-based quad-band transmitter module). Also, the large-signal polar modulation transmit architecture minimizes transmit current consumption in EDGE handsets and
provides a technology migration path up to about 50% transmit power consumption savings over competing linear transmit radio architectures, it adds.

Also, RFMD has started volume production shipments of its Polaris 2 Radio Module for EDGE for several GSM/GPRS /EDGE handset models across the portfolio of China's Amoi Electronics Company Ltd. These include devices running Windows Mobile software that target the growing market for smartphones.

"These designs were won as a result of our ongoing collaboration with a leading top-tier baseband manufacturer," said Eric Creviston, Corporate VP,
Cellular Products Group.

* Bob Bruggeworth, president and CEO of RF Micro Devices Inc, rang The NASDAQ Stock Market Closing Bell on 17 November. RFMD began trading on NASDAQ in 1997. This July it was named to The NASDAQ Global Select Market,
the premier listing tier within The NASDAQ Stock Market for companies that satisfy the highest financial and liquidity qualifications.

Visit: http://www.rfmd.com