- News
13 June 2018
NXP adds high-power GaN RF and Si-LDMOS products for 5G cellular networks
© Semiconductor Today Magazine / Juno PublishiPicture: Disco’s DAL7440 KABRA laser saw.
In booth #739 at the IEEE International Microwave Symposium (IMS 2018) in Philadelphia, PA, USA (12-15 June), NXP Semiconductors N.V. of Eindhoven, The Netherlands is expanding its cellular infrastructure portfolio by introducing new RF gallium nitride (GaN) wideband power transistors as well as Airfast third-generation silicon laterally diffused metal-oxide-semiconductor (Si-LDMOS) products for macro and outdoor small-cell 5G cellular networks.
“NXP released the world’s first LDMOS product in 1992 — today, we are extending our RF leadership with industry leading GaN technology, developed with the highest linear efficiency for cellular applications,” says Paul Hart, senior VP & general manager of NXP’s RF Power business.
Spectrum expansion, higher-order modulation, carrier aggregation, full-dimension beam forming and other enablers of 5G connectivity will require an expanded base of technologies to support enhanced mobile broadband connectivity, says NXP. With spectrum usage and network footprints, multiple-input multiple output (MIMO) technologies from four transmit (4TX) antennas to 64 TX and higher will be employed. The future of 5G networks will depend on GaN and Si-LDMOS technologies, NXP notes.
The new products (packaged in a compact footprint) include:
- A3G22H400-04S: Suitable for 40W base stations, this GaN product yields up to 56.5% efficiency and 15.4dB of gain and covers cellular bands from 1800MHz to 2200MHz.
- A3G35H100-04S: Providing 43.8% efficiency and 14dB of gain, this GaN product enables 16 TX MIMO solutions at 3.5GHz.
- A3T18H400W23S: This Si-LDMOS product is paving the way to 5G at 1.8GHz with Doherty efficiency up to 53.4% and gain of 17.1dB.
- A3T21H456W23S: Covering the full 90MHz band of 2.11-2.2GHz, this solution exemplifies NXP’s Si-LDMOS performance for efficiency, RF power and signal bandwidth.
- A3I20D040WN: Within NXP’s family of integrated ultra-wideband LDMOS products, this solution offers peak power of 46.5dBm with 365MHz wideband class AB performance of 32dB of gain, and 18% efficiency at 10dB OBO.
- A2I09VD030N: This product offers peak power of 46dBm with class AB performance of 34.5dB gain, and 20% efficiency at 10dB OBO. The RF bandwidth is 575-960MHz.
NXP notes that the breadth of its RF Power technologies — which include GaN, silicon-LDMOS, SiGe, and GaAs — allows product options for 5G that span frequency and power spectrums with varying levels of integration. This wide array of options — combined with the products that NXP builds for digital computing, and baseband processing — makes NXP a supplier of end-to-end 5G solutions.