News: Microelectronics
24 October 2022
Guerrilla RF completes ¼W linear power amplifier family
Guerrilla RF Inc (GRF) of Greensboro, NC, USA – a provider of radio-frequency integrated circuits (RFICs) and monolithic microwave integrated circuits (MMICs) for wireless applications – has introduced the GRF5521, one of ten ¼W linear power amplifiers (PAs) released as part of its continued expansion into the cellular market. The indium gallium phosphide (InGaP) heterojunction bipolar transistor (HBT) amplifiers were designed for 5G/4G wireless infrastructure applications requiring exceptional native linearity over temperature extremes of –40°C to 85°C.
Spanning a frequency range of 2.11–2.17GHz, the GRF5521 is tuned to operate in the n1, n65 and n66 5G new radio (NR) bands. The device delivers 23.5dBm of linear power over the entire –40°C to 85°C temperature range while maintaining ACLR (adjacent-channel leakage ratio) levels of better than –45dBc, IMD3 (third-order intermodulation distortion) levels <–22dBm, EVM (error vector magnitude) levels <1% and PAE efficiencies >20% – all without the aid of supplemental linearization schemes like digital pre-distortion (DPD).
The ability to beat the –45dBc ACLR performance metric without DPD is critical for cellular applications like residential and commercial repeaters/boosters, femtocells, picocells, and cable loss compensators associated with automotive ‘shark fin’ antennas. In each of these use cases, the sensitivity to cost, power and size constraints prohibits the use of elaborate linearization techniques like DPD. Instead, designers must rely on the PA’s native linearity to meet the stringent emissions mask requirements imposed by 5G and 4G standards.
During the development of the GRF55xx series, Guerrilla RF consulted with its base of automotive and cellular repeater/booster customers to ensure that the devices delivered the best blend of power and linearity, thus maximizing the effective range and throughput for their cellular systems. Guerrilla RF also designed the family of devices to be fully footprint compatible, enabling its customer base to rapidly customize their designs for a myriad of cellular frequencies.
“The GRF5521 is the final variant in our series of mid-band ¼W PAs which were tuned specifically for cellular bands residing within the 1.7–2.17GHz spectrum,” says CEO & founder Ryan Pratt. “By the end of the year, we’ll have production-released products covering every major cellular band between 660MHz and 4200MHz,” he adds. “These linear PAs are extremely popular with our cellular booster/repeater and automotive customers, and we continue to see significant design wins queuing up for these devices as our customers pivot to cover additional bands of operation.”
The GRF55xx family comes in pin-compatible 3mm x 3mm, 16-pin QFN packages. Samples and evaluation boards are available for the GRF5521. Prices start at $1.55 (10,000-up, EXW USA).
Guerrilla RF launches 2.5–2.7 and 3.3-4.2GHz ¼W PAs deliver for 5G without DPD
Guerrilla launches second 1/4W InGaP HBT linear power amplifier
Guerrilla launches InGaP HBT power amplifier in expansion into cellular market
