Philips Semiconductors, a leading global supplier of radio frequency (RF) semiconductors, announced availability of the SA3600, a highly integrated low power RF front-end receiver IC. The SA3600 targets the coming wave of dual-band, multi-mode digital cellular phones. According to Dataquest, more than 95% of the cellular phones produced worldwide in 2001 will be digital, with the majority supporting dual-band operation.

The SA3600 low-voltage RF receiver front-end integrates 800 MHz cellular and 1900 MHz PCS-band low noise amplifiers (LNAs) and down conversion mixers. The on-chip local oscillator (LO) frequency doubler, input/output buffer amplifiers, matching circuitry and control mode logic reduces external glue components. "By integrating all the key RF functions in a single chip, the SA3600 provides a complete dual-band receiver solution that saves board space and design time," explained Craig Conkling, product marketing manager, Business Line Cellular at Philips Semiconductors. "Cellular phones continue to shrink in size and cost while maintaining the required performance at low-voltage. The SA3600 helps designers meet these objectives."

The cellular-band LNA and mixer consume 10 mA from 2.7 volt supply. The PCS-band LNA and mixer consume 14 mA, which is 35% less power than the existing best-in-class gallium arsenide (GaAs) RF front-end ICs. This power saving translates directly into greater standby time in mobile phones.

The age of the two-band cellular phone is truly on us. With the agreements over standards in Europe, and the sharing of intellectual property, it is full steam ahead for world-capable phones and the process is starting to get parts available to make the manufacturing of those phones as simple as possible. A lot of the changeovers between different phone standards will be handled in software -- a frightening concept -- in the DSP, so getting the front-end as simple as possible is the biggest challenge; one that Philips have come up to the plate to meet.

The RF performance of this BiCMOS IC is extremely good. The gains of 24 and 22 dB at 900 and 1900 MHz respectively are more than adequate; the noise figures of 2.6 and 3.1 dB are high compared to a number of existing, single, channel solutions; the input IP3 numbers of -10.5 and -10.4 dB are extremely good showing fine linearity in the amplifiers and converters. When you also look at the low power consumption of 10 mA at 2.7 V it is clear that this is not likely to be a arena that will be well-addressed by GaAs in its present generations.