SiGe Semiconductor today announced StreamCharger, a silicon platform that enables the world's lowest power, most integrated downstream tuners for DOCSIS (Data Over Cable Service Interface Specification) cable telephony equipment, cable modems and digital set-top boxes.

Based on advanced silicon germanium process technology, the StreamCharger silicon platform cuts power consumption by 50 percent compared to currently available solutions, and shrinks the bill of materials for a typical tuner module from 300 to less than 30 components. The technology also delivers superior RF performance over a wide temperature range to ensure reliable transmission of 256-QAM digital formats. This optimizes the use of bandwidth into the home, increasing reliability of new "Always-On" interactive services including Video on Demand (VoD) and Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP).

The StreamCharger silicon platform has been proven through the development of a tuner IC for outdoor cable telephony equipment, which is currently sampling to SiGe's lead customer. The technology forms the base for SiGe's emerging family of standard tuner products, including DOCSIS indoor cable modems, DOCSIS outdoor customer premise equipment (CPE), and cable and terrestrial wireless digital set-top boxes. Scheduled for launch in early 2002, these tuners are very competitively positioned through best-in-class performance, attractive pricing, and availability.

"The first product based on StreamCharger was designed in concert with our lead customer and major broadband service providers to ensure a solution that addresses the critical equipment requirements," said Cormac O'Connell, vice president, broadband cable, SiGe Semiconductor. "The innovative use of our silicon germanium process technology has enabled breakthroughs in integration with superior performance that will secure us a leading position among broadband tuner providers with our first entry into this market."

StreamCharger serves as a complete end-to-end solution between the diplexer and the baseband, and is optimized to interface with and directly drive all major baseband processors and demodulator. This eliminates the requirement for matching and intermediate amplifiers, thereby minimizing the bill of materials, manufacturing and inventory to substantially lower the cost of broadband hardware. The highly integrated architecture reduces the number of components typically required in a front-end module from 300 to less than 30.

The StreamCharger silicon platform enables tuner IC solutions with 50 percent less power consumption than other tuners on the market. The technology consumes 500mW of power, operates on a single-supply voltage of 3.3V, and incorporates programmable multiple power down modes.

For outdoor equipment, low power is essential to the remote powering infrastructure for lifeline telephony services. Most MSOs specify a power budget between three and four Watts. StreamCharger enables tuners that account for less than 15 percent of the total power budget. This is substantially lower than most tuners today, which have power consumption of 1-1.9 W, consuming approximately 25-50 percent of the power budget.

StreamCharger has superior RF performance with industry leading noise figure, phase noise and distortion specifications. Able to support both analog and digital signals plus 256-QAM digital formats, StreamCharger enhances the capacity and use of bandwidth into the home, increasing the reliability of interactive, simultaneous data streams that are required for emerging bundled applications.

Extreme temperature range variants, operating over -40 to +85 degrees Celsius, will provide StreamCharger's superior RF performance for rugged outdoor applications.

SiGe Semiconductor, Inc., 1150 North First Street, Suite 150, San Jose, CA 95112. Phone: 408-998-5061; Fax: 408-998-5062

SiGe Semiconductor, Inc., 2680 Queensview Dr. Ottawa, Ontario Canada K2B 8J9. Phone: 613 820 9244 Fax: 613 820 4933; E-mail info@sige.com

The time is right for this type of product and many companies are racing to market their version of a tuner IC for cable and set-top box. SiGe Semiconductor fits into this category.

The market for digital tuner ICs is projected by iSuppli Corp. to grow approximately 175 percent annually during the next 4 years, representing U.S. $211 million dollar opportunity by the year 2005. SiGe Semiconductor attributes this growth in part to the acceptance of broadband cable access over DSL (Digital Subscriber Line), FTTH (Fiber to the Home), and LMDS (Local Point Multi-Distribution Systems). Cable and wireless multi-service operators (MSOs) are now entering a market traditionally served by telecommunications companies. This means new challenges for equipment and semiconductor vendors to optimize performance, power consumption, and cost, which are integral to the profitable deployment of new bundled services.

The StreamCharger product accomplishes two impressive design tasks - it reduces the bill of materials for a typical tuner module from 300 to less than 30 components, and it consumes 500mW from a 3.3V supply line. It integrates all the major RF components including the LNA, mixer, IF amplifiers, crystal oscillators, phased locked loops, and IC interfaces. This eliminates the requirement for matching and intermediate amplifiers, thereby minimizing the bill of materials, manufacturing and inventory, to substantially lower the cost of broadband hardware and keep your reliability high because there are fewer parts and less heat. All these are important to designers.

Power consumption is a critical issue for both indoor and outdoor broadband access equipment. A quick look at cable modems and set-top boxes shows they often contain multiple tuners, which can cause excess heat buildup and will degrade performance and reliability. I really like the StreamCharger's low power consumption and extended indoor temperature range to solve this problem. As a bonus, it also reduces the need for larger boxes or expensive fans for heat dissipation.

StreamCharger for outdoor DOCSIS is sampling: now.
StreamCharger for indoor DOCSIS will be sampling: Q1/2002.
For Set-Top Boxes it will be sampling: Q1/2002.

Datasheets were not yet available.